Proverbs Devotion - Day 13

Proverbs 13 provides an assortment of topics that mostly focus on what will bring blessing and what will bring destruction in a person’s daily life. Really, everything that is said in this chapter flows from the very first verse: “A wise son hears his father’s instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.” Instruction is being given in every verse, and a wise person will listen to and heed what is being said. Yet, this one principle often seems to be one of the most difficult for us to get right. Being teachable requires humility and recognition that we are growing and need instruction from believers who love us and invest in us. It requires understanding that we need accountability and direction because we do not have all the answers.

We must be teachable from others in our life that God has provided to speak truth to us such as our parents, spouses, pastors, friends, teachers, grandparents, etc. This teachable spirit, however, is not something that we create in ourselves. Our fallen nature leads us to a desire of rejecting instruction. It wounds our pride to receive correction or instruction from another. We feel that to receive this gift is to make ourselves weak or less than the one who offers the instruction. Or maybe we simply feel insulted that they would think we could possibly need the instruction when it was not sought. Regardless, the humility required to receive such instruction is not a result of our own effort but of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Verse 13 pairs wonderfully with verse 1 as it shifts the focus from receiving instruction from one’s father (or as was said above any follower of Christ who cares for us) to receiving instruction from the Word. When reading the word “despise” do not think hatred in an emotional sense. The meaning of the word carries the idea of rejection. To “despise the word” means to claim autonomy over one’s life. It is that attitude of “I do not need the Scripture because I can run my life without it.” Hopefully, no Christian would ever say these words, but the reality is that when we do not live in submission to the authority of Scripture in our life, that is exactly what our actions are saying. The truth that we see in this proverb is that we do not get to simply decide to submit to the instruction of the Word but not our father. By ignoring or rejecting the instruction of one who loves us, we are also despising the word as the word tells us to receive such instruction.

All instruction that is received in life must be viewed under the absolute authority of Scripture. Sometimes we may receive instruction or correction that goes against what God has said in His Word, in which case that instruction must be rejected. However, often times we know that the instruction we are receiving is good and it aligns with Scripture. It is simply difficult to humble ourselves and receive it. Despising the word brings destruction but revering the word brings reward. Are you teachable? Are you receiving the instruction of others? Are you revering the Word of God? The two actually go together so if we are to do one of them, we have to do both.