Sitting in a Corner

I came across a TV show about a group of British nannies who were each assigned to work with American families. Observing their professional disciplinary techniques proved interesting. In our home my parents did not practice “time out,” nor did they yell at my siblings and me. My parents often quoted a Bible verse and connected it to our salvation. Their intent was to “train up a child” (Proverbs 22:6, KJV). If emphasis was needed, a brief tap on the legs two or three times with their hands might be in order. Being the eldest child, I hated to disappoint my parents, and I hated to be rebuked in front of my siblings. At my public school, though, I remember one frightful day in kindergarten when my best bud and I were making clay or paper snakes. To show Kenneth how much I appreciated the realistic appearance of his creation, I screamed. The young and overzealous teacher mistook my scream, snatched me up, and took me into the coat closet, where I had to remain for the rest of the hour.

I remember sitting alone among the coats, crying and feeling abandoned and misunderstood. This year I found a reference to “sitting” as a form of discipline in the Bible and relived that kindergarten moment all over again. In Isaiah, as an attempt to dissuade Israel’s warriors from receiving military aid from Egypt, God says, “Their strength is to sit still” (Isaiah 30:7, KJV). To sit still is an acknowledgment of God’s voice as the final authority on right and wrong. Couched with parental disciplinary language, the counsel recorded in Isaiah 30 was aimed at a rebellious and lying nation that refused to hear God’s law.

At that time Jerusalem despised God’s Word and practiced oppressive and perverse actions in its dealings with others. They were counseled that “in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not” (verse 15, KJV).

Instead they looked to Egypt for help. Ellen White gives some insight into what works in discipline: “We must individually hear Him speaking to the heart. When . . . we wait before Him, the silence of the soul makes more distinct the voice of God. He bids us, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’ Psalm 46:10, KJV.”* Despite the style of discipline, when I sit down with Him, I know I am loved. The Holy Spirit gives the victory.

Elinor Harvin Burks

* Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (Mountain View, CA: Pacific Press®, 1905), 58.