I was walking on a trail and came across this very old, weather-beaten chair…with no seat! A chair with no seat is not a good place to rest.
Psalm 94:12-13 “Blessed is the man whom You discipline, O LORD, and whom You teach out of Your law, to give him rest from days of trouble…”
Discipline + instruction = rest from trouble. An undisciplined, unruly, untrained, uneducated, ignorant person is like a Tasmanian devil! I think of the movie I saw long ago about Helen Keller. Blind and deaf. Her family loved her, but didn’t know how to help. They let her do as she pleased. She foraged from the family’s plates at meal time, seeking to satisfy her hunger. She didn’t know how to communicate, so she just growled or yelled. Like a constant temper tantrum.
Until the “Miracle Worker” introduced discipline and instruction. Structure. Anne Sullivan believed there was intelligence inside. Indulgence would not bring it out. With discipline and instruction (and patient persistence!), Helen was transformed.
The Lord’s discipline and instruction transform us! And bring us rest.
