day no. 16,392: when the undisciplined find the spoons

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no revelation,

the people cast off restraint

If people are left to figure things out for themselves, things will go poorly. Revelation comes from without. Wisdom is revealed to a person through discipline and instruction. The one who is not disciplined or instructed will be left to speculation. Speculation comes from within and leads to thinking that liberty means getting to act upon whatever urges come up from within.

Proverbs 5:22-23

The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,

and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. 

He dies for lack of discipline,

and because of his great folly he is led astray.

Discipline is inescapable, not whether but which. In other words, children who are not disciplined by their parents are the ones disciplining their parents. They make clear demands, set expectations, and explain the consequences of crossing them; and their parents fall in line. If cocksuredness is not disciplined out of a person, it grows up within them.

James 1:14-15

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

Sin doesn’t stay put. If it isn’t put down, it grows up. If sin is given reign, it expands its kingdom by invading neighboring territories and continues until either it is stopped or it takes over so completely that it kills. Sin cannot keep what it takes. It kills whatever masters. It spoils whatever it touches.

Proverbs 13:24

Whoever spares the rod hates his son,

but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.

A child without spanks is spoiled. He goes from rotting to rotten like a garden left unweeded ceases to be a garden. Withholding godly discipline is not an act of love. No one loves their child too much to spank them. It is abuse. It creates the kind of monsters who grow up to discipline others according to their own whims.

The baby boomers were not spanked, but now they have the spoons. Their parents never found a wooden spoon to their behinds, but that didn't keep them from finding the spoons once they grew up. And once found, they knew what they were for. They were never disciplined by their parents, but got plenty of practice making demands. Now they have grown up and are the parents, the governors, officials, teachers, etc... and they are demonstrating that they know how to discipline others. When the undisciplined are in charge of the laws, they wreak havoc.

There will be discipline. If you don't discipline a child according to the Word of God, he will grow up to discipline others according to the prevailing kultursmog or his desires, which often amount to the same thing.