Deuteronomy 8:5 You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you.

When the prophets told the people they ought to consider something in their hearts it was a direction to get them to think of this thing frequently.

When you love someone you think of them often and think of them in many different ways; this is how we should be thinking of God’s Word too!

Just as a parent will correct and chastise a child when they do wrong, so will God be doing so for us.

Listen to God when He tells you stuff so you don’t end up being upset when he corrects you!

Proverbs 3:12 For whom the Lord loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.

This is one of those “I told you so!” verses we come across in our bibles.

But stop and think a bit about the words here. Think about them in terms of what has happened in the past with people who said they followed God and yet chose to do their own thing.

We have many accounts of the people of Israel getting into all manner of trouble as they chose their own path rather than following God’s rules.

And yet when they chose to obey God their lives had many rewards as God showed the world how much He loved them.

Proverbs 3:11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor detest His correction;

It does not matter whether you are child, adult, priest, king or the poorest of people; if God wants you to stop and listen, He will do what it takes!

Don’t blame God when He turns to you and tells you off! Don’t say it is unfair when you are the one doing something wrong.

Just because someone else may have done exactly the same does not give you the right to go off and do what you like!

God is just. He has the right to say when we do something wrong!