CORRECTION

 JULY 18, 2022

Proverbs 3:1-12

3 My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
2 for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.

3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.

9 Honor the Lord with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.

11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke,
12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.


Last week we looked at Proverbs 3 and the teaching and encouragement that skillful living, wise living, calls us to trust God. We were challenged to Trust God’s Devotion v3-4, Trust God’s Plan v5-6, Trust God’s Commands v7-8, and the week ended with the invitation and challenge to Trust God’s Provision v9-10.


Today, we start the week with the last area in Proverbs 3 that we are asked to trust God. The last area is when God disciplines us. Why bad things happen is a question that all of us ask at one time or another. The Bible gives several answers. One of them is that sometimes hard times come upon us as a means of helping us see the errors, or mistakes of our ways and as a result these circumstances place before us the encouragement to return to God. Errors, or mistakes can and do lead us away from the path God has for us, the path of life and blessing.


Back a while ago we looked at the passage in Haggai 2:17-19, God tells his people, "I destroyed you and everything you did with a strong-wind, disease, and hail. Yet you did not return to Me,’ says the Lord. ,’ Yet from this day on I will bless you.’” This shows us that sometimes hard times are used by God to get our attention, but the goal is never to condemn or crush but only to encourage us to return to Him and to the path of life.


The correction of God is a sign of His love. He loves us so much that He will not let us remain tangled in the web of sin and poor choices. God desires us to have the joy that comes from living the way He intended.

Many people get caught up in the idea of God using hard times to correct us. Sometimes it’s hard to think of God loving us and still allowing or even causing hard times to hit us. When those times occur, we have a hard time thinking they are caused by a loving God. Perhaps we feel like those times are proof that God no longer loves us. When faced with that possibility, many people either run away from God or try hard to prove themselves and earn God’s favor. Neither path is positive or necessary. 

The right answer is to realize your identity and how God sees you. It is revealed in the last phrase of verse 12: 

“As the father corrects the son in whom he delights.” The son has acted in a way that requires correction, but the father still delights in the son. It is because the father delights in the son that he corrects him, so that the son can experience the blessing that has been prepared for him.

Why does the sinful son still delight his father? Because the son belongs to his father. Even when God corrects us, He is delighting in us. We haven’t lost His love. His correction is proof of His love. We don’t have to earn it. It is ours because God is devoted to us, which brings us back to the first point we looked at in Proverbs 3 last week: trust God’s devotion.

“I rise at midnight to thank you
for your righteous judgments.”

Psalm 119:62