Discipline, the discipline of a child, is healthful, and does good like a medicine. If we need it, it is the only thing for us. When, in the days of Samuel, Israel asked for a king, would it have been well for them if the Lord had given them David? The Lord had David in reserve for them; but would it have been seasonable, would it have been healthful for them if David had been given to them at once, when with a rebellious will they were asking for a king? Surely, they must first be made to know the bitterness of their own way. A Saul must be given when Israel asks a king. This was discipline, and this was the only thing that would have been healthful for them. But when they have tasted the bitterness of their own way, in pity of their misery, the Lord will bring out that which He has in reserve for them, the man after His own heart, that shall fulfill all His pleasure.
How perfect was all this! Had David been given to Israel in the day of 1 Sam. 11, the whole moral of the story would have been lost to us. But the love is the same, whether it be discipline or consolation, medicine or food.