Tawa Baptist

Riparian Planting

Scripture: Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17:5-10

Video Link: https://youtu.be/PjnEYSNxYsQ

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Psalm 1
  • Jeremiah 17:5-10
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

If you watch Country Calendar then you will have heard of riparian planting. Riparian planting is the practice of planting trees and shrubs alongside the edge of rivers, streams and lakes.

There are many advantages to riparian planting. The tree roots give stability to the soil, preventing erosion, and the plants act as filters keeping the water clean by inhibiting effluent and fertiliser run off.

Trees along the water’s edge also provide shade, maintaining cooler more stable water temperatures. This prevents the growth of excess algae and weed as well as protecting marine life. Many fish in New Zealand cannot survive when the water temperature is above 25 degrees.

Riparian planting has a lot of benefits for the environment. And, as God designed it, these benefits do not come at the expense of the tree. Shrubs planted near water ways tend to thrive because they have a reliable source of moisture and nutrients. Life is connection.

Today we begin a new sermon series which I’m calling, The Testimony of Trees. The Bible has a lot to say about trees and what they have to teach us. We start our series this morning by thinking about two passages of Scripture which use riparian planting as a metaphor for a life well lived. Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17.

Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17 are similar in a number of ways. We are not sure which passage was written first, but we will start with Psalm 1 because that is the more familiar reading…

Psalm 1 

1 Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of mockers, 2 but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. 3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers. 4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Robert Frost wrote a poem called The Road Not Taken. The famous last verse goes like this…

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.     

Perhaps one of the things Robert Frost is saying here is that life is full of choices. We are not governed by fate. We get to make a difference in our own lives by the path we choose.

Not everything that happens in life is down to the choices we make of course, but our choices can and do have a significant influence on the outcome. Which means that human life is not a joke. Human life is charged with responsibility, fused with purpose and invigorated by hope.   

Psalm 1 sets before us two contrasting ways of living, each with very different outcomes. The way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. The way of the righteous leads to fruitfulness and abundant life, while the way of the wicked leads to emptiness and destruction.

Psalm 1 begins with the word ‘Happy’ or ‘Blessed’. Think about that for a moment. The whole collection of 150 psalms begins with happiness. Apparently, God wants us to be happy. The Lord wants us to find abundant life.

But the road to happiness is not the path of least resistance. Verse 1 is a statement of what not to do if you want to be happy.  

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of mockers,

As Derek Kidner notes, following advice has to do with thinking. Taking a path has to do with behaving and sitting in a seat has to do with belonging. Thinking, behaving and belonging, this is how a person chooses their allegiance.

Maybe there is a kind of progression with these three things. It all starts with the mind, what we think about. What we think about tends to inform our behaviour. If we think about doing good, then we are more inclined to do it. And if we think about doing bad then we are more inclined to do that.

The path we take represents our routine way of doing things. Our daily habits. Do we make room in each day for prayer. Is our conversation filled with words of truth and grace. Do we deal with people fairly and kindly.  

Of course, how we behave invariably determines who we end up sitting with. That is, who we belong with. For example, if we choose to steal, we will end up hanging out with thieves. But if we choose to work and worship honestly, we will end up in the company of honest God loving people. 

In the Bible a ‘scoffer’ or a ‘mocker’ is one of the worst kinds of sinners because they are the furthest from repentance. [1] A ‘mocker’ is so far down the wide and easy road that they not only can’t see anything wrong in what they are doing, they also ridicule others who are living right and doing it hard on the narrow road.

Having said what the happy do not do (in verse 1), verse 2 then goes on to describe how happy, righteous people do behave…  

…but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night.2   

Meditating has to do with what we think about, what we chew over in our minds. So the secret to happiness is not thinking all day and all night about what I can do to satisfy my every desire. The secret to happiness is found by thinking about what God wants.  

As Jesus says in Matthew 7: ‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.’

Delighting in the law of the Lord is not about feverishly following a list of rules and regulations. It’s about realising the freedom we have to love God and love our neighbour as we love ourselves.

We delight in the law of the Lord (his Word) because through it God shapes our thinking, heals our hearts and reforms our behaviour so that we are set free to do what is right and stand with God’s people.

So, who then is righteous and who is wicked? I mean, most people appear to be a bit of a mixture.

Well, it’s like Jesus said in Matthew 7: ‘You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit…’

Perhaps Jesus is saying here, you can’t really judge a person by first impressions. You have to look at the fruit of a person’s life. You have to look at what outcomes their actions produce. Do their actions reveal God’s good character and bless others, or not?

Verse 3 of Psalm 1 goes on to describe the outcome (or the fruit) of those happy ones who meditate on God’s law…

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers.

Here we have the image of riparian planting. A well-established tree, planted by a waterway, doing good for the environment it is in.  

Fruit of course is not enjoyed by the tree itself; it is enjoyed by others. The fruit is anything that blesses others – anything that is good for others. What’s more the fruit arrives in its season – that is, in a timely way.

The fruit could be an act of justice, a gift of mercy, a helping hand, some wise listening or a kind word, just when it is needed.  

The reference to the leaf not withering is a poetic way of saying that the tree is not adversely affected by drought. It is not that the tree never experiences difficult circumstances, it does. The point is the tree (or the righteous person) is able to withstand the dry and difficult times because they are nourished at their roots by the water of God’s Word and Spirit.

When it says, whatever they do prospers, it doesn’t necessarily mean that good people get rich and stay healthy. It means the good work they do prospers. God sees to it that the lives of the righteous have meaning and are not wasted, even if they do happen to suffer in some way.

If the righteous are like fruitful trees planted by a stream, then the wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away. You couldn’t get a greater contrast.

Chaff (in the Bible) is the ultimate example of what is rootless, weightless and useless. Chaff is the complete opposite of a fruitful tree. Fruit has seeds, it perpetuates itself. But chaff doesn’t. Chaff is dead, it comes to nothing.  

At the final judgement, the wicked won’t have a leg to stand on. In the end, they are separated from the righteous in much the same way that chaff is separated from grain.

Psalm 1 concludes with a kind of summary statement in verse 6…6

For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

Psalm 1 is saying, when you boil it all down there are basically two ways you can live your life, each with a very different outcome. You can choose happiness or emptiness. You can live as if God’s instructions matter, or you can live as if they don’t. You can be a riparian planting of the Lord, or you can be chaff.

Jeremiah 17

Jeremiah 17 gives virtually the same message as Psalm 1. From Jeremiah 17, verses 5-10 we read…

5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. 7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 “I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve.”

Fashions change. These days tanned skin is considered attractive but prior to the 20th century white skin was the desired look. To achieve this white complexion, wealthy people would apply a pale lead-based makeup to their face.

Lead is toxic of course and the makeup had a detrimental effect on people’s health. Some even died from lead poisoning while others did damage to their skin, which they only made worse by applying more lead makeup.  

Not that we are much better today. Over exposure to the sun in pursuit of the perfect tan puts you at risk of skin cancer.

Similar to Psalm 1, Jeremiah 17 contrasts two very different types of people. Those who put their trust in God and those who don’t. Jeremiah thinks of righteousness in terms of trust in the Lord.

Those who turn away from the Lord in their heart are likened to a bush in the wastelands. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives. In other words, they will end up thirsty, fruitless and isolated.

In the eyes of the world the bush may appear to be doing well. But just because someone appears successful and attractive at first doesn’t mean they will flourish and be fruitful in the end. Sometimes people cover over a sad reality with a lead-based makeup, more concerned with how things look than how things really are.

In contrast, those who trust in the Lord are like a riparian planting. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream.

They are not anxious or afraid of hard times. Nor do they need to pretend to be something they are not. They flourish and remain fruitful, whatever the climate, because they depend on the Lord.

It is worth noting that the tree of verse 8 is the person as heaven sees them.[2] The values of heaven are different from the values of this world. The person of verse 8 may not always appear successful from a worldly point of view. And they might not always feel like they are flourishing. But ultimately, the person of verse 8 is like the proverbial tortoise who wins the race in the end. Only heaven sees us as we really are.

When Jesus gave the beatitudes in Matthew 5, he was describing those who are truly flourishing from the perspective of heaven. For example, blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are those who mourn, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and so on.  

In the eyes of the world, the poor, the meek and those who grieve do not look like they are doing well, nor do they feel great. But from heaven’s perspective they are the lucky ones because they are depending on God. They rely on the Word and Spirit of the Lord from the roots of their being.   

The key to a tree’s fruitfulness and resilience is its roots. The roots are the unseen foundation. The roots are what connects the tree to life giving water and nutrients. The roots feed the tree.

The roots of the human soul are our heart and mind, our inner life. What we feed our mind on, tends to shape our conduct and our character.

Jeremiah draws a connection between the roots of a tree and the human heart and mind in verse 9 where he says: The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

In this context the heart is not the physical blood pump in your chest. It’s the heart in a spiritual sense. What we today would think of as the mind, emotions and will, our inner life where decisions are made. 

Jeremiah is putting his finger on the root cause of the problem. It’s a Catch 22 situation. There is no way we can cure our minds. The only instrument we have for understanding our minds is our own minds. [3] But because our mind is desperately sick, we can’t accurately diagnose the sickness, let alone treat it.

We might think we are being honest with ourselves, but our mind deceives us. Our conscious mind is blind to what’s going on in our unconscious. We don’t know what we don’t know.

Like the people of centuries past who covered over the problem with lead-based makeup, the very things we think will help become the very things that make matters worse. We have no way out of the vicious cycle, at least not on our own.

Knowing that the Lord is able to search our heart and examine our mind and reward each person according to their deeds, is a fearful thought. It means there is no hiding from God. There is no makeup (lead based or otherwise) that can disguise the truth of what we are from God. The Lord sees the whole person from root to fruit and he holds us to account. 

And so we find ourselves praying with Jeremiah, in verse 14: Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.

We need God to heal our heart and mind if we are to bear good fruit. 

Conclusion:

Jesus is the answer to Jeremiah’s prayer. Jesus is the one God sent to heal us. Jesus is the source of living water we need to be planted beside. Or to say it more plainly, Jesus is the Word of God and the giver of God’s Spirit. Jesus is our righteousness. Our life and fruitfulness depend on Christ.

As we read in the gospel of John, chapter 7… 

37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive… 

Let us pray…

Merciful God, grant us the grace to put our roots down deep into the soil of your marvellous love. Nourish our souls with the water of your Word and Spirit, that we would be fruitful to the praise of your glory. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.  

 

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading these Scriptures and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. What are the benefits of riparian planting?
  3. According to Psalm 1, what must we do (and not do) to be happy / blessed?
  4. Compare and contrast Psalm 1 with Jeremiah 17:5-10. How are they similar? How are they different? E.g. What word pictures do Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17 use to describe a righteous person? What words pictures do Psalm 1 and Jeremiah 17 use to describe a wicked person?
  5. Why is our thought life so important? What sorts of thoughts normally occupy your mind? What practices support you to meditate on God’s Word in the Bible?
  6. How might we discern whether we are truly a riparian planting of the Lord, from heaven’s perspective?
  7. What (or who) is God’s answer to the sickness of the human heart and mind?

 

[1] Refer Derek Kidner’s commentary on the Psalms, page 64.

[2] Refer Derek Kidner’s commentary on Jeremiah, page 73.

[3] Refer John Goldingay’s commentary on Jeremiah, page 95.

Tawa Baptist

Principles

Scripture: Proverbs 3:1-12

Video Link: https://youtu.be/3zN8xHVvEg0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Verses 1-4
  • Verses 5-8
  • Verses 9-12
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

I grew up in the city of Hamilton. The main feature of Hamilton is the Waikato river, New Zealand’s longest river. As a general principle, river water travels downstream and consequently you can expect anything floating on the water to travel downstream too.

Having said that, there are times when the water travels upstream, against the main flow. This usually happens near the bank of the river. Sometimes floating objects get caught in an eddy and are prevented from moving downstream. But eventually they come unstuck and carry on their journey to the sea. 

Today we continue our series in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs offers practical wisdom for living well in this world.

The book of Proverbs is like a river. It describes the main flow of wisdom and the outcomes one can expect from certain choices. It doesn’t explore the eddy lines and back flows all that much. Proverbs is more concerned with the main principles of wisdom rather than the exceptions to the rule.  

Our message this week focuses on chapter 3, verses 1-12, which read…

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 loyal love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 Then you will win favour 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 acknowledge 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 Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits 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.

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

Verses 1-4:

The book of Proverbs contains principles. A principle is a fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of beliefs. Principles guide our reasoning and behaviour.

For example, one of your principles for living might be ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you’. This principle then informs your chain of reasoning and behaviour: I want people to be honest and kind with me, therefore I will be honest and kind with others.

Of course, living by this principle does not guarantee people will always be honest and kind with you, but it does increase the likelihood of positive treatment. In any case, your kindness and honesty is not dependent on others. You aim to be kind and honest on principle, irrespective of how others may behave. 

Proverbs gives us principles to live by but we should not confuse these principles with promises.

The principle in verses 1-2 of Proverbs 3 is that the son remembers the commands (or instructions) his parents have given him, for they will prolong your life and bring you peace and prosperity. This is not a promise. There is no guarantee that following the parents’ wise advice will always bring prosperity.

Following the path of wisdom is not a get rich quick scheme. We don’t learn wisdom in order to accumulate lots of money. We learn wisdom on principle, because that is who we are and what we want to build our life on. 

There will be times when the vicissitudes of life create an exception to the rule. The story of Job is a case in point. Not all suffering is the result of folly. Sometimes bad things happen to good people and we don’t know why. We don’t always get what we deserve. But, as a general principle, following the path of wisdom leads to peace in the end. Ultimately, God restored Job.

The phrase translated as peace and prosperity is actually one word, shalom, in the original Hebrew. Shalom is wellbeing or abundant life. The prosperity of shalom has less to do with money or possessions and more to do with the richness of right relationships in community with others.  

The principle then is that remembering the parents’ wisdom is good for wellbeing, not just your own personal wellbeing but also the wellbeing of the whole community.

Verses 3-4 provide another principle to live by, the principle of loyal love and faithfulness. The term loyal love is actually hesed in the Hebrew. I’ve talked about hesed before. Ruth did hesed for her mother-in-law Naomi. Jesus does hesed for us on the cross.

Loyal love and faithfulness is about commitment and taking care of your relationships. Being a trust worthy person, maintaining your friendship and support through good times and bad.

To bind something around your neck is to have it with you all the time, wherever you go. To wear it so people can see. A wedding ring on your finger is a symbol of loyal love and faithfulness to your partner in marriage. It shows your commitment to your spouse.

Likewise, for some people, wearing a cross around their neck is a sign of their commitment to Christ. For others a cross necklace is just decoration. Wisdom says it is important that the symbols we wear on the outside of our bodies reflect the deeper principles and commitments we hold in our hearts. 

The heart, in this context, represents a person’s inner life. It includes your mind, emotions and will. To write loyalty and faithfulness on your heart is to be the same on the inside as you are on the outside. Don’t just pretend to be loyal and faithful, mean it genuinely, from the inside out.

As a general principle, being loyal and faithful will result in a good reputation. Over time, people will learn they can trust you. That being said, you don’t practice loyalty and faithfulness in order to make yourself look good. You are loyal and faithful and practice hesed on principle, because that is who you are; that is the foundation on which you want to build your life.

While a good reputation is not guaranteed or promised, it is the normal by-product of a life lived with loyalty and faithfulness.

There’s an interesting wee connection between Proverbs 3 and Luke 2. After the boy Jesus was left behind in the temple and his parents found him, we read   

51 Then Jesus went down to Nazareth with his parents and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. 

We don’t always follow the wisdom of our parents but Jesus did. We are not always loyal and faithful but Jesus was. Jesus fulfils the principles of wisdom we read about in Proverbs. Jesus does for us what we are not able to do for ourselves.

Verses 5-8:

Verses 5-12 of Proverbs 3, spell out some of wisdom’s principles as they operate in our relationship with God. Verses 5-6 are well known…

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

The main principle here is to rely on God; don’t be sucked in by the illusion of self-reliance. 

We tend lean on this verse at isolated times when we are facing a significant life decision, like who to marry, whether to change careers, how to handle a tricky issue and so on. But really, these verses are for all of life, not just the crisis points and crossroads.

Trusting the Lord needs to be a constant principle we live by 24-7. We are to trust with all our heart, completely, totally. Trust is the antidote to worry and anxiety. Trust sets us free to think more clearly so we make better decisions. Trust enables us to wait patiently and to rest so our strength is renewed.

Trust is like a bridge over a gorge; it provides a way to safer ground.

Trust is like a torch light when you are walking at night in the bush; it doesn’t show the whole journey, but it does reveal enough to take the next step.

Trust is a promise kept; it gives you confidence to move forward.

Trust is like a warm meal; it fills you with comfort and strength.

There is a lot in this world that we don’t know and cannot control. If we think about that stuff too much we soon become overwhelmed with fear. Trusting God means leaving the stuff we don’t understand and cannot control with God. Not worrying about it but instead focusing on the things we can control.

God is the source of wisdom.  God alone sees the whole picture. We only see a small piece of the puzzle and not always that clearly. If we make decisions based on the little we know, without reference to God, then there is a good chance we will get it wrong.

This does not mean we have nothing to offer. Rather, trusting God with all our heart means we put God at the centre of our decision making.

The temptation is to rely on ourselves. That is what Adam and Eve did when they ate the forbidden fruit. Their sin (and ours) was to stop trusting God and rely on their own understanding.

Verse 6 talks about acknowledging God. In one sense that means praying to God; asking him to guide us and show us the way. But asking God for guidance is the easy part. The harder part is listening for God’s response; discerning what he is saying.

In order to do that we must know God. So the bigger part of acknowledging God is knowing him. We come to know God in the experiences we have along life’s pathway and as we trust him.

For example, my knowledge of God as Father did not come solely from a book. It came mostly from being a son and becoming a father myself. Likewise, my knowledge of Jesus (his goodness and suffering) came in part from reading the gospels but more deeply through serving in the church.

My knowledge of God’s forgiveness comes from realising when I have messed up, being honest about that and receiving forgiveness. It also comes when other people do wrong and I have to look to God for the grace to forgive them and let it go. 

The principles of loyal love and faithfulness in verse 3 are divine qualities. As we practice loyalty and faithfulness we grow in our knowledge of God. 

Do you understand the principle here? Acknowledging God isn’t just something we do in our head. It is the knowledge that comes from experience; from walking in relationship with God. And that happens all through life’s journey.

Verses 7-8 are saying almost the same thing as verses 5-6, just in a slightly different way. Not being wise in your own eyes is another way of saying, do not lean on your own understanding.

Fearing the Lord, goes hand in hand with trusting the Lord. To fear the Lord, in this context, means to respect the Lord, to recognise him as the source of wisdom and to be in touch with your need for his help. Those who fear the Lord do not want to do anything to damage their trust with God and so they shun evil.

The wisdom of these verses could be paraphrased as, walk humbly with God. The natural consequence of walking humbly with God is enjoying good health in your physical body.

This does not mean that everyone who is sick is wise in their own eyes. People can become sick for any number of reasons. Sickness is not proof of sin. Correlation does not prove causation. The principle here is that there is a connection between body and spirit.  

Jesus understood the body / spirit connection well. The Lord said, human beings cannot live on bread alone but need every word that God speaks. The person who fears and trusts the Lord, listens to God’s word and obeys it. The wisdom that comes from God is as necessary for life and health as food.  

Verses 9-12:

Part of acknowledging God involves honouring the Lord with your wealth. People in the Old Testament did this by offering the first fruits of their crops to God at the temple. The first fruits were then shared with the poor and the priests.

Giving a portion of our income (according to our means), rather than hoarding it up for ourselves, is an act of trust in God. It’s a practical way of saying, ‘God gave me this and God will continue to provide’.

Verse 10 says that when you return the first and best to the Lord, your barns will be filled to overflowing. You’ll have more than you need in other words.

Again, giving to the Lord is not a get rich quick scheme. We give to the Lord as a matter of principle, because offering the first and the best to God is an acknowledgement that all we have comes from God. It is God who provides us with a job and an income and the wherewithal to do the work.

Jesus talks about the wisdom of generosity in Luke 6, where he says…

“Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

Our earthly economy is driven by the assumption of scarcity. The underlying belief of our society is that there is not enough to go around and so when something is in short supply, the price goes up. The economy of God’s kingdom is different from that. The underlying principle of God’s kingdom is abundance. With God, there is more than enough to go around.

We still have to do the mahi though. We still have to be good stewards of what we have. But the principle of reaping what you sow holds. If you sow generously, you will (more often than not) reap a greater harvest. And if you forgive others, God will forgive you.

Verses 11-12 of Proverbs 3 show us that God’s love is expressed as much by the Lord’s disciplineas by the abundance he provides…

…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.   

When we hear the word ‘discipline’ we may think of punishment. But discipline is a word that really means teaching. Disciplining or teaching someone will usually mean correcting them when they are wrong, so they don’t keep repeating their mistake. But that correction need not involve punishment. More likely it will involve further practice until you get it right.

Verse 11 says we are not to resent God when he rebukes (or corrects) us. Resentment is a form of anger. Anger is the natural response to injustice. We get angry when we think we are being treated unfairly. If God corrects you, because you are doing something wrong, that is not unfair, that is kindness.

But what if we suffer when we haven’t done anything wrong? Could God be teaching us something in that experience? In his book, The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis says this…  

“I suggest to you that it is because God loves us that he gives us the gift of suffering. Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world. You see, we are like blocks of stone out of which the Sculptor carves the forms of men. The blows of his chisel, which hurt us so much are what make us perfect.”

C.S. Lewis was far wiser than me, but I’m not sure I agree with him entirely on this point. From a human perspective pain does not translate as love. Megaphones don’t work on the deaf but sign language does.

What’s more, human beings are not like blocks of stone. Stone is unfeeling, unyielding, unforgiving. Human life is fragile, sensitive to suffering, vulnerable.

Yes, God is a sculptor, but we are more like clay; soft, malleable, easily bent out of shape. In my experience, God’s correction of us is like that of a potter, who adds water and shapes our character with a gentle touch. Yes, the clay vessel goes into the furnace of suffering to set, but no longer than is necessary.

God’s discipline may, at times, involve suffering but not always. There is a patience and a grace to God’s discipline that is truly humbling.

If you know someone who is going through a difficult time at the moment, then please don’t make their ordeal any more difficult by suggesting God is teaching them something. Better to ask yourself, what is God teaching me.

God has a way of glorifying himself through suffering. I have learned a lot over the years by observing the way other people have handled themselves with courage and faith as they have journeyed through loss and grief.

Conclusion:

There are many principles of wisdom in the book of Proverbs but the most important principle is that God is love and everything he does is an expression of his love. The more we know that, the better we are able to trust him and rely not on our own understanding.

May the Lord bless you with a deeper experience of himself. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?

  • What is a principle? How is a principle different from a promise? Describe one principle that guides your reasoning and behaviour?
  • Why do we practice loyal love (hesed) and faithfulness?
  • What connections do you see between Proverbs 3:1-12 and Jesus (in the gospels)?
  • What does it mean to trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding?  How might we do this?
  • Discuss / reflect on the various ways you (personally) have come to know God.
  • Why do we give the first and best to God?
  • In what ways has God disciplined / taught / corrected you?