Proverbs 9:7-10
7 Whoever instructs the cynic gets insulted;
whoever corrects the wicked gets hurt.
8 Don’t correct the impudent, or they will hate you;
correct the wise, and they will love you.
9 Teach the wise, and they will become wiser;
inform the righteous, and their learning will increase.
10 The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord;
the knowledge of the holy one is understanding.
Last year around this time, Ontario went into lockdown and all schools shut down. Our older daughter Sophia was in junior kindergarten at the time. As her school scrambled to figure out what to do, they asked parents to start teaching their kids from home. Worksheets were sent out to families, with the hope that parents would help their kids complete the work.
That was quite an experience for us! One of the things I found the hardest was to just get Sophia to sit down and actually do her work. Most of the time it was like pulling teeth to get her into her chair. Then once she was in her chair, that was a whole other story. She would draw pictures, play with her pencils, ask for food–anything to not have to do her work.
Part of the reason I think she would stall is because learning is hard! Sitting down to do math or sound out words takes real effort, even for a 4 year old. I think in some ways, that resistance to learning and that resistance to change never really leaves us.
For the past 2 weeks we’ve been talking about the fear of the Lord at church. One verse some of us may be familiar with is Proverbs 9:10: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” This verse is part of a section in Proverbs called “wise advice” in my version of the Bible.
The point of this proverb is pretty simple. Be wise! Don’t be the kind of person who can’t take instruction or correction. The proverb explains it like this: Whoever instructs a cynical person gets insulted in return. Whoever corrects a wicked person gets hurt. Try to correct an arrogant person, and they’ll hate you. In short: Don’t be that kind of person! Don’t be cynical, wicked, or arrogant.
Instead, grow in the fear of the Lord and grow in wisdom. Be teachable. Be able to take instruction from the Lord. Be open to having God correct you. Be open to God’s teaching in your life. Be ready to listen in prayer for how God may want to correct us.
This proverb helps us understand one aspect of the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord means being open to having God correct us. Being teachable and ready to learn is an important part of fearing God. And at times, it’s not easy! Just like me trying to get Sophia to do her homework, sometimes we can be resistant to learning. But let’s grow in the grace of being teachable, and grow in the fear of the Lord.