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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Prov. 13
“The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is put out.” (Prov. 13:9). This verse is similar to Proverbs 12:3, which I commented on yesterday. Again, “the righteous” has to refer to those who are surrendered to God, because righteousness does not come from ourselves. So the light that shies brightly in such a person is God, the true light, who shines in and through us. This is why Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, said that we are the light of the world. And if we have such a great light within us, shouldn’t we let that light shine through us into the surrounding darkness? Thus, Jesus’ words, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matt. 5:16).
Prov. 14
Proverbs 14:32 is an interesting one. I get the first half – “The wicked one is thrown down by his own sin”. We are all dead in our sinful nature. If we choose to stay where we are, our sin will be our destruction, just as the Proverb says. It’s the second half that has me musing a bit. “…but the righteous one has a refuge in his death.” Whose death? His own, or the death of the wicked one? I can actually read this verse three different ways. When it comes right down to it, though, it seems that no matter how you read it, the righteous one wins.
The first possibility is the wicked one’s death. Obviously, relief always comes when wickedness leaves. Beyond that, though, the true death of the wicked one comes at the final judgment. So there is indeed a refuge for the righteous there, as that judgment will not fall on him. That leads into the second possibility, which is the righteous one’s own death. The refuge there is that his death is merely a physical one, at which point he will enter into true, abundant life. I can think of no better refuge than that! Which brings me to that third possible reading. The reason we have that refuge is because of HIS death – the death of the only Righteous One. He is the One thrown down by sin that was not His own to offer refuge to all who accept it.
Prov. 15
Being human, it should not surprise us when we wander off His path from time to time. It’s not a good or desirable thing to do, but we continue to struggle with our flesh until God’s refining process is complete. So it happens. Obviously, the first line of defense against this is to understand that it happens and be as constantly on guard against it as possible. This means making a daily intentional effort to abide in Christ so that He will abide in you. When we successfully live this way, chances are good that we will catch ourselves before we drop off the edge of that straight and narrow.
As we learn from the likes of even King David, however, sometimes we slip up at that part as well. So we miss those big red warning signs and over the edge we go. What happens next is discipline. Perhaps this comes in the form of facing the consequences of whatever led us off the path. Perhaps it comes as confrontation from a fellow believer. Or maybe God even intervenes more supernaturally, perhaps not to the degree He did with King David, but an increase in unrelated struggle could remind us that we have wandered away from our life source, inviting us to turn back to God.
It is at that point that we have a choice. “Discipline is harsh for the one who leaves the path; the one who hates correction will die.” (Prov. 15:10). Yup – we can either accept the discipline, allowing it to correct our course and get us back on track, or we can despise that correction and continue on our merry way – straight toward death. Discipline is hard; nobody enjoys it. But the wise will humbly embrace it, knowing that it leads him back to life.