Proverbs 3:11-12 – “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction; For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.”
The God who can be trusted to smooth out obstacles and bring us to His purposes, also smooths out and removes our character flaws. He who supplies our material needs also demonstrates His Love for us by discipline. If we genuinely believe that the Lord can make the crooked paths straight, we should also believe that He can straighten our crooked lives.
The Lord chastens us. God’s Love for us includes His, discipline, and training. His training is done with His word. The Lord uses His word to direct us to be upright. He does it similarly to how a farmer ties a plant to a straight rod to align the plant’s growth. God uses His word as a rule to align our behaviour to His ways.
For whom has ever heard of a child who never had to be corrected? We all should welcome God’s discipline, as the validation of our authentic sonship. For if we have never once endured His correction, it only proves that we are strangers and not sons. When God convicts us of sin, it’s a sign of His Love and an opportunity to confess to Him and be forgiven.
The Lord corrects us. When our lives go in the wrong direction, the Lord rebukes and punishes us so that we can become the people He wants us to be. God’s corrections are not pleasant to us. When Israel sinned against the Lord, He used several ways to rebuke them and get them back on track. God’s correction is that which straightens us when we become crooked.
God has a way of starting off easy, but the punishment, the rebuke, the discipline become more stern as we fail to respond until He finally gets our attention. This could go so far as the Tribulation. God’s discipline is always corrective. He is not a sadist; He does not discipline for the fun of it.
When God corrects us, He shows it in ways such as these:
He can turn His Eyes away from us
He can remove His Hand from us
He can give us into the hand of our enemies
None of these actions from the Lord must be seen as His rejection. They must be seen as His Love in action. God shows His Love to us by chastening and correcting us. If we are indeed God’s children, He will want us to live our lives in a way that pleases Him. How we react to God’s correction will determine the fate of our future
The warning to us is twofold. The Lord encourages us not to despise nor detest His discipline. We despise and detest God’s chastening when we reject the instruction, He gives us or refuse His guidance. Before we see every hardship as a satanic attack, we must pause to find out if it is a correction from the Lord.
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid. A good man obtains favor from the LORD, but the LORD condemns a crafty man. A man cannot be established through wickedness, but the righteous cannot be uprooted
If you listen to correction to improve your life, you will live among the wise. Those who refuse correction hate themselves, but those who accept correction gain understanding. Respect for the Lord will teach you wisdom.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I know you love me and want the best for me. Help me to receive your discipline and corrections. In Jesus’ Name, Amen!
