Proverbs 3:11—12; “11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; 12 For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.”
A little boy was playing with his toy boat in a pond. While he was not paying attention, the boat began to slowly drift away, and the boy was unable to recover it. Just then a man passing by, and seeing the boy in distress at his loss, did something very interesting. He picked up a few stones and threw them on the other side of the boat. The boy didn’t understand what the man was trying to do. However, the stones were causing quite a disturbance in the water. Each stone that touched the water caused a ripple motion of waves outward, which in turn, slowly pushed the boat toward the shore, where he and the boy stood.
This is a very good picture of God’s discipline in our lives. Every time we wander away from God into the “Sea of Sin,” or the “Pond of Unrighteousness,” He lovingly introduces disturbing acts of discipline that create disruption at the very core of our being, which pushes us back to him. Ah the grace of God! Words cannot express the unfathomable love that draws us back to Him.
No wonder, after giving due acknowledgement to the Grace of God that worked in redeeming him in the first place, the hymn writer closes by penning these words:
“Oh, to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee!
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it!
Prone to leave the God I love!
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it.
Seal it for Thy courts above.”
Stephen Thomas (Bobby)
Stephen is an ordained Christian Minister and a Bible teacher who is a mentor to several youth leaders in Crossway Church and around the globe. He is a regular visiting Speaker in Crossway Church, New Delhi. He can be reached at stephenthomas6400@hotmail.com
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