Proverbs 13:13–14: He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded. The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of death.
Insight
All through Proverbs there is this contrast between righteousness and wickedness. God hates pride; He hates lawlessness; He hates hypocrisy. He has no use for this type of thing that arises out of our human nature. That is the reason that God will not accept anything that we do in the old nature. It is only what He can perform through our new nature that is acceptable to Him. One thing is sure: He is not going to take our old nature to heaven. I’ll be glad to get rid of it. In heaven you and I will be forever parted from that old nature which produces all the sins that are inherent in us. 1
Application
The prophet Isaiah said in 66:2 “For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist,” Says the Lord. “But on this one will I look: On him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My Word.” – Will you please consider the power of His Word. Does His Word make you tremble when He encourages you or corrects you? If not, are you may be lacking a contrite heart before Him? Is it time to repent?
Motivation
But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Matthew 13:23
We are lost without His Word, and we will remain lost with His Word, if we refuse to obey it. – TWEET IT
Prayer
Father, please keep me in a place of desperation for Your Word.
1. McGee, J. V. (1991). Thru the Bible commentary: Poetry (Proverbs) (electronic ed., Vol. 20). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
