S) "22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the Lord, and He will respond to them and will heal them."
Isaiah 19:22 (NASB)
O) This is a great example of the difference between punishment and discipline. Punishment does not care about healing. Punishment is only the consequence, the retribution for the offense. This passage, however, is about Egypt being included in the blessings God's people will receive, because they turn and acknowledge the LORD. The punishment changes, becoming discipline, because the hardship brings about growth and healing.
A) Whenever I can, I avoid spanking my children. I really use it as a last resort, especially now that they are getting a little bit older. On the rare occasion that their behavior warrants it, though, I include an important practice. Not only do I lay out the exact reasons for the consequence, referring back to the initial warnings, then to their offense; after I have spanked them, I offer to hug them. I never want the last contact we make to be a painful occurrence. I want them to walk away knowing that my intent, the purpose, is growth and healing. I pray that the practice continues to bring righteous discipline, and that when they are grown they will look back and see how purposeful it was.
P) Father, thank You for the discipline I receive. Please continue to love me, by bringing hardship against me when my behavior needs to change, and nothing else is working. Discipline me as my Father, according to Your sovereign will. Please bless the discipline I use with my children. Continue to guide me, and give me wisdom, to know how and when to discipline. Please bless the discipline I use, that it is effective beyond my own planning, to bring up the character in them that You desire. Help me to be a loving dad, and never a punishing dad. In Jesus's name I pray. Amen.
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