Pondering Proverbs - Discipline (3)

 

“He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, and he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you, reprove a wise man and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser, teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.” Proverbs 9:7 – 9.

 

Do you see similarities between Proverbs Chapter 9 and Proverbs 1:20 – 33? What do you see that is different? How would you describe the story [narrative] of Proverbs 9?

 

How might you compare Proverbs 9 with Psalm 1?

 

How might Proverbs 9:7 – 9 help us understand Matthew 7:6?

 

When I read a passage like Proverbs 9:7 – 12 I wonder how I, myself, receive instruction. It is so easy for me to look at others and to attempt to apply Scripture to them, but am I submitting to Scripture? Am I allowing the Word to search my heart and my mind and my soul? Or am I being so foolish as to think that I can hide anything from God? Am I justifying my own foolishness and ego and sin?

 

Well, for sure, as Proverbs 9:10 tells us, “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Approaching Scripture in holy reverence, before the Throne of God, puts us in a posture to humbly read, listen, ponder, and receive God’s Living Word in Jesus Christ. The healthy and holy and reverent fear of God helps us receive His discipline as coming from our Father, who is Creator of all.

 

Have you noticed that the Bible talks about scoffers, about those who scorn pretty much everything as a way of life? Consider the very first verse of Psalms, “How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers.”

 

Then we have Proverbs 9:12, “If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, and if you scoff, you alone will bear it.” (Though make no mistake, whether we are wise or whether we scoff will affect others – for good or evil – consider 1 Timothy 4:16 as a positive example.)

 

Scoffing poisons our souls and makes it difficult to hear and submit to the Word of God and the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit. Scoffing feeds on itself, the more we scoff then the more we scoff – our minds and hearts become dominated by scoffing and scorn, our mission is to tear down and not build up, it is to exalt ourselves at the expense of others rather than to serve others with the peace and truth of Jesus Christ. When we scoff we become known for what we are against rather than what we are for – we become demolition crews and not builders.

 

Many of the most popular television and radio programs have scoffers as their “stars” – this is true across the political spectrum. Many (most?) of those in political power have built political bases by scoffing – and the more scorn and scoffing the better. Many political rallies are nothing more than scoffing rants in which scorn and vitriol and hate seek greater decibel levels. Sadly, professing Christians often drink and propagate this poison; rather than following the Lamb wherever He goes we associate with the wolves of this present age – and our scoffing has so deafened our moral and spiritual ears that we justify our sin.

 

And so we have congregations in which scoffing is the glue that holds the group together…and woe to the pastor who attempts to guide his people to the sacrificial Lamb, leading his people above the fray of this rebellious age – as our passage says, “Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you…”

 

As I have shared elsewhere, God has convicted me of scoffing and the conviction has put my face and heart in the dust. I now fear the poison of scorn and scoffing, I fear the hate and vitriol it brings, the blindness and deafness – I fear how it soils the testimony of Jesus Christ, the sacrificial Lamb of God.

 

By God’s grace I want to be wise and receive instruction, discipline, and reproof from God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, and my brothers and sisters. By His grace I want wisdom to share insights with others, and to discern when to share and how to share.

 

When I read Proverbs Chapter 9, I want to see myself as eating from the table of Wisdom and not that of folly.

 

What about you? When you read Proverbs Chapter 9, how do you see yourself?