His school of instruction – Thomas Brooks

“The rod is for the back of the one who lacks sense.” Proverbs 10:13

The rod is to make the child sensible of his folly and vanity. So it is here: God takes up the rod, but it is to make His people sensible of their folly and vanity; it is to make them look up to Him, and to look into conscience, and to look out to their lives. God’s house of correction is His school of instruction:
His lashes are our lessons,
His scourges are our schoolmasters,
His chastisements are our corrections.

Hence both the Hebrews and Greeks express chastening and teaching by one and the same word, because teaching is the true end of chastening.

Afflictions are a Christian’s looking-glass, by which he may see how to dress his own soul, and to mend whatever is amiss.