“ ’Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,’ says the Lord,
’for be dismayed, O Israel; or behold, I will save you from afar,
and your seed from the land o their captivity. Jacob shall return
have rest and be quiet, and no one shall make him afraid”
(Jeremiah 30:10).
Parental discipline has three phases: preventive discipline, when the parent warns their child what will happen if they disobey; corrective discipline, which includes natural of applied consequences; and redemptive discipline, in which the child has the option to ask for forgiveness for the fault they committed and the parents have the responsibility to extend that forgiveness. God, our perfect Parent, practiced these three phases of discipline. He warned His people repeatedly about what would happen if they were disobedient, He fulfilled His warning, and there was redemptive discipline when Judah was taken captive.
During the corrective discipline, Jeremiah described the pain experienced by the Jews in a foreign land as a man giving birth: “Ask now, and see, whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turned pale?” (Jeremiah 30:6). The pain of childbirth is among the most intense pains known. It far surpasses the pain of breaking a bone. The image of a man in childbirth expresses the intense anguish that the disobedient nation experienced in the days of their captivity.
God did not abandon His people in the time of trial; He stood ready to offer His redemptive discipline: “ ‘For I am with you,’ says the Lord, ‘to save your though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, yet I will not make a complete end of you. But 1 will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished. For I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lord” (Jeremiah 30:11, 17). “Thus was the church of God comforted in one of the darkest hours of her long conflict with the forces of evil. Satan had seemingly triumphed in his efforts to destroy Israel; but the Lord was overruling the events of the present, and during the years that were to follow, H is people were to have opportunity to redeem the past . . . The Lord was to be acknowledged as ruler over “all the families of Israel.”—Prophets and Kings, ch. 38, p. 474.
Eternal Father, thank You for offering us prevention, discipline, rind redemption!
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Taken from: Devotional Thoughts for Women 2023
“DAUGHTER OF MINE” Do Not Be Afraid
From: Arsenia Fernandez-Uckele
Collaborators: Angelica Cuate & Esteban Cortes
