Proverbs 1:30 “would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof”
When men struggle with addictions, in my experience, it seems like they often hide the problem for a long time. It frequently seems like they can judge themselves by their intentions rather than their actions, or even blame others for their issues. Fear, shame and guilt are seriously good jailers, they will keep men locked up and hidden with no bars and no walls. God wants all men to be free and to that end provides loads of counsel in his Word. Men are to be ruthless with thoughts and actions that cause them to sin. God counsels us to confess our faults one to another that we may be healed. It does take humility to acknowledge our sinfulness and weakness.
When men confess their sins and embrace accountability, remain teachable and humble, put their recovery as the highest priority for themselves and their families, remarkable breakthroughs occur.
I think that humility is the key.
When Saul was first about to be anointed as King he was found hidden amongst other people’s baggage, and for most of his kingship, he allowed other people’s “baggage” to come between himself and God. When David was first anointed as King he was found hidden in humility serving his father, and for most of his road to kingship and time as the King, he stayed in a place of humility serving his Heavenly Father.
KNOWLEDGE
As an advocate, God is still laying down his case for all to hear, as to why he is not answering the calls for help or making his presence available. The consequences for the choices we have consistently made rest with us. When in the Old Testament King David took some “me time” he started to be distracted, he started to think about and enquire about things that were not God’s best, his moral purity (wisdom) came under pressure, eventually he slept with Bathsheba and in doing this he started a chain reaction.
When Nathan the prophet confronted David with his story David confessed and he was forgiven. (2 Sam 11:13) but in verse 14 we are told that David had utterly scorned (despised, rejected, treated with contempt, reviled, despised) the Lord. The consequences of his actions rolled into his family, his authority and his nation.
Forgiveness is there for us when we genuinely repent as we are under the New Testament. God says that by his kindness (Rom 2:4) he leads us to repentance. We are dependant on God – repentance is his gift to us from his kindness. If we have hardened our hearts against God and his ways, how then can we receive his kindness and experience repentance? We also will be wise not to confuse receiving forgiveness with being released from the temporal consequences of our actions. Forgiveness is a spiritual act that sets us free from the eternal consequences of sin.
UNDERSTANDING: Let’s pick one word from this verse to look closer at and see if that can help us gain a deeper insight into how God would love us to live? The word I would love us to look into today is an old-fashioned word, “reproof”. the original Hebrew word is pronounced “tokehah” and appears twenty-eight times in the Old Testament. It is translated into English as an argument; rebuke; complaint; reproof; and punishment. For us reading verse 30, we pick up on the idea of correction that will set us free.
WISDOM: when was the last time you experienced God’s kindness in your life that helped you genuinely repent and make a sustainable noticeable irreversible change to your habits and behaviours?
Strengths Thought – Harmony is a beautiful Relationship Strength – Harmony here is on God’s side – he is looking for reconciliation, to draw you back to himself, to turn the mountain into a molehill. He knows the issues that need to be addressed and is willing always to focus on these and to try and bring you into the same conversation. If we will listen to him, we find our value, our self-respect, and our voice. If we avoid God for fear of conflict, if we go along with others we should avoid it because it’s easier, if we live “needing” peace, rather than “bringing” peace, we may experience a full harvest, but not a fulfilling one.
Allan’s Unauthorised Version: [you intentionally turned your back on me, contemptuous, ignoring all my words.]
Prayer: Father, thank you for today. Please help me to keep very short accounts with you, to stay teachable, humble and willing to confess my faults.
We have two choices. One is to stand firm and live our lives with the Fear of the Lord. The other is to ignore wisdom and fall into the clutches of sin.
“ If we live needing peace rather than bringing peace” was a real revelation for me today. May we all experience God’s loving peace today. And thank Him for it, since it passes all understanding.
Remaining teachable is a choice we make and it is a stance we should maintain for life. I will never know it all so wisdom tells me I should remain teachable as there is always much to learn. We Christians have a teacher who will always be willing to teach in the Holy Spirit, the question is always am I willing to learn. A humble and contrite heart will not be turned away!
Here again is a good reminder to us that taking a daily inventory of any heart issues is a good thing. Remaining humble teachable & accountable are attributes which will keep our hearts soft & repentant if we need to ask for forgiveness at any time from God & others. It’s a powerful statement- Repentance is God’s gift to us from His kindness!! How blessed we are to know God’s forgiveness- it’s a definite super power!! Despising & intentionally ignoring God’s ways is so very foolish!
The reminder today of God’s kindness toward me at a time in my Life that I had a genuine desire to change my behaviour my habits with His powerful forgiveness, is good to reflect on and be grateful for today . We often forget what he has done for us and that testimony is something to share because it’s hope for another and gives us a heart of gratitude to a loving God who wants to see us go from strength to strength
The key is humility !!!
Being humble is a quality that is mentioned numerous times in The Bible and I believe it is because God knows being proud and boastful turns our focus away from God and onto ourselves. We magnify ourselves thinking we are ‘Godlike’, then harden our hearts believing we know what’s best for ourselves and foolishly make decisions that will ultimately be our unraveling.
To not seek and ask for God’s wisdom concerning our lives is the greatest wasted opportunity.
Allan
The gift of confession was one I was raised with.
Even for those without faith it is a very powerfull thing.
It was 22 years ago that I experienced God’s kindness and grace ,and understood his forgiveness to me,
I truly repented and changed my life completely and had a irreversible change,
Something changed inside of me and I never looked back ,
I thank Him for never dissapointing me.
And for never letting me down ,for loving me unconditionally and for keeping his promises to me ,
I chose to live my life to honour him in all I do ,🙏
I’m so humbled and thankful that He found me in His perfect time .
I pray that I will always have a heart willing to be obedient to his counsel, to be sensitive to His voice ,
17 March 2013 was the first time I’ve ever truly experienced that level of kindness and which made me make some serious life changing decisions, very challenged by this question it really made me question am I still allowing God into all areas of my life to change me?
Experiencing God’s Kindness and Goodness always. Even in times where I would have been hurting and feeling abandoned, a word of support and encouragement and reassurance of God’s goodness helped in moving on and not hold back in anger or bitterness.
Always have a teachable spirit open to correction.
Loved this and I quote “ if we live “needing” peace, rather than “bringing” peace, we may experience a full harvest, but not a fulfilling one.”
Thank you. 👍🏽
Si true how men live judging ourselves and most of the time depending on our own strength and holding to pride and not humbling to God
God continues the tell us again we need to listen to his voice He continues to show us there ya a better way live in a firm of reverse psychology show in us the bad but calling ya to Hin. The most we know of him the most we are to humble to His majesty and Power and grateful that we are still here for a purpose.
“When men confess their sins, and embrace accountability, remain teachable and humble, put their recovery as the highest priority for themselves and their family, remarkable breakthroughs occur”
Excellent insightful advice Ps Allen,
I’ll hold on to this promise and remain humble in expectation that Gods promise in my life come to past. Blessings
Hi Allan
after reading you talking about men being addicted to something hiding from the deep seed. Its true until the seed is surfaced and not dealt with, you won’t heal. Sometimes it can be you that’s been hurt by others and a seed can be within and you deal with the same problem, a getaway like addiction to drugs. So sometimes you need to forgive the other person in order for you to heal as God forgives, even praying for them will help.
Revelation I’m getting from the bible is, don’t condemn your self because it does pull you away from the word, also I see forgive forgive forgive as we aren’t better then Jesus, to not to forgive.
Perfect love drives out fear, I pray that the fear of God will melt away all other fear I have in people or situations. Harmony is my strength and I realised how that can lead me to pursue peace not bring peace.