“He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.” Proverbs 29:1
Devotional Thought For The Day
The proverb deals with the inner spiritual dynamics of impenitence. There is a great deal that is mysterious, beyond any kind of direct empirical observation or investigation, when it comes to the inner life of our spirit, mind, and being. I have often wished that there was a sure-fire way to diagnose what is going on in a person’s heart or mind. We have behaviors that we can observe, and we have words that we can hear or read, but these do not always accurately or simply convey what is going on inside of a person. Actions may reflect or obscure what a person really is or thinks. The same is true of words. Many times I have heard people say things that would indicate certain things about them, only later to learn that they were not being completely truthful. The same is true in regard to behavior – at times people don’t really understand what their behavior is communicating and seeming to reveal about them. Often, people are not even aware that their words and actions indicate and are generally understood by most people as revealing something different than what is truly within them. Well, a lot of pain, sorrow, and difficult situations arise this way, and relationships irreparably harmed.
It is equally difficult to know for certain what is going on in our own hearts and minds at times. The apostle wrote of this: “For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.” [Rom. 7:14-19] The problems, potentially dangerous and damning problems, come with how we process this reality of our many sins and our inability to fully extricate ourselves from them. When “reproved,” shown our sin and the errors of our ways, we can repent [as Paul illustrates in the above verses], or we can “stiffen our neck.” This is not only angry and stubborn rejection of reproof and admonition, but also the way in which our sinful nature attempts to hide the evil of what we have done, or to justify continuing in our evil ways with explanations and excuses. These may appear more passive but they are just as aggressive and stubborn in rejecting real and genuine repentance.
The warning in the proverb pertains to the natural laws that govern our inner life and being, and to God’s consequential discipline that He applies to His own dear children of faith, and His punishment imposed upon the incorrigibly impenitent. The force of God’s reproof does not abate but rather accumulates – like weight upon a roof or a bridge. Repentance and faith reduce and eradicate this force, weight, and pressure; impenitence collects it and actually makes a person’s neck brittle, until the person can no longer stand. Like a collapsed roof or bridge, an impenitent person will ultimately be broken “beyond healing.” And this appears to happen “suddenly” even though the pressure and weight and brittleness has been building up for a long time. The collapse is sudden and disastrous. Obviously this is a terrible thing. We should be fearful that this could ever happen to us, that we grow more stubborn and stiff-necked in rejecting admonition and correction, and ultimately come into a state of brokenness that is unrecoverable. We should also be fearful of this happening to others around us, that our loved ones might come to such a state of stubborn impenitence and self-destruction. Much prayer is required, for ourselves and others, that God would always supply the humility required to keep us all in proper repentance and faith in Jesus. The Scripture warns us: “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.” [Heb. 3:12]
There is a certain satisfaction, that should rather be sorrow, when the impenitent who have plagued and afflicted us, and have rejected all attempts to bring them to repentance, end up suffering this “breaking.” It is in a certain sense “just” and obviously necessary, but contrary to God’s will that all should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. So the reality of this proverb is dismal and disturbing, but revealing of the alien work of God, His resolution of the matter of those who reject His reproof, instruction, and invitation to repentance, faith, forgiveness, healing, and restoration. So, rather than continuing on in our own self-chosen way of being, even in the face of reproof and admonition, let us take care not to become stiff necked and brittle, lest we risk suffering this breaking. And since it is difficult to know exactly what the precise conditions are within our hearts, let us pray God to do His good and gracious will within us, shaping and transforming our hearts for repentance, faith, and love. Only in this way, by His gracious and loving work, carried out by means of His Word, are we preserved in newness of life and eternal life. God grant such continued blessedness to us all.
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, what is dark and mysterious to us is as clear and bright as the light of day to You. Our hearts are treacherous, desperately wicked and deceitful above all things; You must preserve life in us if we are to be saved. Grant this to us, as this is Your good and gracious will. Keep us in repentance, contrition, faith in Your forgiveness and love, and in growing commitment to Your will. Forbid that we become stiff necked and brittle, and in danger of this breaking. Amen.