Proverbs 1:28-31 says....
Today's verses are Proverbs 1:28-31, which read,
v.28, 29 - Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD.
Last time we noted that the fool rejected the Lord's calling, stretched out hand, counsel, and reproof. The fool's choices led to calamity, dread, distress, and anguish. What do you do when you are in calamity, dread, distress, and anguish? You call out to the Lord. How does God respond to the fool who has rejected wisdom, knowledge, reproof, and counsel?
God will not answer this prayer. The fool is praying to just get out of the bind he or she is in. The fool is looking for a quick fix to the dilemma he or she has gotten into. The fool is not choosing the fear of the Lord. If he or she was then he or she would not longer be a fool. To choose the fear of the Lord is to have a reverence for God and His words and ways to follow after with a living sacrifice type of life. It is to repent and come before God with total surrender. It is to hang on every word He says instead of picking and choosing or disregarding them all together.
Is God just a quick fix to you? Are you praying to Him and seeking Him diligently when you are just in trouble? The wise will pray and seek Him as a part of everyday life because they treat God as Lord of all and Lord of all knowledge and wisdom to follow. The Lord answers and makes Himself known to those who fear or reverence or treat Him with such awe.
v.30, 31 - They would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof. So they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices.
If we follow our own ways then we will reap the results of those ways. Romans 1:24-28 is a New Testament teaching of this proverb. Sinful ways always lead to more sinful ways and they take us deeper into a life that is farther and father from a life that glorifies God. The fool doesn't see God's counsel and reproof as love given by Him to keep on the godly path. The fool sees the God's counsel and reproof as restrictions and rules that hinder his life from its full satisfaction.
The fool will be "handed over" as it says in Romans 1 to the results of that kind of life. They shall eat the fruit, the harvest, of their own ways. They will receive the full measure of living that type of life, a life following self instead of following God. How much better to be wise and have a fear of the Lord that brings the opposite.
The wise listen to God's counsel. The wise accept God's reproof. The wise eat the fruit, the harvest, of God's ways. The wise are satiated with God's godly devices. The fool is handed over to himself and his ways while the wise is handed over to God and God's ways. Again, a side by side comparison shows us there is no comparison.
Where are you, a fool or a wise? What are you doing with the counsel and reproof of God? What is the final decision? Is it yours or is it God's? Are you running to God to get out of the mess that you have put yourself in or are you running to God to know more of Him? Let's pray.
"Lord, You love us enough to give us counsel and reproof but do we love You enough to listen and apply? Thank You for being faithful when we are not and may we come to You with a changed heart fixed on You rather than on ourselves. If I have learned it the hard way by falling then may I realize that I had not listened to You and Your counsel and put You in Your rightful place in my life. Amen."
Pastor Adam
v.28, 29 - Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but they will not find me, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD.
Last time we noted that the fool rejected the Lord's calling, stretched out hand, counsel, and reproof. The fool's choices led to calamity, dread, distress, and anguish. What do you do when you are in calamity, dread, distress, and anguish? You call out to the Lord. How does God respond to the fool who has rejected wisdom, knowledge, reproof, and counsel?
God will not answer this prayer. The fool is praying to just get out of the bind he or she is in. The fool is looking for a quick fix to the dilemma he or she has gotten into. The fool is not choosing the fear of the Lord. If he or she was then he or she would not longer be a fool. To choose the fear of the Lord is to have a reverence for God and His words and ways to follow after with a living sacrifice type of life. It is to repent and come before God with total surrender. It is to hang on every word He says instead of picking and choosing or disregarding them all together.
Is God just a quick fix to you? Are you praying to Him and seeking Him diligently when you are just in trouble? The wise will pray and seek Him as a part of everyday life because they treat God as Lord of all and Lord of all knowledge and wisdom to follow. The Lord answers and makes Himself known to those who fear or reverence or treat Him with such awe.
v.30, 31 - They would not accept my counsel, they spurned all my reproof. So they shall eat the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices.
If we follow our own ways then we will reap the results of those ways. Romans 1:24-28 is a New Testament teaching of this proverb. Sinful ways always lead to more sinful ways and they take us deeper into a life that is farther and father from a life that glorifies God. The fool doesn't see God's counsel and reproof as love given by Him to keep on the godly path. The fool sees the God's counsel and reproof as restrictions and rules that hinder his life from its full satisfaction.
The fool will be "handed over" as it says in Romans 1 to the results of that kind of life. They shall eat the fruit, the harvest, of their own ways. They will receive the full measure of living that type of life, a life following self instead of following God. How much better to be wise and have a fear of the Lord that brings the opposite.
The wise listen to God's counsel. The wise accept God's reproof. The wise eat the fruit, the harvest, of God's ways. The wise are satiated with God's godly devices. The fool is handed over to himself and his ways while the wise is handed over to God and God's ways. Again, a side by side comparison shows us there is no comparison.
Where are you, a fool or a wise? What are you doing with the counsel and reproof of God? What is the final decision? Is it yours or is it God's? Are you running to God to get out of the mess that you have put yourself in or are you running to God to know more of Him? Let's pray.
"Lord, You love us enough to give us counsel and reproof but do we love You enough to listen and apply? Thank You for being faithful when we are not and may we come to You with a changed heart fixed on You rather than on ourselves. If I have learned it the hard way by falling then may I realize that I had not listened to You and Your counsel and put You in Your rightful place in my life. Amen."
Pastor Adam
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