Discipline from God is a Sign of His Love

Want to experience the LOVE of God? Let Him discipline you. 

I know... not the answer you wanted. But it's the answer scripture gives. 
Proverbs 3:11–12 (ESV) My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, 12 for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

That word "loves" really strikes me. For we are loved in the discipline God brings into our lives. Notice the word is not "punishment" but "discipline". What is God doing with you? Making you more disciplined. 

Discipline is love to us because we don't typically understand what really needs to change in us. We think we do, but we don't. We want external fixes or temporal changes in condition, but God knows what really needs to go for our sanctification and change. And a part of our sanctification is the sanctification of our understanding His process of sanctification. 

Discipline is love because God is not letting our foolishness run the show. Proverbs will speak a lot about wisdom AND foolishness and the main idea we keep arriving at is that only those who accept they are fools can be transformed into the wise. The one who thinks he has nothing to gain in wisdom is the ultimate fool. 

Therefore, the proverb writer turns the page to wisdom's value:
Proverbs 3:13–18 (ESV) Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, 14 for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.

The book of proverbs is not simply about wisdom but about the benefits of wisdom. Your life is either built by wisdom or devoured by foolishness. 

Because God would not want any of His children devoured, He calls to us to learn and grow less foolish so that we might enter the future of our lives with wisdom. 


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