Hebrews 12:5,6
“and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of The Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those whom The Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives.”
We discipline our own children out of love. When they cross the line, we apply a consequence. It’s done so they will learn to do the right thing. God does this as well. It’s through circumstances. We receive discipline when we do something wrong, The obvious lessons are the natural consequences. For example, the parent tells the child not to touch the stove. The child learns quickly not to grab the neat blue flame. The parent doesn’t need to disipline further. The burn is enough. There are things in life that God doesn’t want us to do. Clearly the sinful things or the commandments apply. The more subtle lessons are with the gray areas or overindulging. It may be selfishness. It it may be a something that is morally all right, but we feel that God doesn’t want us to proceed. Some of these have natural consequences. For example, adultery may end one’s marriage, cause a job loss, division in the family, loss of friends, etc. God doesn’t need to further apply consequences. In the absence of those, I believe the above passage indicates that God will bring circumstances which are for corrective purposes. It’s out of love and meant to teach us follow the “still small voice” or the nuance of circumstances. At the time, it’s regretful. He knows that our actions will harm us. By this He may be saving us from something grevious down the road. Another aspect of this is reconciliation. When child does wrong, his guilt alienates his from his parents. The discipline makes it even, thus child’s conscience is clean. The burden is gone. So, with us the consequence has a cleansing affect. This isn’t talking about the guilt of sin; that’s gone. Lord, thanks that Your discipline “keeps us from evil”.