Nahum 1:3, 7 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power;
the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.  
The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,

Contemporary Christianity places so much emphasis on the truth of verse seven that they tend to overlook the truth of verse three. We have forgotten what it is to fear the Lord. That has been partially the result of a deliberate, concerted effort by the devil to make us do that, but the responsibility still lies with us. The attack on the whole concept of fatherhood and parental discipline is very much part of that. Even the Japanese once had a proverb that said, “The three things to fear are typhoons, tigers, and your dad.” Not long ago I was listening to a roundtable discussion in which it was asked, “For those who never did drugs, why not?” The most common answer was, “Because my mom would kill me.” Proverbs is very clear on the matter: “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” (Proverbs 13:24) We have turned that on its head to say that any form of physical punishment is child abuse, and see where it’s gotten us. God is the perfect father, and as verse three says, He “will not leave the guilty unpunished.” If parents fail to apply appropriate discipline to their children, those children will probably not have the lifesaving fear of the Lord. The thing is, logic does not operate in a child’s mind, and the older they get, the more skilled they are in self-justification. That’s why a police presence is necessary for a civil society. That’s a far cry from a “police state,” where everything is dictated, but the current state of the US, after the “defund the police” movement of just a couple of years ago, along with the current spate of non-prosecuting public prosecutors, makes it very clear that the fear of punishment for wrongdoing is essential. God is indeed good, kind, merciful, and loving, but He also knows best how to “whup ass,” as the saying goes. We should be grateful, and rejoice to be able to submit to His kind and gracious rules that are for our benefit.

I will never forget one situation I was close to. A friend of ours was a Christian, but she had had a daughter out of wedlock. That daughter in turn likewise had a son without getting married, and no one in the family had much concept of appropriate discipline. Our friend and her daughter were both working, so our friend’s parents took care of their great-grandson through the day. The little boy loved Thomas the Tank Engine, and his great-grandparents’ house wasn’t far from an active railroad track. One day when he was about three, I think, he got out of the house and went down to the tracks. Someone spotted him and called the closest train station, and the trains were stopped until he could be corralled. My understanding is that he was disciplined, but obviously not enough. A few weeks later he got out again, and this time no one spotted him. He wasn’t actually on the tracks, but he was close enough that a train hit his head, and after a week in a coma, he died. When logic doesn’t get through, pain can sometimes do the job. That’s what that verse in Proverbs is all about. God’s justice is so absolute that the only way we can avoid the punishment due our sins is by faith in the Son of God, who took our punishment on Himself so that we could live. I didn’t do a perfect job of disciplining my children, as my parents didn’t with me, but the principle was there, and operative. I am very aware that I am totally dependent on the grace of God, and I desire to bring that awareness to as many people as possible.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Help me live by this truth, rejoicing both in Your mercy and Your justice, so that I may be an example to others of an appropriate fear of the Lord, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!