PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell” (Proverbs 23:13-14).

The rod here is like the shepherd’s rod. That think was like a club with a round end on it. David said, “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me” (Psalm 23:4). No, the rod is not a baseball bat as modern psychology would like us to think of it as some sort of tool for abuse. It is not.

The sheep were comforted by the fact that that shepherd carried his rod. It was to beat the wolves and other dangerous predators off, and it was also to grab a sheep that had wandered away off the path and set him back on the way, back in the flock.

Where Christians get into trouble is that they too wander from the way and find themselves out in the world. This is where God’s chastening comes in: “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6). “Get back into the flock!”

You can put it down, a healthy Christian that stays out of church is in desperate trouble. That is where the wolves are. The wolves won’t come around the flock, at least in an open way—there are some wolves in sheep clothing in every Bible-believing church. But outside of the church, the wolves don’t have to disguise themselves. But as long as the preacher is preaching the Book and is preparing the people against the day of battle—those wolves won’t get away with much. What the wolves do is to peel folks off from the fringes and get them away from the flock where they are devoured.

That rod is a symbol of power and authority, and a source of comfort for the sheep.

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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