PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1 KJV).

Solomon’s proverbs end with chapter 29, but it doesn’t ease up after this. The next two chapters are pretty harsh also. Verse one here, is pretty rough. There are four parts to the verse.

“He, that being often reproved . . .” Pharaoh is the type of this, Ex 3:19-20. God said to Moses, “And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand. And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof: and after that he will let you go.” But before he lets Moses’ go, he gets harder and harder and harder. In 4:21, God says, “And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.”

So, it is actually God that does the hardening (though Pharaoh on a few occasions also hardens his own heart). The reason that God hardens a man like that is because he simply rejects the truth. We see much from Exodus 5, the first two verses: “And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.”

Here is why God hardened his heart. It isn’t because he is predestined from the foundation of the world to be a vessel fit for destruction, as the Calvinists teach out of Romans chapter 9, but it’s because he rejects the revelation of God and God Himself.

Right now, we have Christians all over America saying, “Let our children pray and carry Bibles in public schools.” The response from the bureaucrats is “Who is the Lord, that we should obey His voice?” We have millions of people all over America saying that abortion is murder, and it’s immoral, and cruel, and it’s against the Scriptures, and the leaders are saying, “Who is the Lord that we should obey His voice?” It doesn’t matter what the issue, the response is the same, “Who is the Lord?”

Well, that’s why God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. It wasn’t because he was predestined to be hardened, but it was because he would not believe the truth, didn’t want the truth, and so God hardens Him because of it.

“But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you” (Proverbs 1:25-27 KJV).

Daily Bible study is necessary if we are going to begin our day with the right attitude and the right spiritual diet. Proverbs has 31 chapters, and most months have 31 days, so let's read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let's keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread! Ideally, a chapter or two of Proverbs will fit in nicely with a good plan of reading our Bibles through each year.

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