Proverbs 9:1-6 NASB
Wisdom has built her
house,
She has hewn out her
seven pillars;
She has prepared her
food, she has mixed her wine;
She has also set her
table;
She has sent out her
maidens, she calls
From the tops of the
heights of the city:
“Whoever is naive, let
him turn in here!”
To him who lacks
understanding she says,
“Come, eat of my food
And drink of the wine
I have mixed.
“Forsake your folly
and live,
And proceed in the way
of understanding.”
Wisdom is personified here as a woman getting her house
ready for guests. She is making all the necessary preparations to receive
guests into her home in order that she might impart to them some godly wisdom
and understanding. She is readying her home and her dining table so that she
might feed her guests with the truth of God’s Word, which will bring the breath
of God into their lives, if they will listen and will heed the counsel.
So, what is wisdom? It is applied knowledge. It is taking
what we know intellectually, that is healthful for our minds, bodies and souls,
and it is bringing it home to our hearts. It is doing the good that we know we
ought to do instead of just pontificating the truths we know while we live just
the opposite. It is choosing the good over the bad. And, it is using good sense
instead of going out and doing what is foolish and what is harmful.
So, if we are to be like this woman, and we are to be wise,
first of all we should heed God’s counsel, which is written down for us in His
Word. Then, we should prepare ourselves spiritually, not only to live the lives
which God has called us to live, but to share with others how they can walk in
the fear of the Lord, too, and how they can be wise by heeding his instructions
to us.
But, notice with me that she is not calling out to those who
are already wise, but to those who lack wisdom and understanding. She is
calling out to the immature who are still fleshly, at least in some ways. She
is calling out to the foolish who are walking in the ways of the world instead
of in the ways of God. And, she is calling them to receive her counsel (godly
wisdom), and she is calling them to forsake their folly (their sinful ways),
and to walk in the ways of God, and they will live. And, we should be doing
this, too.
Proverbs 9:7-9 NASB
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.
As a general rule, I believe the counsel here is wise. It is
better for us to correct or reprove those who will honor us and our wise
counsel. For, they will become wiser, and they will increase in learning, but
not just in head knowledge. They will truly learn from our godly and biblical
counsel. It, too, will be reflected in their attitudes and behaviors that they
took our counsel to heart, and that their lives were changed as a result.
But this is not to say that this is God’s way all the time.
For, God sent his prophets of old to his rebellious people to call them to
repentance, and they often mocked the prophets and scorned their counsel and
they treated them badly, and not with honor and respect.
The people went on in their ungodly behavior despite the
prophets’ warnings, and despite their rebukes, and despite their calls for
repentance. And, this went on for many years before God finally judged his
people, as he had promised he would do.
"But you shall
speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious”
(Ezekiel 2:7).
“They will fight
against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,”
declares the Lord (Jeremiah 1:19).
“O Lord, You have
deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have
become a laughingstock all day long; Everyone mocks me” (Jeremiah 20:7).
“I have become a
laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day” (Lamentations
3:14).
As well, our Lord Jesus spoke words of correction and
rebuke, too, to those who mocked him, who insulted him, who hated him, who
chastised him regularly, who tried often to trip him up so that they could
discredit him, and who eventually put him to death on a cross, although he had
done no wrong.
“And after twisting
together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right
hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the
Jews!’” (Matthew 27:29).
So, the rule of thumb, I believe, is that we should obey God
and his direction for our lives. If he says speak, we speak, no matter the
outcome. We are not to shy away ever from sharing the truth of the gospel with
people just because they might insult us, mock us, hate us and abuse us in
return.
If God says “Don’t be afraid of what they will do to you,”
then we have to not fear their insults and their mockery or their hatred or
rejection, but we must go to whomever he sends us and say whatever he commands
us to say.
Proverbs 9:10-12 NASB
The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of
the Holy One is understanding.
For by me your days
will be multiplied,
And years of life will
be added to you.
If you are wise, you
are wise for yourself,
And if you scoff, you
alone will bear it.
If we want to be wise, we must walk in the fear of the Lord.
We must heed his counsel, and do what he says. We must honor him above all else,
and treat him with the respect he so deserves. We must worship him with our
very lives, giving our lives to him, for his service, no longer conformed to
the ways of this sinful world, but now walking in holiness, living lives which
are pleasing and acceptable to God (See Romans 12:1-2; Eph. 4:17-24).
Then, we can begin to be wise, and we can gain wisdom and
understanding, and apply the truths of God’s Word to our daily lives. For, if
we continue in our sinful ways, ignoring the Spirit’s promptings, doing what we
know is wrong and ungodly and unholy, it will not go well for us.
For, if we retain living to the flesh as our pattern for
daily living, we will not have the hope of eternal life with God, for we will
reap what we sow. If we are trying to live in both worlds, i.e. if we are
trying to live to please God part of the time while we hold on to certain sins
in order to keep gratifying our flesh, we will not be at peace. We will not
have the joy of the Lord. And, we will never move forward in our relationships
with God/Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 9:13-18 NASB
The woman of folly is
boisterous,
She is naive and knows
nothing.
She sits at the
doorway of her house,
On a seat by the high
places of the city,
Calling to those who
pass by,
Who are making their
paths straight:
“Whoever is naive, let
him turn in here,”
And to him who lacks
understanding she says,
“Stolen water is
sweet;
And bread eaten in
secret is pleasant.”
But he does not know
that the dead are there,
That her guests are in
the depths of Sheol.
Here folly is personified, as was wisdom. And, interestingly
enough, she is calling out to those who are “making their paths straight.”
She doesn’t have to call out to those who are already in her
house, for they are already there. She wants to entrap those who have made the
decision to walk the straight and narrow, who have chosen the path of
righteousness, and so she uses trickery and deception and manipulation to try
to get Christians to go her way instead of to go the way of God. She is good at
what she does, and she can be very persuasive.
What she tries to do is lead those astray who have chosen to
follow Jesus with their lives. So, she lies to them. She tells them that they
can follow Jesus and still live to the flesh at the same time, and that they
still have heaven guaranteed them when they die.
She tells them that Jesus paid the penalty for their sin, so
they can continue in their sin, in their sinful addictions, without guilt, and
without any need to change. She convinces them that God’s grace covers all
future sins and so it doesn’t matter how much they sin, for it is all paid for,
so they can live how they want. And, she convinces them that “belief” in Jesus
Christ is merely an acknowledgment of who he is or an acceptance of his
sacrifice for sin.
And, she preys on those whose faith is weak, or who are just
beginning to believe in Jesus, and those who are contemplating faith in Jesus
Christ, too. For, if she can catch them in her net before they gain wisdom and
understanding, then she feels as though she has them for life, and that she has
been victorious.
But, the unsuspecting new believer, or the one who is
considering faith in Jesus Christ, or the immature Christian who has not yet
grown past infanthood will not yet have the wisdom and discernment needed to
separate truth from fiction unless they are in tune with the Holy Spirit’s
voice. And, so they may easily fall into her trap, because they don’t realize
that those who live in her house are still dead in their sins and that they are
bound for hell, not for heaven.
So, we need to understand here that Jesus Christ died on
that cross, not just to forgive us our sins, and not just to give us the hope
of heaven when we die, but he died and he rose again that we might die to sin
and live with him to righteousness. He died to transform our lives away from
living to sin to walking with him in his holiness and righteousness. For, if we
live according to our flesh, we will die in our sins, and we don’t have heaven
guaranteed.
So, please know the truth, and follow the truth (wisdom),
and you will live. Don’t get trapped by “folly” and end up losing your life for
eternity.
Muted
Trumpet
An
Original Work / October 14, 2011
Softly He speaks gently to us,
Giving us His messages, and
He waits patiently for us to
Respond to His words.
Will you listen to Him speaking?
Will you waken from your sleeping?
He is calling; hear Him whisper
His truth unto you.
Jesus speaks His words unto us,
So that He might live out through us,
Giving light to all who need Him,
So they can obey.
He gave His life to die for us,
So that from sin He would free us
To walk humbly in obedience
Unto Him each day.
Hear the trumpet clearly calling.
He died to keep us from falling.
Won’t you listen; heed His call to
Turn to Him today?
Hasten to Him calling to you.
Turn from sin and follow Jesus.
He loves you so much He gave you
Life eternally.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
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