"3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."
Hebrews 12:3-11
The Apostle quotes from Proverbs 3:11, 12 in reminding his readers that there are two wrong reactions to such disciplines. 'Despise not the chastening of the Lord', don't take it lightly in the sense that you remain blind to its meaning and purpose, and fail to see the hand of God in it. In this connection, we might well quote Job's words, 'That which I see not, teach Thou me' (Job 34:32). Secondly, we are warned not to faint under it, but by faith see that in the midst of it God is on the throne, and rightly relate yourself to it. This is important, for if we do not, black discouragement will set in, and this is almost a greater problem in the Christian life than sin. It is so in this sense; if a man falls into sin, he can weep his way back to the Cross and find forgiveness and restoration there, but if a man falls into despondency, his attitude is, 'What is the use of going on, I might as well give up', and he does not come to Christ for help, but wallows in his darkness. How earnestly the Apostle seeks to stir us from this. 'Look away from your chastening' he cries 'to the "afterward" (11)'. This is the whole point. O for clear sightedness to see through the discipline to the blessed intention and purpose of God in it!