Proverbs 22:12-15 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 22:12-15, which read,

v.12 - The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, but He overthrows the words of the treacherous man.

Our proverbs today start with a focus on what God can do.  His eyes, His focus, is on knowledge and preserving it.  He also deals with the words and messages of those who are not following after Him.  To preserve is to watch over and to keep.  To overthrow is to turn upside down.  Treacherous also means deceitful.  To read this again would be to say that the eyes of the Lord watches over and keeps knowledge, but He turns upside down the words of the deceitful man.  The point here again is that God sees and God will act with His truth prevailing in the end because He will see to it.  The temporary attack and advancement of evil and foolishness will be halted.

v.13 - The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside; I will be killed in the streets!"

The sluggard or the lazy person gives all kinds of excuses not to work.  This one says there is a lion, or a fierce animal outside and therefore he will not risk it and stay inside.  Remember that David did not back away from the lion or the bear.  We make many excuses for not following through on what God has commanded us to do.  We usually make it bigger than it is and paint a picture grand to not "go out" for God.  We are to fight against those rationals that Satan is putting into our heads to deny God and what God has said.  We are told that in heaven the lion will lay down with the lamb.  God is a lion tamer and if we are with Him then we are in good hands to get done what needs to be done even if there is a lion out there.  

v.14 - The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit; he who is cursed of the LORD will fall into it.

Sexual sins are dealt with in the Bible over and over again.  They are not avoided but rather spoken of in very direct terms.  Instruction is given with "black and white" clarity and consequences are made known before the actual offense.  We have no excuse when it comes to going outside of God's one holy relationship between a man and a woman in which the man has left his father and mother and formally joined to his wife to make another holy relationship.  Sexual sin is very deceptive and very alluring.  It calls out to us to participate in it.  We are bombarded by its images as entertainment in our culture and a tool to catch our eye to even buy something other than it.  A subject that we have been "hush hush" about for so long is not "hush hush" in the pages of the Bible.  "Go the other direction" the Bible says, run as Joseph of the Old Testament did, and keep God's marriage bed holy are what the wise do.

v.15 - Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of discipline will remove it far from him.

Discipline is a tool to be used for the purpose of helping a child become wise in the Lord.  Discipline is larger than punishment.  Punishment might be a consequence to something done wrong but discipline is the correction with direction to know what is right and how to follow after it.  While the child may give excuses found in the first proverb to be lazy, discipline makes that child go against the excuses made up to see that outside is better than inside even if there are lions out there.  "Lions, tigers, and bears, oh no" was in the Wizard of Oz but if not faced they would have never gotten to the Emerald City and Dorothy and ToTo back home.  We all need discipline in our lives to drive out Satan's attack for us to stay put when we should move and his attack to indulge when we need to abstain and run.  We need direct intervention of others who follow after God and His word and the word of God itself making it very clear of how we are to respond.  

Where are you when it comes to obedience to God's commands?  Are you making excuses?  Are you indulging in things that are spoken of clearly in the Scriptures?  God's discipline is there not to punish you but to correct you so that you can live for Him rather than in opposition from Him.  You will never experience the power of God if you live in the world of excuses of lions and the self-satisfying sea of sexual sin rather than running to His arms for holiness through His discipline.  Let us pray.

"Lord, we are confronted again with Your sovereignty and all encompassing knowledge.  You know all and direct us with advance warning through Your word on so many things.  May we not make excuses but grab ahold of You as we proceed out that door.  May we run to Your discipline to be receiving the consequences of holiness rather than the consequences of sin.  Any harshness of the world for following after You will be made right in the end.  May I hold onto that thought today.  Amen."

Pastor Adam