PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

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

Let’s look at this hardening of the neck just a little bit, okay? There is a couple of things to be drawn out of a neck being hardened.

In Nehemiah, we read, “And testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law: yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgments, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear” (9:29).

So, part of hardening the neck is “withdrawing the shoulder.” By this, I am assuming we are talking about a yoke here; and somebody then refuses to do what they are being admonished to do. They removed the shoulder, they hardened the neck, and then they would not hear.

Look at just something else here along this line: “Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee” (Jeremiah 7:26-27).

You harden your neck, you wind up worse than the generation before, okay? Part of it is the removal of the shoulder where you are no longer doing—you are hearing—but you are not doing; then in the end that makes you worse than the generation before.

Look at one more passage.

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words” (Jeremiah 19:15).

So, to remove the shoulder is not hearing any longer—not listening anymore—to the word of God, and everybody here probably knows the disaster that can lead to.

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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