#DailyDevotion “Don’t Judge Me!” Or “Why I Am A Scoffer.”
Proverbs 9: 7 Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury. 8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. 9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.
The motto of modern Americans is “Don’t judge me!” Seriously, could this Sunday’s Old Testament lesson be more appropriate. We live in a sea of scoffers. If you correct someone and the first thing out of their mouth is “Don’t judge me!” then you know you are dealing with a scoffer. They scoff at the rebuke the Lord has put in your mouth. Everyone wants to get away with their own sins but God forbid anyone corrects them with the word of the Lord. And if you sin against them, they will be the first ones to jump on you. When you correct most people these days the words of Solomon will come true. You will be abused by them. You will receive injury, physical or otherwise. You will be hated. Yet they will call you a hater.
However if someone thanks you when you correct them, you know you are dealing with a righteous person and someone who is wise. Wise people want to improve themselves. They do not want to offend the Lord or neighbor. Wise people want to be taught and shown the way of life and salvation. They want to know more about the Lord and correction of their ways brings this about.
When you correct someone who is in the Way, they will love you for it. You will have made a friend and a confident. They will praise you, thank you and protect you for you have protected them from the way of death and destruction.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Chapter eight tells us the fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Those who call evil good and good evil have no fear of the Lord. But the wise man does. The more he learns what is evil the more he hates it and the greater is his fear of the Lord and the wiser he is. As we meditate on what pleases the Lord and what does not and as we by his grace avoid evil, do what is good and seek his forgiveness for the sake of Christ when we sin against the Lord the greater our insight will be of the Lord, the Holy One, Jesus Christ.
For while the Lord, God the Father hates evil he also loves mankind. The Father sends his Holy One, the Lord Jesus Christ into our flesh to be our atoning sacrifice and make peace between God and man. Many scoff at this. They think they are good enough and God should accept them alone, just as they are. They don’t need Jesus, the Holy One of God. Many scoff at this, how can God become man and pay the penalty for our sin. But we look to Jesus, the wisdom and power of God to grant us repentance, faith and proper fear and love of God.
Heavenly Father, grant to us your mercy that we may be wise men who receive rebukes from our fellow man with love and thankfulness that we may learn in Christ true fear of the Lord and live our lives being renewed in his knowledge and insight. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.