NOTES for Pro 3:11-12

In a human consciousness darkened by sin, one of two caricatures of the image of God most easily settles in: a cruel gendarme, heartlessly punishing the slightest fault, or a good-natured grandfather, tenderly looking at any "children's pranks." It is hardly even worth saying how far these ideas are from the images Holy Scripture offers us. And the chief of these images is the image of the Father. We all carry within ourselves a distorted idea of fatherhood, because from childhood we are wounded either by indifference from a father, or by his cruelty, or perhaps by never having known him at all. Because of this, perhaps, we cannot even imagine the simultaneity of favor and punishment, justice and mercy, love and rebuke. We take as God's punishment the natural consequences of our own sins, rather than the darkening of our relationship with Him. We take as God's favor our temporary well-being, rather than God's constant desire to be present in our life. We are very seriously ill inwardly, spiritually. And for our healing God shows us the perfection of the relationship of the Father and the Son and gives us the Spirit of adoption, so that we too may become children of God and heirs of His glory. And today's verse calls each of us: my son, do not reject what is being extended to you.