"Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth ---reproof is brutish. " -
-Proverbs 12:1
"Turn you at my ---reproof: behold,--- I will pour out my spirit unto you---, I will make known my words unto you----.
Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my ---reproof:
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
They would none of my counsel: they despised all my --reproof.
Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil."
-Proverbs 1:23-33
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Who amongst us likes to be corrected? It could be a private word of caution or a public embarrassment/shaming, when our view of things as they are -- is challenged by an alternative opinion -- or worse still, by the true facts? How well do we take being told we are wrong?
Generally,as a species, not very well ... and our behaviour often mirrors the 5 stages of grief ... Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, grudging acceptance.
The severity of our reaction is usually related to, the issue or topic that is being discussed -- deeply held world-views, religious convictions, political/policy positions, etc., will elicit a stronger response, than being told we are wrong about the singer/title of a song, or the upcoming weather forecast!
Sometimes, we will accept being wrong if the corrector is a person we respect, or an eminent authority in their field. Usually, such correction is accompanied by a gentle statement of why it is that our position is incorrect, and the facts that point to a correct assessment of the particular question or issue.
The question is --- how prepared are we to actually confront the facts? Are we willing to be persuaded, or have we already made up our mind, and new data is as good as irrelevant to us?
Our opening text from Proverbs puts the words "instruction" and "reproof" alongside each other, as being closely related. Being willing to admit you are wrong, is the first step towards increasing your knowledge of what is RIGHT! Unwillingness to listen to correction is likened to being like a dumb and stupid animal...(that is what the word brutish means in the Word, don't get mad at --us ? ) .... not a human being made in the image of God!
The REPROOF of the LORD is expressed in His Word, to a variety of people.
The best example --- In the Book of Jonah, the LORD through the prophet Jonah, spoke to a gentile nation (the Assyrians at Nineveh) to tell them to turn from their ways. They listened, and turned --- and the LORD spared them from destruction.
The nation of Israel exhibited very different behavior. Time after time, the LORD sent prophets to tell them to turn from their ways, but they rejected their word for the most part. Finally, they ended up being accomplices to the preordained death of their own Messiah ... one who wished to gather them as a hen gathers her chicks, but they would NOT!
The response of the LORD (our second text) is chilling in the extreme .... He just stays out of their lives! They get what every animal gets ...air, water, food, clothing, shelter --- even prosperity --- but they are out of the covering of God's Grace, and Favor, and left to deal with the consequences of their own actions. Brrr.... we don't want that!!!!
Worse, when they cry out to God to deliver them from the messes of their own making, He says --- " I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you."
You may say that doesn't sound like a very loving God, and it doesn't --- it sounds like a JUST God that treats this kind of people they way they treated Him! You mock and laugh at Him today, what legs do you have to stand on when HE does the same to you??
All He is asking is to LISTEN TO HIM, so He can show you how to live a happy and healthy life! His REPROOF, is for our BENEFIT... and not because He takes pleasure in making people toe HIs arbitrary lines. The 10 commandments, and Christ's summary ("Love God, Love your neighbor") are --the--- way to a happy and healthy social environment and culture!
We are seeing the results of the shipwreck of our value system. Belief in lies, avoiding the truth, hating our neighbors, leading immoral lives --- there is a social cost (homelessness, broken homes, abortions, youth suicides, drug abuse, etc. etc.) -- and a personal cost -- pain and suffering for all the humans that are trapped in this kind of society. It doesn't need to be that way... if we would only listen to what He is telling us!
If you would be wise, if you want to live in peace, and safety, be delivered from the fear of evil --- make the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob your refuge... listen to His SON, the incarnate Word of God, and His words of chastisement, rebuke and correction.
"My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby."
- Hebrews 12:5-11
Admitting we are wrong is the hardest thing to do. It requires intellectual courage, moral honesty, and a willingness to examine the facts without bias to get to the TRUTH -- but -- if we are willing to do it --- a whole world of peace and happiness is just waiting to be unfolded for us!!!
" Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of ---just men--- ---made--- ---perfect---, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. "
Hallelujah!!!