As I grow in my Christian faith, God showers me with his love and disciplines my sins, often through Bible verses I read. The love is a wonderful, easy gift. The discipline is also a blessing, albeit a painful gift. God is gentle, so he does not show me every sin at the same time. Instead, I discover new areas where I need to work, every year, as I read my Bible. This year I realized this truth as I read the Proverbs, and my perspective changed.
When I was young, I read Proverbs, rarely seeing myself. I did know I needed to give my fear to God (Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man will prove to be a snare.”) But I never pictured anyone when I read about the fools and angry people. As I aged, I did think of specific people who fit Proverbs description of those who are foolish or angry. As I shared in last week’s post “Continuing to Forgive (part 3)” I did not realize how unwise I was when I interacted with angry people. I did not believe Proverbs 22:24-25, which warns us “Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.” I kept going back and getting hurt by these angry people.
God showed me I was not the angry person (I forgive easily), nor the one who lacks faith. But he did show me that sometimes I was the fool who spoke out when I should have remained silent. I have matured since being so foolish, so I work to avoid being the “verbal fool” today. Yet God reminds me when my sinful flesh causes me to snap at someone who is being rude with his (or her) words. God shows me when I am still the “verbal fool” of Proverbs.
Some might say God is being cruel by showing me I am one type of fool in the Proverbs. But I know God is disciplining me in his love. First, I needed to realize who I was as a younger person. I had never considered how often I used to blurt things out or speak without thinking, yet I can’t blame God for not showing me. I was too stubborn to listen to him back then. I blithely read passages like Proverbs 29:20 “Do you see someone who speaks in haste? There is more hope for a fool than for them.” Or Proverbs 13:3 “Those who guard their lips preserve their lives, but those who speak rashly will come to ruin.” Even though I was not talking angrily, I sometimes shared ideas others did not want to hear, or I shared my heart with unsafe people who used my words against me.
I did not use wisdom to discern when I was boring someone, or when I spoke too deeply to a mean person who distorted my words and used them to hurt me. I wasted my ideas on people who did not care or worse, who betrayed me. I was very, very foolish. But it was this year, as I read the Proverbs again, that I recognized the younger me in the passages about the foolish talker. Because I was too immature to accept God’s correction when I read Proverbs, he had to use other ways to correct me and help me to have compassion for others and not bore them. He had to use my own pain. Then he let me recognize the glazed looks in some people’s eyes when I bored them. I might overhear someone’s comments about how I talked too much. I felt terrible when I heard that. And God showed me I was only safe, around unkind people, if I remained quiet. I wish I had been wise enough to let God use the book of Proverbs, but sadly he had to use my sorrow over the pain I caused by speaking out.
As a result, I am excited that God showed me some of my sins from the past, because I am now ready to let the Scripture clearly guide me! He has given me the courage and hunger to see more of my sins in the Bible NOW, so I do not let pride hinder me from admitting to my sins. This is a joy, because I can quickly correct my behavior when I slip into sin. I think of this correction like the work of a knitter. If she makes a mistake but does not notice it, she might knit for hours but then look back and see a marred part of her knitted work. She would have to unravel many hours of her work until she could fix the garbled part. I don’t want sins to root in my life and force me to work much harder to correct the errors. I want to find my sins now and quickly repent before the Lord.
I don’t want anything to come between me and the Lord. I don’t want to hurt him by hurting others or myself. This is why I cherish God showing me when I sin, especially via Scripture passages. So now when God shows me I am the sinner in a passage I read, I thank him and ask him to show me how to change this behavior, in his power. He is so faithful and he does! I am finding more peace in relationships with people. I am also learning to back away from cruel people and limit my interaction with rude and harsh people.
God is showing me how to handle these struggles, and I am thankful, not angry for his discipline. Look at Hebrews 12: 4-11, especially verse 6: “Because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as a son {daughter.}” Similar verses are in Proverbs 3:11-12, and 12:5-6. God is helping me as he disciplines me. Hebrews 12:11b says this discipline, “produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Good comes from God’s discipline! Next week I will write more about God’s discipline, but I hope I have already challenged you to rejoice in this gift from the Lord.
Thanks for joining us in this week’s post. I pray we have blessed you and given you comfort if you are going through a season of God’s discipline. He has such good plans for you. Remember Jer.29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”