Today’s devotion comes from Deuteronomy 8:4-10.
“Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.” Deuteronomy 8:4-10.
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“and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD,
NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM;
FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES,
AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live?” Hebrews 12:5-9.
But, there is hope!
“It is for discipline that you endure; …” Hebrews 12:7. In other words, God causes us to endure so that He can discipline us.
In today’s Scripture, we learned that God caused Israel to endure by the specific statement: “Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.” Verse 4. “Thus you are to know in your heart that the LORD your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.” Emphasis added. God caused Israel to endure by protecting their clothing and their feet through the wilderness so that He could discipline them.
There is also the following hope in today’s Scripture. “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, … When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.” Verses 7-10.
There is also the following hope in the Hebrews passage on discipline. “… He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.” Hebrews 12:10-11.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 