Proverbs 12.1
“Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.”
This is an echo of what Solomon said earlier in Proverbs 3.11-12: “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”
Let’s revisit this essential truth.
Proverbs uses the word musar to describe the necessary path of spiritual growth. Musar is translated “discipline” here in Proverbs 12. In Proverbs 1 it is translated “instruction.” It means the disciplined process of teaching, training, and correction.
Musar is the discipline-driven process of doing the work to get wiser and more skillful every day by consistently applying God’s principles to your life. It is the process by which wisdom (hokma) is acquired. The opposite is to be default-driven, which is the absence of discipline.
The disciplined process of instruction and training must be fully embraced if the wisdom of Proverbs is to be of benefit to you. This is a constant theme in Proverbs: In order to be wise and live skillfully (hokma), you must learn and be trained (musar).
“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction (musar), and forsake not your mother’s teaching.” (Proverbs 1.8)
“Keep hold of instruction (musar); do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.” (Proverbs 4.13)
The message is this: Don’t get tired of being instructed and trained. Stay on the path of discipline-driven learning. Do not resist or reject the Lord’s process of instruction and training.
An essential part of the learning process is “reproof” or “correction” — that is, getting feedback when you don’t do something the right way. Solomon tells us that if we stray from the learning and training process, the Lord will correct us and reprove us. At times even chastise us. The Lord does so because he loves us as a father loves his son.
A wise person wants feedback in order to correct their off-path thinking and behavior. A wise person recognizes and submits to the Lord’s feedback and correction. God corrects out of love. He does not want his people to continue in life-damaging attitudes and behavior. Wise people understand that correction, though sometimes painful, is a favor, a sign of God’s grace.
Only fools reject feedback and correction. Or to put it as directly and bluntly as Proverbs 12, if you reject reproof, you are stupid. Unfortunately, there are a lot of stupid people in the world. There are many who scoff at God’s truth, reject the Lord’s standards, and ridicule the principles of the Christian faith. They hate the instruction and reproof of God’s word.
Of greater concern, however, are the Christians who resist the Lord’s correction. It is conspicuously evident that the professing church in the West is not living in substantial obedience to the call of Christ. We are not living and working as christianly as we should. As a result, our influence and impact in the world is growing weaker.
Why? Because we are not submitting to the Lord’s process of teaching, training, and correction. In many ways and in many places, we have been foolish.
My prayer is that in some small way this devotional series on Proverbs will speak to the hearts of the Christians who read it and encourage them to maintain the way of godly discipline (musar), as well as call back those who have strayed from the way of godly discipline. I can speak for myself and say that Proverbs does both of those things for me.
Trust God, do the work of musar, and respond to feedback.
