Wisdom & Warning – Proverbs
“God’s law is ‘Not an imposition, but an exposition.’ It is not an imposition of some arbitrary morality on the human species, but an exposition of the way God created us to be.” – Darrel Johnson
Proverbs 29:1 – “He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will be suddenly broken beyond healing.”
Proverbs 9:10 – “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the holy one is insight.”
2 Timothy 3:16 – “All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.”
Ephesians 5:28-29 – “In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the Church.”
Proverbs 15:32 – “Whoever ignores instruction despises himself, but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.”
“You will never make yourself feel like a sinner, because there is a mechanism in you as a result of sin that will always be defending you against every accusation. We are all on very good terms with ourselves, and we can always put up a good case for ourselves.” – Martin Lloyd Jones
Proverbs 12:1 – “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”
1. Warning is Love Misunderstood
Colossians 3:14 – “…above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”
Proverbs 13:24 – “Whoever spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”
Hebrews 12:5-11 – “And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by Him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.’ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”
2. Warning is Pain with Purpose
Proverbs 20:30 – “Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the inner most parts.”
Proverbs 19:25 – “Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence; reprove a man of understanding, and he will gain knowledge.”
Proverbs 23:13-14 – “Do not withhold discipline from a child, if you strike him with a rod he will not die. If you strike him with the rod, you will save his soul from Sheol.”
“We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world…” – C.S. Lewis
2 Responses to Warning
1. The Fool Speaks
Proverbs 18:2 – A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion.”
Proverbs 18:13 – “If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame…”
Proverbs 10:8 – “The wise of heart will receive commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.”
2. The Wise Listens
Proverbs 12:15 – “The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.”
Proverbs 13:1 – “A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.”
Proverbs 19:20 – “Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.”
Ezekiel 36:26 – “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
Philippians 2:5-11 – “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Hebrews 12:2 – “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or faint-hearted.”