Chastened

What is your immediate response when someone corrects, criticizes or chastises you?

In institute this morning, we discussed 1 Nephi 16-17. Most of the time was actually spent focusing on just two verses of this,  1 Nephi 16:1-2:

1 And now it came to pass that after I, Nephi, had made an end of speaking to my brethren, behold they said unto me: Thou hast declared unto us hard things, more than we are able to bear.

2 And it came to pass that I said unto them that I knew that I had spoken hard things against the wicked, according to the truth; and the righteous have I justified, and testified that they should be lifted up at the last day; wherefore, the guilty taketh the truth to be hard, for it cutteth them to the very center.

However well meaning our corrector may be, it can still hurt to be corrected. It isn't comfortable to be told we are doing something wrong. It hurts our pride.

We are told in the scriptures that when we must reprove someone, we are to do it "with sharpness [think: with clarity, to the point, or strongly; not necessarily harsh], when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;" (D&C 121:43) (See this article for more about this verse.)

Sometimes the Lord sees fit to chasten us. That can be even harder than being chastened by a parent or a leader. Today we were told that there are three reasons why the Lord chastens us.

1. To persuade us to repent. An example of this is Ether 2:14, where the Lord chastened the Brother of Jared for three hours, because he "remembered not to call upon the name of the Lord." I've often wondered if the Lord was disappointed with the Brother of Jared because the Lord had wanted to bring them to the promised land, and the four years spent camping on the seashore was time wasted, that could have been spent building boats and traveling to the promised land, had the prophet been seeking the Lord's will as he should have.
2. To refine us. D&C 101:5 says, "For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified." I am reminded of a story I once heard, when Joseph Smith reproved Brigham Young publicly and soundly for something Brigham Young hadn't done. Brigham's response was a very humble, "what would you have me do?" Can we be chastened and still be faithful?
3. To change us to a better course. Elder Hugh B. Brown gave a graduation speech at BYU many years ago entitled, "God is the Gardener". I would highly recommend listening to the entire thing. (The text isn't available, but you can access the MP3 here.) Here is a bit of his speech, in which he tells a story about a currant bush.

God knows us. He knows what is best for us. He also loves us dearly and wants what is best for us. He chastens us to guide us in the paths he knows will be best, or that will help us to become our best. If we can be humble and trust in Him, he will direct our paths for good.

A quote I was given to read in class today came from a 2011 Conference talk be Elder D. Todd Christofferson. It says:

Remember that if we resist correction, others may discontinue offering it altogether, despite their love for us. If we repeatedly fail to act on the chastening of a loving God, then He too will desist. He has said, "My Spirit will not always strive with man" (Ether 2:15). Eventually, much of our chastening should come from within--we should become self-correcting. One of the ways that our late beloved colleague Elder Jose[h B. Wirthlin became the pure and humble disciple that he was, was by analyzing his performance in every assignment and task. In his desire to please God, he resolved to determine what he could have done better, and then he diligently applied each lesson learned.

 Would it be better to never feel the discomfort of being chastened, and traipse our merry way over a cliff to our destruction? Or can chastening, gently and well meaningly offered, help us to become better people?