Proverbs 9:6 Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.
7 He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.
8 Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
Life is about making choices. It is important to know how to make wise choices. Too often we throw away the good and choose the bad.
God says we need to forsake the foolish and live. I do not know how many times I have heard the phrase: “get a life”. The only way to get a life is to humble yourself and trust in the Lord. Get saved and choose to follow Him faithfully. Forsake the foolish. It is a choice we must make often. The opposite is to go in the way of understanding. The foolish has to be replaced with something meaningful.
Verse 7 tells us the nature of the scorner. He is a scorner because he chose to be foolish. He does not want to be taught. Reproof is “to chasten, discipline, instruct, admonish”. We do not like that. We want a pat on the back. We love the praise of men. What we need is the reproof of God. If you try to reprove a scorner, he will do all he can to shame you. You are wasting your time. It is too bad when a person comes to the place where God turns His back on him. God went on to speak of the wicked man. This man is the same as the fool. He looks for any way he can to slander that person who loves him and wants to help him.
The chief priests of Jesus’ day were mostly fools. At His trial, they tried every trick they could think of to slander and discredit Him. They never found anything wrong with Him. Pilate even noticed that Jesus had done nothing wrong. If it weren’t for his desire to be a friend of Herod instead of being a friend of God, he would have released Jesus. Of course it was God’s design that Jesus needed to be condemned to dying via crucifixion. His shed blood was necessary in order for repentant sinners to be saved.
In verse 8 God tells us further of the nature of the scorner. He refuses to appreciate reproof. He hates those who would dare to try to help him. He cannot discern what is good for him. However, the wise man will hear the rebuke and he will love you for it. His flesh does not like the rebuke, but because he is a wise person, he knows he needed that. He loves the person who is willing to take the time to help him to grow.
In verse 9 we see that giving instruction to a wise man will make him wiser. That is what made the difference in Paul’s life. After he was saved He was taught the Gospel of Christ in great detail. He was taught many truths. He spent three years being taught before he went out to teach others. True teaching is very important. A man that does not want to be taught will never make a good teacher.
We see that a just man will receive teaching and he will increase in learning. It is sad to see so many walk away from the truth and choose to follow lies. There are sugar coated lies and chocolate coated lies and strawberry coated lies, etc. The devil has many different flavours for his lies. He has many followers who are happy to spread his lies. There are also many people who will subject themselves to listening to and accepting the lies being spread.
We see that in the secular world, by how many people have chosen to believe the lies of the political system in Canada. Worse yet, is the number of people who will accept the lies of religious false teachers. It is not just the Catholics who are false. It is quite easy to see the fallacy of Roman Catholicism. The New Evangelical crowd is much more subtle. They try to make their lies look like truth. The true child of God will not be duped by that, but many lost people are content to accept the lies as fact. This is a shame.
The solution to that is found in verse 10. We need the fear of the LORD. We need to accept the fact that He is always right. He knows what is best. As we see here, the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. It takes a wise person to submit to God’s authority. We need His wisdom. During Jesus’ earthly ministry, few Jews acknowledged His wisdom. The Scribes and Pharisees and the other false teachers were constantly looking for a way to catch Him in a lie. They never could, but they did not give up until they had Him nailed to that cross. That did not solve anything for them. When Jesus rose from the dead, the religious leaders concocted a lie to try to explain away the resurrection. They were not going to yield to the truth.
The knowledge of the holy is understanding. What is holy about New Evangelicalism or Catholicism? That answer is simple: NOTHING. You will never come to know the true God if you settle for the lies of the secular religions. You will never gain spiritual understanding if you reject true knowledge.
God does not make His wisdom and knowledge hard to find. He makes it clear that it is only available to those who will humble themselves and trust in God for their salvation. Having a proper reverence for God is critically important. Accepting His Word as TRUTH and receiving that as your lifeline is very important.
Pastor Bartel