Proverbs 13:13, Trifling With God’s Word

July 8, Proverbs 13:13

2 Pet. 2:1-9 “Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice?” (Ex. 5:2).

Trifling With God’s Word

There are words everywhere, some good, some bad, some profound, some simple. Words are a mirror of the soul. They act as weapons for healing or hurting, for bearing truth or fiction. The authority of words depends ultimately on the speaker. No one, therefore, should doubt the absolute authority of words spoken by God, and recorded infallibly in Holy Scripture. The word and commandment in our text show that Proverbs presupposes revealed religion. These words take us back to Moses and Sinai. They are obviously references to the Word of God even when mediated through human channels. People and nations will face judgment by how they receive or reject this Word. Do you trifle or tremble at God’s Word?

1. The Ruined: Whoso despiseth the word shall be destroyed. To bind by pledge is the root meaning of the word destroyed. Man is bound or pledged to pay the penalty for despising God’s Word. He becomes a debtor thereto, a debt he can never repay or evade. “This is a great law of Biblical revelation, namely, that destruction is not merely an arbitrary act of God, a mere penalty, but that it involves the idea of suicide or self-ruin” (Parker). The wilful despiser cannot escape the terrible consequences of this act. When truth is fallen in the streets, judgment and justice are far off from the people (Isa. 59:14). Scorn it; you will pay for it!

a. The Ruined, Who are they? Scorners, rejecters, unbelievers, neglecters, all bring ruin on themselves. They despised The Word! Man’s character and destiny are set by his conduct toward God’s Word. This included those who spurned Noah’s word, and all the Pharaohs and Jehoiakims and Herods of this world. It means ruin to those who finally reject Christ (Acts 4:12). Do not the thunderous warnings of Sinai echo and re-echo in the New Covenant? Don’t turn away from Him who speaks from heaven (Heb. 2:2,3; 12:25).

b. The Ruined, Why are they? Why, indeed, should people despise their only means of salvation? It is the Gospel Word, the word sent to you (Acts 13:26). It is the only balm for the sin-sick soul (Jer. 8:22; Mk. 1:40). It is the only power that quickens the dead (Jn. 8:39; Eph. 2:1). Men despise this word because they want to believe that there are other ways to heaven and other saviours than Christ. This has been the platform of liberal Protestantism for years, but now this is preached by some leading evangelicals as well!

c. The Ruined, What are they? Despising brings an awful guilt, and finally the rejection of Heaven. How bitter is this blindness! It is suicide. It is selfruin. The infamous skeptic Voltaire lay dying. In his anguish he cried: “I am abandoned by God and man.” To his doctor he said: “I will give you half of what I am worth if you will give me six month’s life.” The doctor cried: “Sir, you cannot live six weeks!” Voltaire wailed, “Then I will go to hell and you will go with me.” How true it is that the reproach of Christ is greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt (Heb. 11:26). “Infidelity is always blind,” said Calvin.

Thought: Unbelief is at the bottom of all our staggering at God’s promises (Henry).

Prayer: For hearts to be opened and responsive to The Word of God.