It is a most honest confession to say, “I went astray.” If the man after God’s heart has this proneness to wander then we can be sure we are not free from it. The thing that must be used to compel us to yield obedience is the chastisement of God. God’s gentleness in His speaking does not seem to break this rebellion and sometimes He must correct us with a harder discipline.

God knows how to love His people. This great love includes chastisement, as Hebrews 12:6 reminds us, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.” David by confessing that he was prone to stray from the Lord, not only acknowledges his sin, but also meekly acknowledges the lovingkindness of God.

John Calvin says, “it is not surprising if God bring us to a sense of our duty by manifold afflictions. Yea, rather as the flesh is from time to time obstreperous, even when it seems to be tamed, it is no wonder to find him repeatedly subjecting us anew to the rod. This is done in different ways. He humbles some by poverty, some by shame, some by diseases, some by domestic distresses, some by hard and painful labours; and thus, according to the diversity of vices to which we are prone, he applies to each its appropriate remedy.”