For whom the Lord loveth He correcteth. — Prov 3:12
We are apt to put it just the other way.
“My father does not love me, or he would not be so severe with me,” a boy says. Then he points to another boy whose father lets his son do as he pleases, and never restrains or corrects him. “That father loves his boy, and is always kind to him,” he says.
So it may seem just at the time. But to be left without discipline, to have no chastening, no correction, no restraining or withholding, is not proof of love. A father who does this with his son is letting him go to destruction unhindered. The one who corrects and chastens is intent on saving his son. Chastening is, therefore, a proof of love. God chastens us because He wants to save us and make something of us.
It should be a comfort to us to know, when we have trials or afflictions, that instead of being a proof that God does not love us, it is just the reverse – a new assurance of our heavenly Father’s tender affection and deep interest in us.