God's Discipline

Jeremiah 44:4-6 “Again and again I sent my servants, the prophets, to plead with them, ‘Don’t do these horrible things that I hate so much.’ But my people would not listen or turn back from their wicked ways. They kept on burning incense to these gods. And so my fury boiled over and fell like fire on the towns of Judah and into the streets of Jerusalem, and they are still a desolate ruin today.

There are times in life where we have to learn from past failures. Repeating the same mistakes and not learning from them only lead to more failures. We have to learn from our mistakes and move on. We have to do our very best in life. Trying new things and accepting change is what I believe God wants us to do. Part of life is about taking risks and taking a leap of faith when things seem to not make sense.

The Israelites refused to listen to God. They refused to listen to Jeremiah and the other prophets. This passage of scripture shows how stubborn they were. They continued to follow other gods and decided to live in Egypt when God told them not to go there or they would die. You see, God was willing to grant them mercy and grace if they would stay in their land. If they would have stayed in their land, they would have been protected and God would have blessed them. Unfortunately, they decided their way and not God’s way.

With every selfish decision we make, there are consequences to those decisions. Giving into our fleshly desires and refusing to listen to God results in His discipline. Every child has to be disciplined if they want to grow and mature. We have to learn from past mistakes so we won’t do the same things in the future. God won’t let us go through life without disciplining us. Even though the discipline may feel uncomfortable, it is necessary for our spiritual growth. When God disciplines us, don’t turn away from it, but learn from it and see what God is trying to show you through it.