Did You Know There is Joy In Discipline?

Discipline From the Lord Brings Joy!

Joy in discipline sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?

The words joy and discipline should not be in the same sentence. But, we can look at it differently through the lens of the Scriptures.

Hebrews 12:11 teaches, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet for those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Notice that Hebrews says discipline seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful.

Seems not to be joyful hints that there is a kind of residual joy of hope that hangs on beneath the cloud, but the tears and the sighs and the groans are so many that it looks like sorrow has the upper hand – at least for a season. As it does when a child cries after a spanking (Strong’s definition)

Discipline can seem sorrowful—rightfully so. We should be sorrowful for our sins. But, according to Hebrews, there is Joy in our discipline. It says, “All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet for those who have been trained by it, afterward it yields a peaceful fruit of righteousness.”

Who are those Trained By discipline?

Those whom the Lord Loves.

Hebrews 12:6 teaches, “Those whom the LORD loves He disciplines.”

You are loved if you are trained by discipline.

There is JOY in knowing you are loved!

Who does God love?

God loves those who are His own. He loves those bought with the precious blood of Christ.

There is JOY in knowing you are His!

Hebrews 12:6 also teaches, “And He scourges every son whom He receives.”

God scourges and disciplines those that are His.

There is JOY in knowing you are disciplined!

Do not regard your discipline lightly.

Count it all, Joy!

Hebrews 12:5 teaches, ” My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him.”

It is for discipline that you endure.

Look at how David understood the discipline of the LORD: Psalm 119:75: ” I know, O LORD, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”

God’s judgments are righteous; He does what is right. He is faithful with His afflictions. He says He will discipline those who are His, and He does, for our good and His Glory!

I know what it feels like to be disciplined, but I do not think my words can explain it. It is something you must experience yourself. I know the Scriptures speak the truth when they say discipline seems not joyful but sorrowful. But when He is done with you, there is peace and joy that cannot be described.

Someone has written – And so what do I say? I say let the rains of disappointment come, if they water the plants of spiritual grace. Let the winds of adversity blow, if they serve to root more securely the trees that God has planted. I say, let the sun of prosperity be eclipsed, if that brings me closer to the true light of life. Welcome, sweet discipline, discipline designed for my joy, discipline designed to make me what God wants me to be.