God disciplines those He loves so that they will remain in the path of truth. To understand this, we need to have a deep relationship with God. We can understand these things when we live by the Spirit. God, as a loving Father, wants the best for us. That is why He sometimes guides us through correction and discipline.
When God disciplines us, we must remember that He is doing it for our good. We should never view God’s discipline as punishment. Just as a father disciplines his child to show him the right path, God disciplines us to grow in righteousness and holiness.
We see an example of how God disciplines us in the life of King David. Yet he disobeyed God. When David was attracted to Bathsheba and sinned, God warned him through the prophet Nathan. God also taught David to walk in the path of righteousness by disciplining him.
In the story of Jonah, we see how God disciplined him. He tried to run away. God disciplined him through a storm and a huge fish. This discipline was not for his harm but to help him obey. When Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days, he repented and obeyed God’s command.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us humble ourselves before God and accept His discipline. We should never take it negatively but always accept it as being for our good.
Dear friends, now let us look at the following Bible scriptures that talk about ‘God disciplines those he loves’.
Proverbs 13:24 : —
“He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes”
Proverbs 19:18 : —
“Chasten thy son while there is hope, let not thy soul spare for his crying”
Proverbs 22:15 : —
“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him”
Proverbs 29:15 : —
“The rod reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame”
Proverbs 29:17 : —
“Correct thy son, he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul”
Proverbs 3:12 : —
“For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth”
Revelation 3:19 : —
“As many as I love, I rebuke chasten: be zealous therefore, repent”
Job 5:17 : —
“Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty”
Deuteronomy 8:5 : —
“Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the Lord thy God chasteneth thee”
Psalm 119:67 : —
“Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word”
Psalm 94:12 : —
“Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord , teachest him out of thy law”
Lamentations 3:39 : —
“Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?”
Hosea 6:1 : —
“Come, let us return unto the Lord : for he hath torn, he will heal us; he hath smitten, he will bind us up”
Galatians 6:1 : —
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted”
Ephesians 6:4 : —
“Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture admonition of the Lord”
Colossians 3:21 : —
“Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged”
Titus 2:12 : —
“Teaching us that, denying ungodliness worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, godly, in this present world”
Hebrews 12:11 : —
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby”