Postings on Proverbs...13:1

"A wise son hears his father's instruction, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke" (ESV)

There is nothing worse in Proverbs than the "scoffer" (Waltke, I:114), someone who hears truth, hears its benefits, hears its blessings and doesn't just reject it, but arrogantly determines that God's wisdom is absurd.

He is a "genius for invective and denigration...[wearing] a perpetual sneer...who supposes that it is his mission in life to promote the corrosion of the values by which individuals and society lives" (Walkte).

Few reading this would consider themselves a "scoffer," but you may be one regardless. The question you need to ask yourself is not "Am I a scoffer?" but "Do I rebel against being corrected by God's Word?" If yes, then you're probably a scoffer, whether you want to admit it or not.

Who? Wise vs. Scoffer
What? Hears = listens to his father's instruction vs. Does not listen to rebuke
Where? Anywhere
When? Anytime
Why? Doesn't say, but I think it's humility vs. pride
How? Doesn't say

The wise and the fool (here, the scoffer) are distinguished by his response to truth that confronts him. Someone shows him he's morally wrong (Waltke, I:551), that he's sinned, and immediately what he is -- wise or fool -- is revealed. The wise listen; the fool will not.

I think the reason for the difference boils down to humility. The scoffer is arrogant, so he despises correction and only listens to himself and those who agree with him.

The wise knows she's prone to mistake, has blind spots and doesn't have all the answers. She'll seek out advice and trust the correction of those who are smarter and have walked with God longer than she has.

This proverb hits home to me as a new dad. My son is 12 months old now, and I'm doing this blog because I want to be wise and I'm doing it for him (and any other kids God may graciously gift us with).

I trust this book, that we all start out naive, unskilled, foolish about life and how it works; therefore, success and failure is determined by the application of wisdom, the skill needed to live a good life.

This book is God's wisdom in written form, so I hope my kids want to be wise and will read Proverbs and this blog, but they might not. They might be fools and scoff at the God their mom and I love so much.

I pray almost nightly that that is not the case and when I bless him before he goes to bed that's one of the things I'm praying God blesses him with, wisdom, the skill to live a life that God considers beautiful, successful, blessed.

And, because we're naturally foolish, ignorant and in need of wisdom, the goal of achieving a good life starts with proverbs like this one, so, what's your response to being told you're wrong or in sin? Do you pout? Do you slander the person who corrects you, either out loud to others or in your own mind? Are you always right and no one better dare correct you? Do you think you know better than people who truly know more than you do?