Proverbs 12:1-4 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 12:1-4, which read,

v.1 - Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

Probably that word stupid is what shocks you in our day of not saying that word.  It means to graze.  Instead of receiving the discipline and reproof, the instruction and correction, the foolish person grazes where he should not.  He is consuming what is not good for him.  He is ignoring the label and warning signs.  The discipline and reproof are available for him but he chooses to be a brute and do his own thing.

The wise sees discipline and reproof as something done from love and out of love and with love to produce more knowledge of the fear of the Lord.  No discipline is easy to take and we usually bristle at first when it is brought to our attention but the wise will get past that stage to see that value of the reproof.  Our sinful nature takes us to denial or rebuttal or excuse as it did in the Garden of Eden but the wise will see that God is communicating with us through His word or through His people to make a course adjustment, read the label and see the warning signs to stay grazing in His green pastures instead of wandering into Satan's pesticide laden fields.

v.2 - A good man will obtain favor from the LORD, but He will condemn a man who devises evil.

Obtaining favor or condemnation?  To obtain favor from the Lord is to bring out pleasure from Him and to be condemned is to receive the consequences of His wrath against evil.  The pleasure and the condemnation coming from the Lord are in relationship to what we are being.  Are we being good, pleasing and beneficial or are we being one who plots, plans, and thinks evil?  The consequences are directly related to what we are being in relationship to the discipline and reproof of the Lord.  

v.3 - A man will not be established by wickedness, but the root of the righteous will not be moved.

Another consequence of those who follow after the discipline and reproof of the Lord of where to safety graze is not only the pleasure of the Lord coming out from Him but also a root that will not be moved.  You are firmly planted in good soil.  Your roots have room to go deep and receive the nutrients from the soil and also supported by it.  The righteous will not totter, shake, or slip.  The plant, i.e. wise person, who is taking in the discipline of the Lord and being what He is directing us to be will stand strong because of his roots being firmly in God's soil.

The consequence of the those who disregard the discipline and reproof of the Lord and graze wherever they want to is not only the condemnation of the Lord toward their sin but also a state of not being established by a life that will not establish them.  Doing the wrong will not establish you.  Doing the wrong will not bring stability to your life.  Doing the wrong puts you into soil that is so loose and so full of pollutants that whatever is planted there is weak and easily blown over or washed away.  

v.4 - An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, but she who shames him is like rottenness in his bones.

Solomon brings in a relationship, the husband and the wife, to give a practical example of this.  What happens in a marital relationship when one or the other doesn't love the discipline and reproof of the Lord?  What happens when one or the other is receiving the condemnation of the Lord because of sinful actions and not being established in a strong walk with the Lord by being planted in His soil?  What does that look like in the home?

On the positive side of the wise wife in this case, she is excellent.  She brings strength to the situation.  She brings ability and efficiency.  She brings a wealth of God's truth.  She brings an army ready for battle for the truth.  It results in being a crown of her husband.  Others see her actions and being and view it as something her husband wears on his head unashamedly.  She brings value to the relationship as she wisely follows after the Lord.

On the negative side of the foolish wife in this case, she is shameful.  Notice that she is shaming him.  To shame someone is to put them to shame.  She brings a solution to the situation by pointing her finger at the other.  She takes no responsibility for herself and the result is rottenness in his bones.  The relationship is on a course of decay that runs deep.  It is like an incurable disease to that relationship.  The relationship will not recover with this type of treatment.  As she foolishly follows after herself she brings more toxics into the relationship.

Remember that the genders can go both ways here.  The point is that our following after God and His discipline and reproof also have an effect on others.  We have seen good relationships between husbands and wives and we have seen bad ones.  The result of what we see either as a crown to be displayed with joy or the decaying gangrene foot that we try to cover up are consequences of following or not following God's truth.  

Being stupid, sorry about that word, but grazing where we are warned to not brings about condemnation and unstableness that can ripe apart a relationship.  Being wise, grazing where God directs us to, the green pastures of Psalm 23, brings favor and establishment that can elevate a relationship.  Which do you choose to follow today?  Let's pray.

"Lord, how important it is for us to follow You and especially to push away the snare of Satan to do our own thing when You are disciplining us and correcting us to do Your thing.  May we see how it relates to the relationships we have around us.  May we be a crown and not a rotting bone.  Amen."

Pastor Adam