Tag: Devotion

Handling criticism well is never easy, for most of us at any rate. A scorner considers any criticism of him or his work to be beneath contempt; he scorns it! This springs from a consciousness or belief in his own superiority or ability. Scorn for the evil or ignoble, should be the attitude of every true child of God, but the scorner disdains the reproof of a holy and merciful God. As we saw in our last study, the admonition to receive reproof rings out again and again. The reason for this repetition should be obvious. Our stubborn, proud, self-righteous, sinful hearts resist, resent, and more often reject criticism, even when it is kindly meant.

I’m OK! You’re OK! That’s the devil’s psychology, and many have bought into it “hook, line and sinker.” This psychology produces “schools without failure” because we are assured there are “no right answers”! It also produces “salvation without guilt,” Robert Schuller style! Among many evangelicals this humanistic, self-esteem, non-judgmental, psychology is king.

Hell and destruction are before the Lord (15:11). He who sees into hell, can most certainly see into our hearts. The KJV is said to mislead when it translates sheol as hell (Kidner). Much as some want to believe that the dead are out of God’s mind and memory (Ps. 88:10-12), they really know better (Job 26:6, Ps. 139:8)!

This is a proverb where the first line amplifies the second. Modern versions, following the RV (1881), re-interpret the first line of this proverb, Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way (KJV), to read, “Stern discipline awaits him who leaves the path” (NIV, NKJV). These versions all paraphrase here, and that changes the true thrust of its message! There is no word for “awaits” in the text, and then they make bad to modify grievous, hence, “stern discipline.” While Perowne accepts the RV reading, Kidner appreciates that the AV is “perhaps” preferable to RV, a cautious concession indeed! Scholars love to cover their backs!

Ritualism and liberalism have eaten the heart out of Protestantism. What remains of a once great testimony is now an empty shell. Many either do not know, or will admit, that such a departure has taken place within their ranks. In Proverbs 15:8 we meet the word prayer for the first time, but it is repeated twice more.

Our two proverbs today are closely related. Here we find that the sacrifice of the wicked and the way of the wicked both are abomination to the Lord. The prayer of the upright parallels him that followeth hard after righteousness, both of whom God delights in and loves. “The pair of sayings show how intensely our regular behaviour matters to God” (Kidner). God is not a robot. He is a Being with a heart big enough to enfold us all.

Do you dream of being rich or richer than you are? How much would make you content? The snare of riches is that we never have quite enough yet. The question, “Who wants to be a millionaire?” has already been upgraded to, “Who wants to be a billionaire?” Yet, “Better is an handful, with quietness, than both the hands full with travail and vexation of spirit” (Eccl. 4:6). This proverb speaks of the blessing or the bane of riches.

1. The Heavenly Father: The attempt to deny the title Father to God and replace it with mother or goddess figures is well underway in liberal churches. They argue that it makes no difference what we call God. Father is only an idea drawn from human fatherhood. Fatherhood, therefore, is not essential to the nature of God. This, we contend, is a serious error. It is not just a matter of gender-correctness. It is a subtle attack on the Trinity, on the eternal Sonship of Christ, and the divine institution of fatherhood as well. True, some human fathers are abusive or abandon their families. The word father, for many, is not a pleasant one. Some cry, Can we expect such hurting people to pray, “Our Father”? The Fatherhood of God, however, is the source of all human fatherhood, not the reverse. There are human fathers only because there is the Heavenly Father.

Both proverbs refer to speech, good or bad. The wholesome (sound 14:30) tongue that is a tree of Life (4) parallels the lips of the wise that disperse knowledge (7). The perverseness that is a breach of the spirit (4) has its counterpart in the heart of the foolish [that] does not so (7), that is, disperse knowledge. Note the relation between the lips and the heart in v.7. A wholesome tongue is a healed tongue that produces life. It’s lips, therefore, are wise lips. The word perverse only appears twice in the Hebrew Bible, and both times in Proverbs (11:3). It means to be twisted, or crooked. It is something out of line or even treacherous. Thus the scene is set. Are your lips sound or sick?

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good (15:3). “Thou God seest me.” It was Hagar, who, in her desperate plight, so named the God who found her by the well and asked her, Whither wilt thou go?