This Day in History: 0000-03-17

March 17 – Lamentations 3: 25-33 

The Lord is good to those who depend on Him, to those who search for Him.
So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the Lord.  
And it is good for people to submit at an early age to the yoke of His discipline:
Let them sit alone in silence beneath the Lord’s demands. 
Let them lie face down in the dust, for there may be hope at last.
Let them turn the other cheek to those who strike them and accept the insults of their enemies.
For no one is abandoned by the Lord forever.
Though He brings grief, He also shows compassion because of the greatness of His unfailing love.
For He does not enjoy hurting people or causing them sorrow. 

When your children do something wrong and you, as the parent, are forced to deal with that behavior, does it make you happy?  Do you enjoy disciplining them?  Of course not!  Often it hurts us just as much as it hurts them to enforce painful consequences for their bad behavior.  But,  because we love them, we understand how important discipline is. We understand that consequences are what help them understand the seriousness of sin, and that in turn helps them develop a desire to stay away from bad behavior. The same is true of our Heavenly Father.  He does not enjoy hurting us, or causing us sorrow, but He loves us enough to understand that it is often through pain that we are refined into His image.   

Let’s submit ourselves now to His discipline, let’s humble ourselves and recognize the hope that we’ve been offered through a life dependent on Him.  Let’s search for Him and be patient with others and patient with the Lord, knowing with confidence that He is working whether we can see it or not. Life is full of pain, but He shows compassion because of the greatness of His unfailing love. He will not leave us in our misery forever. We are His dearly loved children and He is so good to us when we search for Him and depend on Him.