3. Accepting God’s Discipline (vv. 12-15). The words chasten or discipline (v. 12) mean “teaching and instruction from God’s law” (Deut. 8:5; Prov. 3:11-12). The psalmist recognized the fact that the difficulties of life could help him mature in his faith. If God immediately rescued His people from their personal difficulties, they would become “spoiled brats” and never grow in faith or character. “For whom the Lord loves He chastens” (Heb. 12:6). God uses personal difficulties to teach us new truths from His Word (119:50, 75, 92-95). There is coming a time of judgment (“days of adversity”), but the Lord will spare His people from it. The longer the wicked persist in their sins, the deeper is the pit they are digging for themselves and the stronger the net that will trap them (9:15-16). God cannot reject His people who are bound to Him in His covenant (37:28-29; Deut. 32:9; Isa. 49:14-18; Jer. 10:16). The psalmist believed in the justice of God, the future judgment of the wicked, and the promise of a righteous kingdom for the upright in heart.