The first passage in today’s post comes from the Book of Deuteronomy:
11Â âTake heed lest you forget the Lord your God, by not keeping his commandments and his ordinances and his statutes, which I command you this day: 12Â lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses and live in them, 13Â and when your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, 14Â then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, 15Â who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16Â who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. 17Â Beware lest you say in your heart, âMy power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.â 18Â You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may confirm his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day. 19Â And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you this day that you shall surely perish. 20Â Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
(Deuteronomy 8:11-20)
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? This is pretty much what has happened in the West. We have forgotten the Lord, Him from whom all good things come. We in the West have achieved unparalleled prosperity over the last few decades, such that now nearly all of us have “idle hands.” We think we don’t need God any more- whether to provide for us or to explain the cosmos, and so have ignored Him. Even worse, we have chased after idols, whom many worship and even serve. What comes next is both tragic and predictable.
9Â What has been is what will be,
    and what has been done is what will be done;
    and there is nothing new under the sun.
10Â Is there a thing of which it is said,
    âSee, this is newâ?
It has been already,
    in the ages before us.
11Â There is no remembrance of former things,
    nor will there be any remembrance
of later things yet to happen
    among those who come after.
(Ecclesiastes 1:9-11)
The Letter to the Hebrews is the source of today’s third passage:
3Â Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4Â In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5Â And have you forgotten the exhortation which addresses you as sons?â
âMy son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor lose courage when you are punished by him.
6Â For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.â7Â It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8Â If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9Â Besides this, we have had earthly fathers to discipline us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10Â For they disciplined us for a short time at their pleasure, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11Â For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant; later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
(Hebrews 12:3-11)
This is kind of a radical statement, when you think about it: we know we aren’t bastards because God disciplines us. But it makes sense- we correct those we care about, not those who mean nothing to us. God loves us, and sometimes love demands a harsh rebuke. Even though we don’t appreciate it at the time, our guilt and chastisement is a sign of God’s love and favor. Perhaps it is just me, but I find all of this very comforting.