I used to not have to do it that much, not like I do now. I didn't even know what it was really. Not the way I know what it is now.
And now I think I kind of understand Father God just a tiny bit more.
Read this passage from Hebrews 12:
My dear child, don’t shrug off God’s discipline,
but don’t be crushed by it either.
It’s the child he loves that he disciplines;
the child he embraces, he also corrects.
God is educating you; that’s why you must never drop out. He’s treating you as dear children. This trouble you’re in isn’t punishment; it’s training, the normal experience of children. Only irresponsible parents leave children to fend for themselves. Would you prefer an irresponsible God? We respect our own parents for training and not spoiling us, so why not embrace God’s training so we can truly live? While we were children, our parents did what seemed best to them. But God is doing what is best for us, training us to live God’s holy best. At the time, discipline isn’t much fun. It always feels like it’s going against the grain. Later, of course, it pays off handsomely, for it’s the well-trained who find themselves mature in their relationship with God.
Do you think He is up in heaven gloating when you suffer?
Do you think He enjoys "sticking it to you?"
Read those verses from Hebrews again.
He doesn't enjoy disciplining His kids. But He has to when we need it because He loves us too much to let us stay the way we are.
As a parent, I have never had to do so much grounding and taking away of privileges in my whole 18+ years of parenting as I have had to this summer.
It breaks my heart, but I gotta do it.
But it sure wears me out.
Thankfully God doesn't get worn out.
He always gets it right.
And absolutely everything He does in your life is motivated by love, the best kind of love -- perfect, good and lovely love.