Proverbs 19:23

“The fear of the Lord is life indeed; filled with it one rests secure and suffers no harm.” (NRSV)

When I was young, very young, there were preachers who would stand in the pulpit and pound congregations about the terrors of hell. Don’t see that much anymore. Most preachers these days talk in more psychological terms about happiness, contentment, and finding fulfillment. I rarely hear a sermon about sin. The Bible, on the other hand, is replete with admonitions about sin and tales of the horrors of hell. And often, these passages talk about “the fear of the Lord.”

That meaning of that phrase, “the fear of the Lord,” has changed for the American Church over the past decades. We no longer believe that we should be fearful of God. Instead, we think that we should have a healthy respect for Him, but not be afraid of Him. And perhaps that accounts for our lackidaisical attitude about sin. I mean, how many of us really get on our knees everyday and pour out our sorrow for our sins (most of which are habitual and due to our self-indulgence)? Instead, we comfort ourselves with the knowledge of forgiveness and go on our merry way, only to sin again.

Matthew Henry, in his commentary, says this about “the fear of the Lord:”

“by the fear of the Lord, and the influence of that fear, men depart from evil; those will not dare to sin against God who keep up in their minds a holy dread and reverence of him.”

A holy dread . . . will not dare to sin against God.

Do we have an attitude that dares not to sin against God? Or are we so concerned about our own feelings and well-being that we forget that while He is a God of love and mercy, He is also a God of justice and purity Who demands righteousness? The proverb tells us that “the fear of the Lord is life” and not only life, but “life indeed!” In other words, it is life abundant, life superlative, life with security. Like the security that we seek when we sin because sin comes out of fear or rebellion. We want what we want and what we think we want (or need). And we fail to trust.

Do we want a life that is secure? Do we want to understand living in a state of “no harm,” understanding that this means no harm to our souls (regardless of what happens to our bodies)?

You know, we spend a lot of time trying to protect and nurture this body and its accouterments when what we should really be concerned about are our eternal souls! Paul tells us: “I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified” (1 Co. 9:27 NRSV). Imagine Paul being disqualified as a Christian! And yet, that was his concern. He says that his body and his emotional needs threatened his salvation, so he punished them and enslaved them, making himself do only that which would qualify him for salvation.

But isn’t salvation a gift? Yes, of course. But there is this dichotomy that says it is a gift that must be used, exercised, and can be lost! We are saved and we are being saved through how we demonstrate our faith. Faith isn’t something we say; it’s something we do. And we begin to “do” our faith through having a fear of the Lord that motivates us not to sin.

© 2009 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 19:21

“The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.” (NRSV)

“Then he told them a parable: ‘The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, “What should I do, for I have no place to store my crops?” Then he said, “I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” So it is with those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich toward God.’” (Luke 12:16-21 NRSV).

There is an amazing dynamic between our free will and God’s purposes. And the proverb is right: We do devise many plans! In fact, some of us are downright compulsive about our pre-planning (as if planning would somehow control everything!).

Last December some of our school’s music groups were putting on a concert at the local performing arts theater. I asked our school secretary if she would put a printed program together for us. She was so kind to agree to do that. In doing so, she sent me an email that went something like this: “Do you have a list of students who will be participating? What am I thinking? Of course you have a list. I’m sure you have lists and lists!” Her point being, of course, that I’m compulsive about writing down everything that needs to be done. I say that I do it so that I won’t forget. But there’s also something within me that likes order and doing lists helps to satisfy that longing to order everything . . . to control.

Now there’s certainly nothing wrong in writing lists. But there is something wrong in so trying to order everything around me (including the future) that I fail to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit when He wants to divert me away from my lists to something else. The fact is, my lists aren’t important! What’s important are the people around me. And when I refuse to walk away from my lists (or my calendar) to minister to them, I am refusing to do the will of the Father. The parable that the Lord Jesus told about the rich man and his barns had to do with the man refusing to look around him and minister to his neighbors. The man had goals, dreams, a vision of what he could accomplish for his life. Perhaps he was afraid of an uncertain future that might lead him into suffering and poverty. So he worked hard and made plans. And the Lord called him foolish. Why? Because the treasure he could have stored up for himself was trust.

God’s purposes will be established! If we trust Him, we will embrace those purposes and not worry about whether we are in control or not. Our plans aren’t important. Only what we do in being obedient for God is!

© 2009 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 19:19-20

“A violent tempered person will pay the penalty; if you effect a rescue, you will only have to do it again. Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom for the future.” NRSV

Anger, control, and fear all go together. Trust, patience, and kindness go together. However, they rarely mix. In other words, when we are angry or fearful, it is likely that we will be patient or kind.

A. W. Tozer contends that “the low view of God entertained almost universally among Christians is the cause of a hundred lesser evils everywhere among us” (The Knowledge of the Holy, p. vii). And it’s true. The cause of most of our sin is based on either the fact that we truly don’t believe God can help us or we don’t believe that God will help us. And this belief is based on the idea that we are wiser than He is so we logically know what He should do. When He doesn’t do it, our belief is confirmed and our idea of Who He is is lessened.

We really don’t want to trust God. We want Him to respond to our prayers, to our pleas, to our expectations rather than molding ourselves to Him! The psalmist writes:

“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!” (Psalm 27:14 NRSV).
"Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord.” (Psalm 31:24 NRSV)

Notice the three characteristics here:

• Wait
• Be strong
• Become courageous

Waiting means simply that . . . to wait. And potentially wait and wait and wait. Hebrews 11:39 tells us that “all these [the great saints of the Old Testament], though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised” (NRSV). These are those who waited, who became strong and courageous and didn’t receive because God’s plan was better!

We are angry because we refuse to accept the instruction of scripture. Then we are ill prepared for the future—lacking wisdom. And we pay the penalty. A believer cannot be angry, want to control, and be afraid and still trust God. God knows about our problems. He knows the things that we need and He will provide if we wait upon Him.

© 2009 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 19:18

“Discipline your children while there is hope; do not set your heart on their destruction.” (NRSV)

Years ago—many years ago—the majority of parents in America knew how to raise their children. How do we know this? Because we were a nation of moral adults, adults who knew how to discern right from wrong and knew that they shouldn’t choose wrong. Yes, there were some indiscriminate sins, but on the whole, America wanted to be a moral nation.

No longer. Now we raise children who are self-indulgent, who want to remain children, who only want to play and have fun.

We have failed in our task as parents.

The Hebrew word translated here as “discipline” means “bind, chasten, chastise, correct, instruct, punish, reform, reprove, sore, teach” (Strongs H3256). And the word is used in the imperative form. There is an insistence; this is a command. Moreover, the command is coached in a warning: “Discipline your children while there is hope.” In other words, there will be a time in your child’s life when there is no hope. Why? Because there was a lack of discipline.

Most Christian parents don’t realize that their parenting is strongly influenced by the evolutionary mind of American society. When we give our children choices without strategically determining how that’s done and why we are doing it, we are reinforcing that our children are individuals with their own right to determine morality. Now, for most Christians, that’s a novel thought. We parent by copying what we see around us or what we read and we don’t stop to analyze why we parent the way we do. The fact is, we may be parenting our children to destruction without even realizing it.

Dr. John Ankerberg (with Dr. John Weldon) wrote an article about relative morality. In summary, he said this:

“Morality is defined by every individual according to his own views and interests. Morality is ultimately relative because every person is the final authority for his own views” (http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/science/SC0999W3.htm)

Do you believe that your children have the right to their own opinion? Do you see no harm in allowing your child to choose? By believing that some/many choices are harmless and have no relation to morality, you may actually be parenting your children to destruction. How? You may be instilling a sense of entitlement and self-indulgence in them without even realizing it.

What is the goal of parenting? It is to produce godly adults. Our children will not become mature Christians {{poof}} at 18. They grow up to become mature Christians as we discipline them. If we fail to parent, then we have actually set our hearts on their destruction because we didn’t care enough to do our God-appointed job.

© 2009 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 19:16

“Those who keep the commandment will live; those who are heedless of their ways will die.” NRSV

As a society, we are afraid of pain and death. One of the reasons our new federal administration wants to invoke universal healthcare is to mitigate—or completely wipe out—pain and suffering, even to prolong life to the point that death comes very late in life. Why, rather than simply embracing the idea that these bodies are deteriorating, do we do everything we can to avoid suffering?

Trying to avoid suffering now is the short view of things. The New Testament speaks a lot about suffering and none of those teachings are about trying to avoid suffering. In fact, what the New Testament teaches is that (1) these bodies and, in fact, all of creation are under the penalty of sin which causes deterioration and eventually death; and (2) if we are walking the narrow way, we will suffer for the cause of Christ. Paul wrote in Romans 8:

“I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (v. 18-25 NRSV).

As believers, we are groaning, Paul says. What’s interesting about this Greek word, stenazo, is that it has three meanings: sigh, murmur, or pray inaudibly. In other words, there is such pain and suffering in life that the only alternative that we have, the only One to Whom we can run for comfort is our Heavenly Father. The sense is that our every thought turns to Him for help, for comfort, for direction.

For many years, America was so wealthy as a nation that we grew prideful and arrogant. We often had, at our disposal, the resources to solve every problem. And that continues to be the mindset when we talk about healthcare and solving our country’s financial problems. If we just throw enough money at the problem, we have the wherewithal to fix it. Unfortunately, there isn’t enough money in the world to fix the root problem . . . which is sin. Fixing that problem took the precious blood of the Savior. As believers we need to refocus our vision, to turn from secular fixes, and realize again that the only solution is to trust the Lord Jesus.

Proverbs tells us that “those who keep the commandment will live; those who are heedless of their ways will die.” There are consequences for everything we do and we cannot mitigate those consequences, as much as we might try. Ultimately, those who refuse to trust the Lord will sin in their sins and will face eternity in hell. Those who understand that we cannot save ourselves and must throw ourselves upon the mercy of God will live eternally in Heaven with Him. And we throw ourselves on His mercy by keeping His commandments. We must live our intention. It’s not enough to say that we want to be saved; we must put actions to our words.

There are a number of reasons for suffering. We suffer because we live in a sinful world. We suffer because God wants to discipline and refocus us. We suffer as a consequence of our sins or as a consequence of someone else’s sin. We suffer in order to deny our flesh. It is natural to try to avoid suffering; this fleshly body hates pain. But we not only need to accept suffering, there are times when we need to embrace it.

It’s interesting that, in the Romans passage, Paul says that we are waiting for adoption. Our salvation is not yet completed and won’t be until we stand before the Throne. We are working out our salvation everyday by keeping the commandments through the power of the Holy Spirit. And those commandments say that we must embrace God’s will regardless of where it leads us, even if it leads us through suffering (which it will). Being a Christian goes against the flesh nature. Paul wrote:

“I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27 NRSV).

If our circumstances don’t pummel our flesh, we should do it ourselves, not out of a sense of pride, but because we need to ignore and beat down our desires and impulses. For example, most of us, when we go out to eat, look at the menu and ask ourselves what we want to eat. What we should be asking ourselves rather is what would be good for us to eat. (Often what is good for us doesn’t taste nearly as good!).

Obeying the commandments has an eternal reward. Rather than focusing on (or trying to avoid) pain, discomfort, and suffering, we should rather embrace obedience that we might receive the prize!

© 2009 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 19:15

“Laziness brings on deep sleep; an idle person will suffer hunger.”

When I was younger, there was a hepatitis outbreak on my college campus. Unfortunately, I was one of the young people to get it. Our family doctor recommended a diet regimen and rest for three months, giving my liver a chance to recovery. At the end of the three months, he pronounced me well and told me that I could go back to my regular activities. The problem was, I was still tired. Tired all the time. I asked the doctor about it, afraid that I still had active hepatitis. He told me that I was fine, but that the inactivity had caused my body to feel tired. What I needed to do was ignore my tiredness and get active again. Do exercise. Get out. Eventually the tired feeling would disappear.

Often, we respond to symptoms or feelings rather than doing what we know intellectually (or spiritually) to be right or heathy. If we are angry or depressed, we indulge ourselves. The problem is, indulgence leads to more indulgence which leads to our being angry more because our expectations are wrong. As believers, we need to break the cycle, to step outside of responding to our feelings, and do what we know to be right based on the Word of God.

“Laziness brings on deep sleep.” Times of inactivity or indulgence simply make us more tired, make us more self-centered, literally put our consciences to sleep. The opposite of laziness is self-discipline. Self-discipline creates a soul that is attuned to God’s will, sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Laziness (self-indulgence) creates a soul that is self-centered, resistant to God’s leading.

The problem is, the result of laziness is hunger. In the case of the laziness of self-indulgence, the hunger is spiritual. And spiritual hunger leads to spiritual weakness. Then, when the true attacks come, we are unable to stand under them because we are unfit . . . spiritually unfit. The time for self-discipline is now before the attacks come. We need to learn to pray, to study, to submit our wills to His. We need to cast off laziness and self-indulgence and wrap ourselves in the self-discipline that comes through walking every moment with the Spirit.

© 2009 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).

Proverbs 19:13

“A stupid child is ruin to a father, and a wife’s quarreling is a continual dripping of rain.”

Ultimately we are left with family. In fact, that may be why so many people get divorced or break up relationships. They are looking for the kind of stability that one should find within a family. Perhaps the idea of a soul mate even comes from this longing, the longing to have a place called “home” within which there is love and safety and comfort.

This proverb isn’t about children who lack intelligence, but rather about children who are foolish and silly. Matthew Henry writes:

“A son that will apply himself to no study or business, that will take no advice, that lives a lewd, loose, rakish life, and spends what he has extravagantly, games it away and wastes it in the excess of riot, or that is proud, foppish, and conceited, such a one is the grief of his father, because he is the disgrace, and is likely to be the ruin, of his family.”

Proverbs 23:24-25 states that “the father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who begets a wise son will be glad in him. Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.”

There is a reciprocity within the parent-child relationship. Parents are to raise their children to be righteous; children are to choose the path of righteousness. When these children turn their backs on the Lord, it is a great sorrow to the parents. Wise children follow the Lord and His will. Foolish children stand up in arrogance and turn their backs on everything their parents believe and taught.

In a similar fashion, a spouse who sees only want and despair and whose talk is full of criticism and anger also brings discord to a home. The proverb speaks specifically of wives, but both spouses have a responsibility to take their burdens to the Lord and to bring encouragement and love to the home. God never intended for the home to be the haven for gossip, anger, and discontent. The home is the first point of ministry, the first place that a Christian should practice sacrificial love.

© 2009 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. International copyright reserved. This study may be copied for nonprofit and/or church purposes only without permission when copied in its entirety (including this notice).