Psalm 50

I love the different perspective you start to have on God once you have kids. All of a sudden, you see things in the Bible from an angle you never noticed before. For instance, the end of this psalm: “Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you.” (vs 22) Do you know what I heard when I read those words?

If you don’t obey me, I’m going to spank you.

Or, for those of you who prefer a “softer” approach: If you don’t listen, you’re going in Time Out.

God is speaking here to the wicked who disregard His laws—those who steal, commit adultery, and slander others. He promises that if they don’t wise up, He’s going to tear them “to pieces, with no one to rescue” them. Can’t you hear a Just wait ‘til your father gets home! in there?

Here’s the thing this teaches us about God: He disciplines us early and often. And, as Solomon wrote in Proverbs, “Do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent His rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, as a father the son He delights in.” (Prov 3:11-12)

His discipline is not punishment. It is kindness.

Think about that. Every act of discipline from a parent to a child is for the best good of the child. And, incidentally, no discipline involves the natural consequences of misbehavior. All discipline is designed to help the child ultimately avoid the natural consequences of misbehavior.

For instance, if your child has a penchant for running into the street, you’re not going to say, “If you run out into the street again, I’m going to let you get hit by a car, and then you’ll learn your lesson!” No, of course not! You’re going to say, “If you run out into that street again, I’m going to spank you!”

Spanking is not the natural consequence of running into the street—no more than being “torn to pieces” is the natural consequence of wickedness. In both cases, the threatened action is designed to help us avoid the natural consequences, because parents don’t want to see their children hit by cars any more than God wants to see His children suffer the consequences of sin—which is unimposed death (Rom 6:23).

The reason God gets a bad rap (in the Old Testament especially) is because He disciplines early and often, and when He’s not disciplining, He’s threatening to discipline. But we have to remember that discipline is not punishment. It is kindness.

This hit home several years ago, when my girls were still young and I was reading Richard Ferber’s classic book, Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems. He lays out a simple, yet effective method of training your child to either go to sleep by themselves or go back to sleep by themselves when they wake up in the middle of a nap. The method involves not jumping up and running in to the room right away the second your child starts to cry, but waiting instead for a short amount of time before soothing your child. The result? Your child learns how to go to sleep when it’s time for them to nap and, better yet, they learn how to go back to sleep if they get woken up before it’s time.

Now, I know there are probably a lot of parents who think they couldn’t stand to hear their child cry for even one minute without rushing in to the nursery. There might even be a lot of parents who think it would be wrong to let their child cry for even one minute. But, however you accomplish it, training your child how to go to sleep and stay asleep at the right times is kind to them. We might think the kind thing would be just to pick them up whenever they’re crying. But, ultimately, that is not necessarily the kind thing—especially if it begins to interfere with their ability to get good rest!

I think it’s the same with God. Threatening to “tear your child to pieces” doesn’t seem too kind—until one considers the alternative. And if God is willing to use such language—and even to take such drastic action—in order to keep us from the more serious, ultimate consequences of sin, He will gladly do it.

God is a wonderful parent who cares more about what happens to us than about how He looks. That’s why He disciplines early and often.