September 5, Proverbs 1
Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!
- Psalm 81:13
If you're a parent, you probably know how frustrating it is for a child to not listen to what you tell him for his own good. You may also know this feeling from dealing with a spouse who does not seem to hear what you tell him or
her. Perhaps your home runs smoothly and everyone understands and is understood clearly. Good for you. Maybe you should do a seminar for the rest of us.
But whether you're a preacher frustrated with people who do not seem to hear, or a manager of inattentive employees, most of us know how it feels to speak and not be heard. If we believe our words have worth and ought to be heard and heeded, how much more should the word of God be heard and heeded? When the Creator speaks, the creature ought to listen.
Proverbs depicts the distilled wisdom the book contains with two images in chapter 1. The first picture is of a parent instructing a beloved child.
The parent tells the child what the youth needs to know to be spared from grief and ruin. It's the "This is for your own good" motif, common in parenting talk. The second picture is of Wisdom personified as a woman crying out in the street. Wisdom puts a sharper point on her words. She addresses the inattentive people with a solemn warning: "If you don't listen to me, I won't listen to you when you cry out to me for help."
That's an unsettling image about God, isn't it? We don't want to think that God would laugh at our calamity or mock us when terror strikes. But
Wisdom promises that is exactly what will happen to people who refuse to listen and ignore God's counsel. "Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me." This will be the result of their own refusal to heed God's wisdom.
Is that a dated, graceless Old testament picture of God, irrelevant to our day and time? No. Jesus himself taught his disciples the necessity of hearing and doing what he told them to do. At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said the ones who would enter the kingdom will do the will of the Father in heaven. He said the blessing of security in the storm belonged to those who heard his words and did them.
Jesus also associated hearing and obeying his words with a wonderful promise about answered prayer. "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7). Do you see it? It's like Proverbs 1, with the Lord saying, "Listen to me if you want me to listen to you." As we let his words "abide" in us, they shape our character and behavior. Our lives bear the imprint of his wise counsel and direction. Our will is surrendered to his will. When we pray, our requests are granted.
As we begin this month of reading Proverbs, let's take away from this first chapter how much better our lives would be if we would listen to and be guided by the wisdom of God. As a parent, my instruction was always well-intended, but might not have always been right. But God's wisdom comes to us from a heart of love. He wants what is best for us, and knows what is best for us. Even if we hear a stinging rebuke in his words, it's for our own good.
Also, let's take Wisdom's warning to heart. As strong and smart as we think we are, we will all come to a place where we need help. I don't
want to get to that desperate place, call out to God, only to have him ignore my call because I've ignored his call to me. I don't want God to
refuse my impassioned plea for help because I refused his wise counsel for my life. If we want to pray effectively (as in God listening and answering our prayer), we need to listen diligently and obey willingly. The toddler defies Mama and thinks he's exercising his independence by ignoring what she says. We're more mature than that. Aren't we?
Copyright © 2021 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—September 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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