Tiny Devotional for Wednesday, 01-06-2021

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, do you remember this day in 1989?

For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light;
And rebukes for discipline are the way of life
Proverbs 6:23, NASB
I don’t know about other people. For me, the word “discipline” brings up an image of a small boy getting a spanking. AND I KNOW BETTER!
First of all, let me disabuse you (SWIDT?) of any thought that my youth was filled with beatings. Not the case! I earned my share, true.
Secondly, the root of the word (from Greek, through Latin) really means ‘apprentice.’ m It doesn’t just mean ‘student;’ you can be a student in isolation, but not a disciple.

It’s also a WILLING relationship. This is not the Gulag!

The instructions are given to take you to a place you WANT to go, IN SAFETY. That’s what the ‘light’ reference means. The rebukes are to provide early warning when you get off the path.
From where I sit, I see five sources of (electric) light. EVERYBODY has light today; for MOST of human history, though, that wasn’t true. My great-good-buddy La Vaughn publishes “Unvarnished History” with LOTS of pre-light stories, and has plenty of her own as well.

Here’s my story, from 10/30/1994:  It’s the middle of the night, and I have to to the outhouse. There’s a path; wander off the path, and you’re in thorns, fall downhill, and a wolverine might eat you.
I WANTED a light, and a path lined with rocks for early warning; had neither. 
Fortunately, no wolverine showed.

Like this, except at night

And that’s why commandments, teaching, and rebukes for discipline are GOOD!


Peace be on your household.

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