And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; Proverbs 1:25
When God's Word comes to us offering us wisdom, God comes to us offering a judgment or decision on a matter. He also comes to us through the Word offering reproof. The problem is that in our current religious climate these two things are frowned upon and seen as being negative. God's Word, and the offer of enlightenment by the Holy Spirit, comes to us as counsel. This is the Hebrew word, "esah" and it means counsel that offers to us God's judgment on a matter. It speaks of a decision that God has made in His Word that let us know absolute truth on a matter. This is soundly rejected by the spirit of our age - seeing that we wince at the thought that anyone, including God, would assert that His decisions on any matter are final. The post-modern mindset leaves all absolute truth with the individual - thus making anyone else's pronouncements upon us invalid unless we accept them that way. But the problem here is that God Himself is truth - and whenever He speaks on a matter - that is the absolute truth of the matter that will stand regardless of the latest poll or public outcry. Here is where we find some very serious problems develop with the worldview of Scripture - and honestly - ANY other worldview that there is. God states that He speaks the truth - not that we can get truth from what He says - but what He says is absolute truth. Anything that disagrees with what He says on a matter . . . is wrong. When the world hears this - they cut loose from God's Word and His judgments on matters. Their worldview is wholly incompatible with a God Who claims to speak and have absolute truth. The god of this world is the individual mindset - and the personal views that we hold. Anyone who thinks that they can speak absolute truth to anyone - is seen as a extremist. If that is the case - then God is the ultimate extremist - but - He is also right all the time. The world cuts loose from God. They listen to the counsel of His judgments and decisions and consider such things bondage. In Psalm 2 they refer to life under God's authority as being in bondage. The kings and rulers of this world take counsel against God - and against Jesus Christ saying, "Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us." (Psalm 2:2-3) They hate a God who is sovereign and omniscient. They consider His judgments as chains and fetters upon their freedom (while actually only being enslaved to their own lusts). They do not want God's reproof. They consider His arguments specious - wrong - and very narrow minded. They do not want His correction - or any kind of argument that their choices or lifestyles are errant. The reason we do not want negative messages - like ones that correct us and counsel us according to absolute truth - is because the only absolute authority we want in our lives is our own. We want to call the shots in our lives. It is the fact of our fallen condition. We are full of pride - and have the arrogance to say to God that He has no right to tell us what to do. When He speaks His wisdom - calling us to it - calling us to turn to the reproof that it offers to us - mankind short-circuits. They want no authority but their own - and will continue to reject Him - His counsel - His judgments - and His reproof. But as we will see in future posts - this will only take us in a parth of destruction and misery. The wise man first turns from his own pride and arrogance - and listens closely to God's judgments, decisions, and wise counsel because of them. He knows that reproofs for discipline are not bad - they are the way of life.
0 Comments
For they are life to those who find them And health to all their body. Proverbs 4:22
The wise father will place before his sons that fact that living according to God's ways and commands is the very best way to live. Living this way is how to experience, "Life and life abundantly" as Jesus said in John 10:10. He will also let them know that God's ways are also the most healthy way to live for their physical bodies as well. This should be almost a "no-brainer" when we grasp that God, Who is omniscient and all-wise, would of course know the very best way for us to conduct ourselves for the most healthy and meaningful life the few years we have on this planet. The father begins by frankly telling his son that the ways of God are life to those who find them. Jesus warned us in John that the thief, who is the devil, comes to kill, steal, and destroy. We should take note that also in 1 John we read that the world lies in the power of the evil one. Therefore it should be no surprise to us that the world and its ways are destructive to our health and well-being. To follow the world is to ultimately harm ourselves. God made the world around us to function in a certain way. To follow Him is to follow the designer and creator of all that we see and know. When God gave His Law to Israel He said something very powerful in Deuteronomy 30, "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity;in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply . . . I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days . . ." (Deuteronomy 30:15-16,19-20) God made it clear to His people that His ways were best - actually they were penultimate over all other ways of living. To love, serve, and obey Him would bring them great blessing and life. Again, He tells Israel this in Deuteronomy 32:46-47 when He says, "Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life." The God who gave these very frank statements to Israel - also commanded the fathers of that nation to impress those same words upon the hearts of their sons. So all we are reading here in Proverbs is a restatement of what God has commanded previously. The father also seeks to say to his son that obeying the Lord's commands is also "health" to the body. Here is where things get fascinating. I attended Auburn University for my undergraduate work. While there I knew a couple of brothers in Christ who endeavored to study the Scriptures and test the Old Testament dietary laws to see why God gave them. Later I also read extensive articles out of a ministry in Chicago where doctors began treating patients based upon God's dietary and cleanliness laws. Both groups adamantly stated to me that what God gave in the Old Testament is the most astounding public health system known to mankind. If these commands were followed, it would lead to a marvelously healthy society. When the Jewish slums followed these laws in Europe - the beubonic plague did not affect their populations. Another way to say this is - the commandments of God are health to our bodies. Dads, we need to speak frankly to our sons concerning life - and what enhances and offers life to them. The world will not tell them such things, in fact, the world will tell them the opposite. We are the ones God has designed to speak such things to them. Actually, we are commanded to do so. Blessed is the son who has a wise father who will speak frankly with him about life - and life abundantly! The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, But He overthrows the words of the treacherous man. Proverbs 22:12
When you consider what kind of opposition the Bible has had throughout history, it is a wonder that any of it has been preserved to our day. Yet just as this proverb says, God had preserved His knowledge - as well as the writings of many other godly men - even though it has often been attempted to be destroyed by evil men. What is often lost to us are the words of the treacherous men who have lived throughout history. But even more than that we see that their very words themselves have been overthrown. The "who's who" list of evil men who have predicted the demise of God and His Word is so long that I would not have room to list them all in a post here - yet all their words have been overthrown. They have risen to predict that God would be destroyed - only to see Him remain and continue to change history through His Word and His church. How frustrating it has to be to see generation after generation continuing to be transformed by the gospel. How frustrating to see the very same gospel that they've hated for generations stand in another generation as their wicked philosophies were thrown on the trash heap of history. It is wonderful to see the stories of men like John Hus and John Wycliffe and how God preserved their works - especially their translations of the Bible. Both men saw the false church react strongly to their translation of the Scriptures - especially since their translations were trying to put God's Word into the language of the people. The false church killed John Hus - and were so disgusted with Wycliffe that over 40 years after his death dug up his bones and burned them and condemned him. But God preserved the writings and knowledge that these men gave to us - eventually using both of them as precursors to the Reformation. Rather than destroy the knowledge that they brought to us - God preserved it and used it to overthrow all the treacherous words and actions of the godless church that tried to overthrow the Word of God. Here is wisdom . . . realizing that God's Word will stand when everything else has faded away. As Peter said, 'All flesh is like grass, and all its flory like the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever." (1 Peter 1:24-25, NASB) For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is light; And reproofs for discipline are the way of life. Proverbs 6:23
Today we are going to cover an amazing proverb that applies to every area and every aspect of life itself. Here, like in the gospel, we are told of "the way of life." Unlike in the gospel, this "way of life" is not one that can redeem us from sin - but it can be used by the Holy Spirit to make us a lifetime learner - a disciple who knows how God works through His Word and through the way that it is taught to us by the Spirit. If there was ever a day to listen closely - today would be that day. We are told of two things at the beginning of this proverb. We are told of the commandent and the teaching. These two things are compared to a lamp and to light. First we have the commandment. This is the same word that is used for God's 10 commandments. It refers to God's Law - and I believe beyond the Old Testament it can be applied to the inspired Word of God anywhere in the Old or New Testaments. We are told here that the commandment is a lamp. A lamp is something that can emit light if used properly. The lamp will always have the potential for light to come from it. It is something that holds light - and if lit it will radiate light. Interesting for us who understand the figures and types that are used for God's Holy Spirit, a lamp is filled with oil which is a type throughout the Old Testament for the Spirit and His work. When that oil is lit - the lamp produces light. In much the same way, the Word of God always has within it the teaching of the Holy Spirit - His leading and His instruction, warning, and rebuke. When we come to God's Word, the lamp, we have the wonderful working of the Spirit of God as He illumines the Scriptures for us. But before we think that simply reading or hearing the Word will always produce light, we need to remember that the commandment is a lamp. It can produce light - but it can also remain unlit and just be a lamp. There are those who misuse God's Word and no light comes forth. The devil himself quoted the Scriptures to Jesus - to try and get Him to sin. In that instance the lamp did not produce light - but it was abused to promote darkness. There are also professors even at semniaries who do not believe the Bible is the Word of God. The teaching they do promotes darkness. This means that we cannot make a blanket statement that when the Bible is taught or read that it always results in light. The second statement made here is that the teaching is light. First off we need to note here that we are not reading that the teaching is the light. "THE" light is reserved for references to Jesus Christ Himself - God - and amazingly enough, us when we are manifesting God's character to others. Here we read that the teaching is light. The word for teaching here is the Hebrew word "torah." Here torah means instruction or direction. In the Old Testament the word mean instruction in a general manner from God Himself. The idea here is that the command is the lamp - and when the Spirit or a Spirit-inspired teacher is instructing from it - the lamp becomes light - or begins to illumine with light. This is so important for us to grasp because it is the very way that God will instruct and teach us. We come to the Word, but we covet that when we do the Holy Spirit instructs us as we read and as we meditate upon what the Word says. Do not misunderstand me to say that the Bible becomes the Word as it is taught. That is false doctrine. The Bible is always the inspired Word of God that gives us the revelation of God. It is just that we are blind to it without the instruction of the Holy Spirit who opens our hearts and spirits so that we can receive what God says. That is why I think it is important to consciously ask the Spirit of God to teach us when we come to the Word of God. There is one other thing this passage teaches us about the functioning of the Word in our lives. Today there are many who teach that the major reason for God's Word is that we can "confess who we are" in a positive way. There is a potential problem with this doctrinal view. We can get to the point where we only receive "positive" messages about ourselves from God's Word - and not conviction of sin. When we read this passage though, it seems that we are learning something contrary to the positive confession doctrine. "And reproofs for discipline are the way of life." When we read this we have to come to the conclusion that a large part of what the Word of God is going to do is reprove us. It is probably at least one fourth of what it does because we read in 2 Timothy 3:16 that the Word of God is profitable for reproof. Actually the 2 Timothy passage says not just reproof, but also correction as well. The Word of God comes to us often to reprove and correct us. One of God's complaints against the false prophets is that they would whitewash Israel's sin. They would constantly talk about blessing without helping Israel and Judah to see that they had sinned against the Lord. It does not matter how many "positive" confessions you make to yourself, God, and others - if you have unconfessed sin in your life - God will not bless you. And since we are fallen creatures who live in a fallen world - we need for God to reveal to us that when we are acting "fallen!" If you read Romans 7 - you do not come away with the thought that Paul just needed to be more positive. He was wrestling with very real sin - and a very real fleshly, sinful nature that could not be defeated except through Jesus Christ. That is why we need desperately to see that we need to be reproved and disciplined by God to become all that God desires for us to be in Christ. Without that reproof and correction, we will not know from what we need to turn. The way of life is through being disciplined by God - and that involves the Lord reproving us for our sin. When we come to His Word - His commandments - He is going to reveal to us how we have sinned against Him. He does not do this because He hates us. Contrary to that thought, He does it because He loves us! He desires for us to share in His holiness (Hebrews 12) - and that means He wants us to share in His life. Wisdom is coming to God's Word in the right way each day. It means that we approach the Lord each day being open to what He wants to teach us. As we do this we also open ourselves to His Spirit to reveal to us that we may have sinned - or we may be lacking godly character - or a good attitude toward an authority. There are any number of ways that God might speak to our hearts and help us to abandon sin - and embrace His holiness. Regardless of what specifics are involved, God desires to bring blessing into our lives through this process. Remember - the reproofs and discipline are the way of life! He is bringing you life when He does these things. Be wise therefore and receive what He is saying each day - whether it is encouragement, exhortation, teaching, or reproof. They are all in his arsenal of blessing to conform you to the image of His Son and change you to be a better vessel for the blessing of not just yourself - but everyone around you. Buy truth, and do not sell it, Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.
Proverbs 23:23 Truth? What is truth? That is a question that Pilate posed to Jesus at His trial. Today, truth is in the mind of the one currently thinking. We live in a word deeply affected by post-modern philosophy. This philosophy says that truth is whatever you want it to be. Each man's truth is his own - and not to be frowned upon by anyone else's views. This is the corollary to the current doctrine of truth, the doctrine of tolerance. The effect of these two working together negates for the most part what the Bible says is truth. Yet the Bible says that it is truth. The Bible is God's revelation of Himself - and as the Author Himself is True - so anything He does to reveal Himself is truth by the very nature that He has said it. This places the the Christian worldview at odds with the current views of post-modern truth and tolerance. In the end though, everyone functions on the basis of truth. This is especially the truth when we die and face God in judgment. We might be able to deceive ourselves that whatever we want to believe is truth - but in the end, all men will stand before God and give an account of themselves to Him. In that day there will only be one so-called version of the truth - God's. Proverbs tells us to buy truth and do not sell it. This world, since it is fallen, is not big on truth. Romans 1 says that mankind rejects God and chooses instead to make gods of their own - deceiving themselves in the process. The god of this world, Satan, is a liar and the father of lies. Therefore the world system in which we presently live is far more based on lies than on truth. Therefore whenever we encounter truth, we need to buy it and not sell it. Those terms are terms that are used in stock and investments. The only reason you would buy and not sell something is because it is constantly increasing in value. The longer you hold it, the wealthier you become. And according to Scripture here - you want to buy truth whenever you can and hold it forever because it will only make you richer every day you have it! The Word of God is truth! Let's consider this for a moment. The wise man who buys truth and does not sell it - has found a field that is filled with gold, diamonds, and jewels of every shape, size, and description - as he comes to the Word of God. Knowing this it is amazing that we don't realize that time spent in the Word will make us eternally wealthy whenever we do it. Buy truth - redeem any time you can in the Word of God - it's worth millions! There is more here - because God wants us to do more than just read His Word - although that is a good start. He wants us to gain wisdom and instruction and understanding as we do. Getting wisdom means getting an idea of how God views things. Getting instruction means being open and teachable so God can teach us at any time through anything that He does. It also means coming to God's Word to learn and to be instructed by Him. Getting understanding means that we take the wisdom and instruction that we obtain and we learn how to apply it to how we live each and every day. We learn how to walk with the Word that we read and understand and discern the difference between good and evil -between what is God and what is NOT God in this world and in our lives. It is vital that we take the time that we have here on earth and apply it to knowing God - and as we know Him - walking with Him in wisdom throughout our days. The benefit to knowing truth - buying it and getting wisdom, instruction, and understanding is that we learn to live for the things that truly matter. We also learn to steer clear of things that will harm us in the end. That way at the close of our lives we will not spend our time regretting the things we've done and regretting the way that we've lived our lives. He who turns away his ear from listening to the law, Even his prayer is an abomination. Proverbs 28:9
So, how does God view the prayers of those of us who are actively disobeying His Word? That is what we learn today in the proverb of the day. This is going to be a proverb that confronts those who think God hears their prayers - when they are actively disboeying a command of the Word of God. It is also going to be a time when we realize that God sees issues of obedience to His Word in stark black and white - not in a plethora of grey. When we disobey the Word - we are in effect turning our ears away from listening to it. Here in Christian America, we think that having heard the word with the ear alone is akin to having obeyed it. The most rebellious places in America are not the bars or the strip joints. The most rebellious places in America are the parking lots of her churches. This is where far too many saints of God go after hearing the truth preached by their pastors - and justify letting it go into one ear and out the other. They hear the Word - but it never penetrates their hearts. Some will even justify their present disobedience - while praising what was said by the preacher. Thus the American practice of thinking we've obeyed, when we have only heard something - is continued weekly. When we do not obey - we are turning our ear from listening to the truth. The term here for turn away means that we go away from the Word - we desert it - we quit the Word, meaning that we hear, but do not DO it. We turn aside from it and do not allow it to do a work in our hearts. When we do not obey the Word - God considers our prayers and abomination. Whoa now! Did we read that right! God considers prayers uttered by the disobedient to be an abomination. We thought that word was just reserved for homosexuals - didn't we. But God is holy - not just anti-homosexual. He is pro-holiness all the way. Thus, when we are not pro-holiness (read here pro-obedience, pro-godly, pro-doing what God says when He says it) - we are in effect, anti-God. He is shocked and appalled by our lack of listening and obeying. He is horrified that we would actually turn a deaf ear to what He has said. He considers such things an abomination! There were a group of people that Jesus was hardest upon in the gospel accounts. To the shock of most people, this group was not the classic sinners. He was not hardest on the prostitutes, the tax collectors, the scum of society, or the usually suspects we consider when we wonder who a "hell-fire-and-brimstone" preacher would single out in his preaching. Jesus was hardest on religious hypocrites. He reserved His most scathing comments for those who practiced religion outwardly, but inwardly ignored the Word. By the way - this is where the pray-er, but not obey-er would be put by our Lord. The one who turns his ear from listening to the Law, by not obeying it - IS the hypocrite. And contrary to our popular habit of thinking that the hypocrite is anyone other than us - it IS us. Whenever we engage in pious prayers - without having obeyed the Word that God has spoken to us recently - we are an abomination. Wisdom tells us that we are to hear and heed the Word of God. This will give our prayers wings that will fly them to the very throne of God. May we always watch our hearts to make sure that we are hearing, obeying - then praying. This is the proper order of things. A man will be praised according to his insight, But one of perverse mind will be despised. Proverbs 12:8
Good godly Biblical-sense beats out common-sense every day. But what is interesting is that often common-sense, which we too often take for granted, comes from Biblical-sense. We read here that a man will be praised according to his insight. This word "insight" is a great Bible word. The word means to be intelligent and have good sense. But this is an intelligence that means more than just a mere book knowledge on a certain subject. It means an insight and understanding that is the gift of God. We obtain it as we seek God and seek to know God through the way He has revealed Himself through His Word - the Bible. This is why I stated at the beginning of today's post that common-sense actually arises out of Biblical-sense. Since studying Proverbs in depth I've noticed that the counsel that I offer to others has been radically affected. Rather than offer my own fallible insights and thoughts - I quote from Proverbs and Scripture as a source of counsel. By the way, this means it is no longer my counsel - but God's Word. A second "by the way" is in order too. A good counsellor is not always one with a degree or a certificate - but one with a good working knowledge of God's Word and how it speaks to every issue of life. Sorry for the digression, I'll get back to the point. People want that kind of counsel - and they say to me that I have great insight into their problems and situations. When this is said, I laugh and let them know that without the Scriptures I'm as dumb as a stump. Any profit they receive is because of God's grace and the way that "Biblical-sense" has affected my "common-sense." When a man is praised becuase of his insight - it is often due to the fact that He is studying and seeking to apply Scripture to life. My favorite people are my brothers and sisters who are in their 70's and 80's who have studied and sought to live out God's Word their entire adult lives. They are a treasure chest of wisdom and instruction, rebuke and correction, counsel and encouragement, knowledge and discernment. But there is another person out their offering their opinion and counsel. It is the one of "perverse mind." The word "perverse" here means to bend or to twist. It speaks of those who distort things and make them perverse and crooked. This one will be despised according to Proverbs. When we see where their counsel leads us we will hate their advice. The problem is that too often those of "perverse mind" are exalted in our culture. They are the ones who make movies and television shows that exalt sexual impurity. They tell us that a sexually immoral lifestyle is the bomb! We need to try it out and embrace the sexual revolution. What they don't tell us in their movie portrayals is the truth about sexually transmitted diseases, the truth about broken relationships and broken marriages. They speak of the pleasure without the payment - the joy without the judgment. When we finally learn where their perverse counsel has led us - we despise them for it and feel like we've been burned (because we have!). Don't seek out the counsel of the "perverse of mind." Be careful of the way you allow the culture and the world to color your thinking. We don't say it often enough in the church today, but the culture in which we live is a perverse and godless one. When we allow the print media and what is sent out over the airwaves to instruct us (and realize that they usually instruct us through what they call "entertainment") we are being taught by the perverse in mind and heart. Find those who have insight! Search out and locate those who have "Biblical-sense." Their counsel may hurt a little at first (especially if you've spent too much time among the perverse of mind) but in the end you will praise them for their insight and counsel. Don't be surprised though if they blush and defer all praise to the One Who gave us the revelation of Himself in the Bible. In the end, He is actually the One Who has all the wisdom and great insight. But that is because He is God! The leech has two daughters, "Give," "Give." There are three things that will not be satisfied, Four that will not say, "Enough": Sheol, and the barren womb, Earth that is never satisfied with water, And fire that never says, "Enough." Proverbs 30:15-16
Among verses in Proverbs this has to be one of the stranger ones. Because this passage has no real pointer within it except the fact that it speaks of a specific kind of leech whose daughters are insatiable, it is one of those verses that has a myriad of explanations by commentators. These explanations range from the two daughters being death and hell, heaven and hell, as well as a myriad of negative character traits all focusing on greed in its various forms. So how do you come to any kind of secure conclusion about a verse like this? Let's take a look and see if we can discern anything from looking at this very strange verse in Proverbs. First of all, when a passage itself does not immediately release its meaning - it can be very dangerous. That is because too many people will begin allegorizing it quickly. You will have people saying that these two sisters are anything and everything under the sun. But when a verse does not yield immediate clarity - we MUST turn to the context to better understand it. Let's start with what we do know. The being spoken of here is a leech - and more specifically, a horseleach. This is a blood sucking creature that actually has a two lipped appearance. It is through these two lips that the leech sucks the blood out of its victims. Because the horseleach has these two sucking mechanisms - it is known for having an insatiable appetite for a large amount of blood. That might account for the reason that the passage speaks of the leech having two daughters. But we come again to what all this means? What is the context of this passage. The previous verses, 12 through 14, are a unit in themselves - and verse 15 does not really fit with them. These verses spoke of the arrogance and pride of various individuals - and how their arrogance make their mouths very dangerous. But when you look at verse 15 in the context of the next set of verses - it fits quite well. These verses deal with things that are unsatiable - that won't ever say, "enough." The next piece of the puzzle is found when we see that verse 15 speaks of two things - then of three, and ends with a comment in verse 16 that says there are even four things that will not be satisified or say enough. Verse 16 then gives us what those four things are. So what does this context say to us - or help us to see about this horseleach? When I took time to seriously look at what Solomon was saying, I think that the horseleach was being referred to by his physical characteristics - as an example of the first number (2 things) that are insatiable. It is part of the buildup that Solomon is giving to get to the number four. Solomon is using a verbal tactic or a rhetorical device to make his argument more powerful. He is saying that there are two - no three - no four things that will not say enough. Therefore - the leech spoken of here is not a two-pronged greedy set of things - like death and hell or greed and avarice - or like the most ridiculous commentator suggested - a vampire! The leech is an example of something (here I believe the two-lipped or two-suckered opening that sucks blood - and that according to Solomon is saying always, "Give, Give!" Beyond that example out of nature - Solomon is most likely saying nothing else. He moves on in the very next statement to count to three then four - and makes it clear that he speaks of things that will not say enough. He speaks of these four things before the next verse is over. What this passage does help us to see is the danger of just haphazardly taking verses or parts of them that don't seem to have any clear meaning - and assigning them things that we just figure they must be. I've even heard some use this verse to speak derrogatorily of daugnters - saying that they are like blood-sucking leeches who are constantly taking money from daddy - and who never say, enough. Again, here is the dagner in all this. What we don't clearly understand - we need to submit to further scrutiny and a searching out of the text and context. This will usually yield a blessing in the end. Here - it yields the use of a rhetorical device - not a secret two-fold code concerning things we are left to guess about in the end. But what about wisdom? This passage is saying to us that we should see that this life and this world are never satisfied. Whether it is "sheol" (which is the place of the dead -or death itself) or a barren womb (which is never satisfied until there is a baby on the way - even one born to the barren woman) of the earth that is never satisfied with the water rained upon it, or a fire that consumes everything it can get - never being satisfied with what it has burned - we are facing the fact that this present world never gets enough. If we are wise - we will follow Solomon's reasoning - and see that not having satisfaction is kinda normal in this world. The Rolling Stones were quasi-prophetic when they sang, "I Can't Get No, Satisfaction, even though they were terrible grammarians. Wisdom tells us to be careful about our desires and unmet wants. Wisdom tells us that this world is saying something to us about our dissatisfaction. This world is not right - and it cannot satisfy us. In the end - satisfaction will have to be found "outside" this existence. We are not told where we can get this satisfaction here - just that nature and life should tell us not to expect all that much of it from this present life and this present world. What we learn from the rest of the testimony of Scripture is that this IS a problem - and it is only satisfied when we come to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Only He can bring us fullness. I guess the proper way to close this particular post is to say that maybe there is a fifth thing that never says enough. That would be commentators who take passages like this and make them say something that neither the meaning of the words in the verse - nor the verse as a whole in its context actually means. He who keeps the law is a discerning son, But he who is a companion of gluttons humiliates his father. Proverbs 28:7
Here is an interesting proverb for us. In it we find comments about discernment, the Law, gluttons, and the way we represent our families, our fathers in particular. Yet, all of it boils down to how we maintain a relationship with the Word of God. The entire proverb hinges on the first statement. Here we see a son who "keeps the law." What is it that this son is doing? The word for keep is the Hebrew "natsar" and it means that he guards the Word in his life. He does this by living a life that seeks to obey the Word. He also is seeking to preserve the Word and its effects in his life. He does this by hiding the Word in his heart - keeping it in his mind - and realizing that the Word (here the law) is entrusted to him. Thus he wants to "maintain" a relationship with God's Word. This is more than just a casual relationship that this son wants to maintain with the Word. He is longing to protect the way that the Word impacts his life - desiring to maximize it as well! Because of this - the Word says that this son is discerning. When we have this kind of ongoing relationship with God's Word - we are putting ourselves in line to being someone with a fair amount of discernment from God. But why is this the case? There is an inherent blessing that comes to us when we "keep the Word" in our lives. Think about the practices that this involves. We have a mindset that wants to guard obedience to the Word and what God has said to us today. We take the time to memorize and meditate on the Word each day. In the end the Word begins to fill our minds and our thoughts. We find our thinking processes being transformed by what God says - and we consider what He says as worth guarding and protecting in our lives. As a result when things happen in this young man's life - he filters it through the Word. He asks fascinating questions like, "Will this please God," or "Am I glorifying God while doing this?" He wants to see all of his actions and attitudes agree with what the law says. He sees it not just as a "have to" situation - but because his heart has worked to keep the law near - it becomes a "want to" one as well. This young man will experience the blessing of discernment. He will have that ability to look at two things that differ - and see the difference in light of the law of God. He will be able to discern what pleases God and what displeases Him - what delights His heart and what breaks it. What is even better is that he learns to choose what delihts the heart of his Father! The contrary of this thought is really interesting. The opposite is a son who humiliates his father by being a companion of gluttons. OK - didn't see that one coming when I read the first part of this - but let's take a few moments to break it down and discern wisdom. First something indirect we should notice. If this young man's activities an companionship humiliates his father - it must mean that the father was actively seeking to teach him differently. Dad was wanting his son to have the law as a guidepost for his son. He was teaching and training his son to be a young man who could discern God's will through His law. Thus we come to an interesting question for fathers. Are you training your sons to be discerning young men who approach all in this world with the Word of God as a filter and a guide? That is not the main point here - but it is one that is implied. The main point here though is that the son who is a companion of gluttons will humiliate his father. A couple of things that a wise man knows. First he knows that those whom he chooses to be his companions matters. If he makes the wrong choices about those who are his friends - he will be harmed by it. Bad company corrupts good morals. Godless companions will bring about a godless lifestyle in the end. Minister to the godless - but let your companions be those who honor God and who desire to obey His Word. Who are these "gluttons?" The Hebrew word is "zalal" which means to be vile, frivilous, gluttonous, or worthless. The word was used in Deuteronomy 21:20 to describe a son who is worthless in his character and gluttonous. A similar word was used to those who drank too much. It is the opposite of what is useful, valuable, or precious. This is the word used to describe the foolish son's friends and companions. They are definitely bad characters - whose character is bad. They give themselves to excess (thus the word gluttony) and the excess that they embrace is an excess of godlessness and worthless things. Since this word is set over against the son who watches and keeps God's law - the companions of the foolish son are overindulgent in their appetites for evil. They are godless - and they take their godlessness to the extreme. The son who keeps company with such men will humiliate his father. He will live the life of a profligate - giving himself to the same excess of the flesh and the world that they do. He will embrace the godlessness - and in so doing will break the heart of his father. There is good news in all this though. Jesus spoke of a son who embraced these kind of companions - and who demanded his inheritance so that he could pay for all the wickedness that money could buy. His father allowed him to walk away - rich yet very stupid. His father, I'm sure, was humiliated by his son's godless conduct. But in this story - the prodigal son wound up wishing he could eat the food that he was feeding to the pigs. He decided that his godless lifestyle had brought him little joy - and much sorrow and disgrace. As he returned home to beg forgiveness - and offer himself as a slave to his father - he experienced an astounding thing. His father had been praying and waiting for his return. When the father saw this prodigal son, he ran to him and embraced him. What we learn from this is that even a foolish son who shames his father - is loved by the Father. He is watching ahd waiting for his return. Though his actions shamed Him - the Father still loved his son - and rejoiced when he returned. Wisdom tells us to steer clear of godless companions. But even though many of us ignore this and walk headlong into sin and wickedness - the Father still waits and watches. He works so as to bring His wayward sons home. Those who come and see the radical difference living for Christ makes - embrace the wisdom of turning to God and finding grace and mercy ready to run to them when they arrive in repentance toward God. So, even if you have been a fool with your companions - and have been corrupted as a result - know that God loves you and is willing to forgive and restore! Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. Proverbs 2:9
How do you know when you are doing the right thing or going in the right direction in life? Here is a question that everyone would love to be able to answer. The fact is that God says that we can know this. The way that we know it though is definitely outside of the mainstream of ideas that exist today. Let's take a look today at how we can know whether we are on course or not. Solomon tells us here that there is a time when we will be able to discern some very important things. The first in his fourfold list is righteousness. Before we jump into those four things, we should see that discernment is involved. The word discern means that we are able to look at things and distinguish between them. We see differences between two or more things - and use that knowledge to understand them from God's vantage point. Here is our first very important lesson - things differ - and you can tell the difference. Most would agree with you on this truth - until you begin stating what you can distinguish between. The last thing we should address before we go into our list is that Solomon is stating what he does in verse 9 as a conclusion to all he has said before. What is it that allows us to have this discernment? It is the Word of God. All through this chapter he is calling for us to receive the Word, store up the Word in our hearts, cry out for God's work in teaching it to us, and to seek for the Word as one would buried treasure. The discernment of which we speak here is a discernment that comes only because of the way the Word works in our hearts. As I said earlier, the first in his fourold list if righteousness. We will be able to discern when something is right or not. Now is the moment when the postmodern among us throw up their red flags. They assert someone might know right and wrong for themselves - but consider it the height of arrogance to think or state that anyone might be able to discern right and wrong for everyone. But that is exactly what Proverbs asserts here - and more by the time we finish with the four things Solomon says can be discerned. The second in our list of four is justice. Our society cries out for justice - but unfortunately the justice they want ignores the Word of God. It ignores what God calls just in many cases - and completely ignores the problem of how we can be just before Him. Whereas the world cries for social justice - God offers absolute justice. These are not always opposed to one another - but - God ultimately wants us to be able to stand before Him just and righteous - and that requires the person and the work of Jesus Christ to happen. The third thing we will be able to discern is equity. Here, my friends is a loaded word. "Meysar" is the word the Hebrews used to describe equity. It means rightness, correctness, and fairness. The word meant something smooth and level. Communism is man's way of trying to make everything equitable. Pure communism takes from everyone and then redistributes it so everyone gets an equal share. It does not take into account work ethic or whether someone has truly earned their share with hard work. And since pure communism would require pure hearts to work - we see that in practical communism - the ruling class takes and redistributes so everyone is equally as poor - while they live in the lap of luxury and take care of those who most honor and support their rule. When God speaks of equity He is speaking of how a state should judge fairly and honorably. He is speaking of how His promises are available to all. To "discern" equity we need to see things as God does - for fairness and correctness begins with what is fair and right in God's eyes. When we bring God into this equation - we have serious trouble for mankind. Man is sinful and rebellious - and what is fair for him is God's wrath and judgment. What we should find amazing about God's equity is that He chose to pay the price of equity for us - and instead of giving us what is fair, He gave us grace instead. Finally, through the Word, we can discern every good course. We will know the right ways to walk - and God will indicate to us wrongs ones as well. This right and wrong will correspond to what He says in His Word. Thus we have the ultimate aggravation to the modernist. We assert that through God's Word we have an "absolute standard" upon which all things in life is to be measured. If actions and choices and lifestyles do not measure up to what God calls good, right, just, and equitable - they are wrong. And thus begins the clash of worldviews. True Judaism and Christianity will always find themselves at odds with the rest of the worldviews that come from men. They end up at odds because they have the audacity of claiming that God's Word is a revelation of THE truth. For those who reject this claim - the world is a mish-mash of conflicting morals and ideas. We all get along by ultimately stating that both everything is right, as well as everything is wrong. It might be right for us while at the same time being wrong for others. The resulting public moral quicksand creates a world in which all things are to be tolerated except the arrogance of Judaism and Christianity who assert that their worldview is absolute. That view - that view that states that there is absolute truth and it is found in God's Word - is the one that absolutely cannot be tolerated. Too bad though - because it is the only worldview that creates the stability of actually knowing whether the path you are taking will ultimately lead to blessing or destruction. |
Proverb a DayEach day, we'll take a look at a verse from the chapter of Proverbs for the day. Our hope is to gain wisdom each day - and from that wisdom - to have understanding to make godly decisions in the throes of everyday life. Thank you for visiting our website! Everything on this site is offered for free. If, however, you would like to make a donation to help pay for its continued presence on the internet, you can do that by clicking here. The only thing we ask is that you give first to the local church you attend. Thank you!
Archives
August 2018
Copyright 2024 Calvary Chapel Jonesboro | all rights reserved |