Pondering Proverbs – Discipline (2)

 

“Turn to my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.” Proverbs 1:23.

 

God our Father not only loves His particular children, exhibiting that love in paternal discipline, but He also loves the world and extends His reproving discipline to all mankind. This longsuffering, convicting, and disciplining love is given to lead mankind to repentance. And so in Proverbs 1:20 – 22 we read:

 

“Wisdom shouts in the street, she lifts her voice in the square; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: How long, O naïve [simple] ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing and fools hate knowledge?”

 

God is ever revealing Himself to the people of the world, and yet most of us refuse to see Him, to hear Him, to acknowledge Him, to glorify Him, to submit to Him. In Romans 1:18 – 32 we see that we “suppress the truth in unrighteousness” even though God reveals Himself both within us and within creation. And then we have (Rom. 1:21 - 22), “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools.”

 

Likewise in Proverbs 1:20 – 33 we see the downward regression of those who reject the Wisdom of God, the Voice of God speaking to us in the course of life. We read, “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of Yahweh.”

 

There came a point when God shut the door on the Ark of Noah. There comes a point of no return in the lives of people and societies. Paul writes that God sends a strong delusion on those who do not “receive the love of the truth so as to be saved” (2 Thess. 2:8 – 12).

 

God reveals Himself within us, giving us an innate sense of right and wrong, good and evil, justice and injustice – He gives us a sense of goodness, truth, and beauty. God also reveals Himself to us through His creation and His Word (Psalm 19). If we will listen to Him we will know that we ought to be other than what we are, better than what we are, higher than what we are – we will know that we have a home elsewhere, a destiny other than the grave, other than ego, power, wealth, fame, and the myriad facades of this world.

 

But if we will not listen, then our souls will become cold and dark and dull – and we will implode upon ourselves and upon one another. Is this not what we see around us?

 

Wisdom shouts, but we drown her voice, we stop our ears, we mock her – fools that we are. We tear the image of God down and trample it in the dust, bury it in the ground, and attack those who would honor God and His image. We call good evil and evil good; we call right wrong and wrong right. We give our allegiance and hearts to the kingdoms of this world, kingdoms in rebellion against God (Psalm 2, Daniel 2). We propagate a Christless Gospel without the Cross – a message that requires nothing from us, certainly not our lives – in contrast to the call of Jesus Christ (Mark 8:34ff).

 

Proverbs 1:20 – 33 is a tragedy in many ways, for it certainly leads to the book of Lamentations. Yet, let us not forget its concluding promise, a promise that we have in Jesus Christ:

 

“But he who listens to me shall live securely and will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

As Noah was safe in the Ark, so we are safe in Christ. 

 

Amen.