Scripture Reading:

Proverbs 13:12-14

Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick: but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life. 

This word “desire” appears more often in the book of Proverbs than any other book in the Bible. The desires in the hearts of men are those things in which they find great delight, hope, anticipation, and motivation. Without some kind of a hopeful desire in the heart, it would be impossible for anybody to get out of bed in the morning and engage in life. In our present society, we find that our neighbors and coworkers are primarily motivated to work for comforts, vacations, and perhaps even retirement. They look forward to the next ball game, or their next ski vacation, or their next beer. But what do they really desire deep down in their hearts? After ten thousand beers, three hundred vacations, and one thousand shopping trips in search of more junk, their lives are just as empty as they were when they first started out on their quest. They seek their own happiness as the highest value in life, because they turn themselves into little gods. They believe that power, money, or even pleasure would bring them this happiness. Often, they turn money and the pleasure of food and alcohol into gods, and these gods will beat them to death—because they are not nice gods.

Men hunger and thirst after their own happiness, like a man crawling through the desert seeking a cool drink of water. But with each mirage, the heart sinks and the desire begins to fade. At the end, he will lose all hope, all desire, and all motivation. He will no longer find any delight in the expectation that he will achieve his heart’s desire. He has lost all delight because his heart has lost all hope and desire for life.

Nevertheless, if we desire the right thing, we will find great delight in life! For if we desire the things that God would give to us, then, of course, we will find our hopes and desires met by His generous hand.

Proverbs 13:13

Whoso despises the word shall be destroyed: but he that fears the commandment shall be rewarded. 

When God speaks, He cannot help but speak with ultimate authority. If there is a God and if He were to communicate to His creatures, naturally it would be a matter of supreme impropriety to doubt His revelation, or even to attempt to “prove” the veracity of His Word.

Of the millions of books published in the world, many of which are highly respected, there is no writing that should command more respect than the Scriptures of Divine revelation. God’s Word is a thousand times more important than anything you will read elsewhere. Sadly, few people consider the Word in this light. Many neglect to read it or teach it to their children. Their children grow up learning more of Algebra and Geography than they do of the book of Genesis or the book of Psalms.

As modern self-help gurus write their books on family issues, education, or economics, they derive their principles and agendas more from psychiatry and scientific studies than from the Word of God. Rather than trusting God’s system of economics, they embrace a debt-based system produced by humanists like John Maynard Keynes. Instead of relying upon God’s principles of government found in holy Scripture, they would much rather follow the systems of Karl Marx and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rather than scrutinizing the Word of God (especially the book of Proverbs), to identify the principles of education, most teaching colleges frame their approach to education by the ideas of John Dewey, E.D. Hirsch, or Maria Montessori.

Two books were written by Christians in the 1990s on how to raise boys. One book contained hundreds of references to God’s Word, most of which came from the book of Proverbs. The other book was filled with personal experiences, scientific studies, and “expert advice,” with only a few tertiary references to the Bible. Which book do you think rendered more respect to God and His wisdom? Which book was far more popular with Christian audiences? Of course, it was the latter. From this you can see how there is little fear of God incorporated into the “Christian” world today. Where there is a failure to fear God, there will be a failure to recognize the authority of His Word, and there will be no real fear of His Word.

When handling the Word of God, our hearts should be so overwhelmed by the deep and powerful truths contained there, that we would “tremble at the Word” (Is. 66:5). The world might think this odd. But when a man really fears God, he will pick up the Word with reverence, read it with awe, and receive it with an overwhelming sense of God’s presence and wisdom.

Proverbs 13:14

The law of the wise is a fountain of life, to turn away from the snares of death. 

Some Christians find the word “law” disagreeable, because it seems antithetical to “grace”. But the Apostle Paul refers to the law as “holy, just, and good” (Rom. 7:12), and he sees it playing a role in the Christian life as long as it is used lawfully (1 Tim. 1:8).

God has given us His Word and He expects us to accept all of it. At the same time that we receive the grace of God and the forgiveness of sin by faith, we must accept the way of life that He provides for us in the same Law-word. We take God as a kind and loving Father Who, by His Word and Spirit, shows us a way of life that yields much fruit. So as we read the Word and walk in it, we find ourselves living the life of a forgiven, graced people who love God and keep His commandments. As we accept these words and live in them, we find a fountain of life, and we will escape the many snares and false doctrines that lead people into the paths of death. These snares are everywhere! Some think they can live a proper life without God’s grace and forgiveness. Others will accept a message concerning God’s grace and forgiveness, but they refuse to love Him and keep His commandments. These are false Gospels.

The wrong Gospel presents the wrong way of faith and life, and it is not at all a fountain of life. All of the heretical worldview messages flying around, whether they be humanistic, Islamic, or eastern philosophic ideas, only bring bondage, destruction, and death to those who embrace them.

Family Discussion Questions:

1. What is your hope and desire in life? What motivates you to get out of bed on a Monday morning?

2. Do we really trust in the wisdom that God gives us in His Word? If we were to “fear” the Word of God, what would this look like in our family worship time?

3. How do we view the law of God? Does continuing in sinful habits bring life and true joy? Do we delight in the law of God as Paul did in Rom. 7:22?