SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/31/2013
8:58 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Simple
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Various
Verses
Message of the
verses: In today’s Spiritual Diary
we begin to look at part two of “People Wise and Otherwise,” as we now look at
what Dr. Wiersbe calls “the terrible trio.”
We will be looking at the simple, the scorner, and the fool, but most of
the time we will be looking at what the Bible calls a fool. However first we must look at the simple and
the scorner. We need to remember when we
began the study of Proverbs that at first wisdom spoke to all three of these of
the terrible trio as seen in Proverbs 1:22, but in her second visit she only
spoke to the simple and the fool (Proverbs 8:5). Her last visit in Proverbs 9:4 she only spoke
to the simple because the other two did not listen before, which brings up the
point we all need to remember that there will come a time when the Lord stops
calling as the Scriptures say “today is the day of salvation.”
The Simple: The
simple people are what we can call the naïve people, those that will believe
anything and it is because they have no convictions about anything. I remember sometime back in the 1990’s that my
wife and I were attending Moody’s Founders Week in Chicago, something we did
many times, and Josh MacDowell came all the way from Moscow, where he was
ministering to speak to us about “The New Tolerance,” that was coming. What this new tolerance is is what we see in
our world today where people have to be tolerant of whatever people want to
believe. The problem is that what they believe
in is against the Scriptures, and now this makes it more difficult to tell them
about the Gospel. Satan is the one
behind all of this new tolerance, trying to get it to be against the law to
talk to others about Christ.
Proverbs 14:15 says “The naive believes everything, But
the sensible man considers his steps.” Dr
Wiersbe quotes Charles R. Bridges who writes “To believe every word of God is faith. To
believe every word of man is credulity.”
If a man has convictions in our world today he is
considered a bigot, or even an ignoramus.
Jesus said the following in John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, "I am the
way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Jesus said this in answer to Thomas who asked
where Jesus was going. This answer to
the question Thomas was given by Jesus the night before He was to be crucified
the next morning. In this answer that He gave He states something that is a
conviction to all true believers and that is there is only one way to come to
the Father, and that is through the Son, and what the Son accomplished on the
cross. The simple minded man will have a
problem believing this because he believes anything and has no
convictions. This kind of statement that
Jesus made here is not what we would call today to be political correct, but
never the less it is true. When it comes
to a person’s salvation they must have firm convictions and not waver. There have been many people who did not waver
in their convictions about their salvation and were killed for their
convictions and they will one day receive a crown in heaven for standing up for
the Lord of Glory.
1/31/2013 9:35 AM
1/31/2013 11:52 AM
At this point I think it will be wise for me to put all
of the verses from the book of Proverbs that use the word “naïve” or if one is
reading the KJV that word would be “simple.”
The Hebrew word’s definition is as follows “1) simplicity, 2) simple,
foolish, open-minded.” This word is used
in the KJV of the Bible as follows “AV-simple 15, simple ones 2, foolish 1,
simplicity 1; 19.” This quotation is
from the Hebrew/English dictionary that is found in my Online Bible
Program. The following are the fourteen
verses where this word is found in the book of Proverbs as seen in the NASB
where it is translated as “naïve.”
“Pr
1:4 To give prudence to the naive,
To the youth knowledge and discretion,
Pr
1:22 "How long, O naive ones, will you love
being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate
knowledge?
Pr
1:32 "For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, And
the complacency of fools will destroy them.
Pr
7:7 And I saw among the naive, And discerned
among the youths A young man lacking sense,
Pr
8:5 "O naive ones, understand prudence; And, O
fools, understand wisdom.
Pr
9:4 "Whoever is naive, let him turn in
here!" To him who lacks understanding she says,
Pr
9:13 The woman of folly is boisterous,
She is naive and
knows nothing.
Pr
9:16 "Whoever is naive, let him turn in
here," And to him who lacks understanding she says,
Pr
14:15 The naive believes everything, But the sensible man
considers his steps.
Pr
14:18 The naive inherit foolishness, But the sensible are
crowned with knowledge.
Pr
19:25 Strike a scoffer and the naive may become shrewd,
But reprove one who has understanding and he will gain knowledge.
Pr
21:11 When the scoffer is punished, the naive becomes wise; But
when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.
Pr
22:3 The prudent sees the evil and hides
himself, But the naive
go on, and are punished for it.
Pr
27:12 A prudent man sees evil and hides
himself, The naive
proceed and pay the penalty.
We have looked at the wise and the
wicked in our past Spiritual Diaries, and today we are looking at the Simple or
the naïve as is used in the NASB. If I understand
what Dr. Wiersbe is saying in his commentary then those who are the wise are
the ones who are the true believers in Jesus Christ. Those who are wicked, naïve, scorner, and
fools are not believers. I also believe
that there are those who are unbelievers who are wise in some things, but not
in the things of the Lord. One may look
at them as see that they have had a successful life because they have a nice
house to live in and nice cars to drive and have saved their money so that they
can retire well, but in their hearts they do not know the Lord. They don’t act wickedly, but still they are
not a true believer. There are those who
are true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who at times do act wickedly or
life a scorner, or act naïve, but in their hearts they know that they are
sinners and have repented of their sins and accepted the forgiveness that Jesus
provided for them while suffering on the cross, and proved by His resurrection from
the dead. As believers we can look at
the simple or naïve in this section and learn from their ways and then figure
out that we don’t want to act like them.
We read in some of these verses that they do not change, because they
cannot change because they do not know the truth that the Scriptures teach, but
we can change as we read and study the Bible and as we confess to the Lord that
we are acting like the naïve and seek His help in changing. That is the difference between those who are
truly wise and those who are not.
Dr. Wiersbe quotes Brooks Atkinson
who wrote the following on Groundhog’s Day: “People everywhere enjoy believing
things they know are not true. It spares
them the ordeal of thinking for themselves and taking responsibility for what
they know.” Dr. Wiersbe goes on to say “the
old saying, ‘what you don’t know can’t hurt you,’ is false, as any physician or
auto mechanic can tell you. What you don’t
know could kill you! ‘For the turning away of the simple shall slay them’ (Pr.
1:32).”
We have already seen the young man
who followed the prostitute in Proverbs 7:7ff and we can say this about him “Pr
14:18 The naive
inherit foolishness, But the sensible are crowned with knowledge.”
Dr. Wiersbe ends his commentary with
the following paragraph: “All of s are
ignorant in many things, but simpletons are ignorant of their ignorance and are
unwilling to learn. They follow the
philosophy, ‘Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.’ But when there’s a Bible to read, a life to
build, and an eternity to prepare for, it is folly to be ignorant.” The following is the end note from the
quotation Dr. Wiersbe has quoted. “This
oft-quoted statement is the last line of Thomas Gray’s poem, ‘Ode on a Distant
Prospect of Eton College,’ but its message is usually misunderstood. In the poem, Gray contrasts the joyful
innocence of children in school to the difficulties they will have when they
reach adulthood. He asks us not to rob
them of their youthful pleasures too soon.
There will be time enough for them to learn that life isn’t always fun
and games. We expect a certain amount of
naïve innocence in children, but not in adults.”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I have to
admit that there are times when I am naïve about things and make mistakes along
these lines and so it is important for me to learn more about this subject as
it is taught in the book of Proverbs so that I will not fall into its trap.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs 1:4
says “To give prudence to the naive, To the youth knowledge and discretion.” The book of Proverbs is written for this reason
and for other reasons too, but this reason stated in Proverbs 1:4 is to give
prudence to the naïve. The Hebrew word
for “prudence” means the following “shrewdness,
craftiness, prudence. In the 16th
chapter of the book of Luke Jesus tells a parable about a man who is praised
for his shrewdness even though he was really dishonest in his dealings. Jesus says the following about him: “"And his master praised the unrighteous
manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd
in relation to their own kind than the sons of light Luke 16:8.” My step of faith is to act more shrewdly in
my dealings with others who are trying to take advantage of me.
Memory
verses for the week: Psalm 121:1-8
1 I will lift up my eyes to the
mountains; from where shall my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not allow your foot to slip; He who
keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, He
who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your
shade on your right hand. 6 The sun will
not smite you by day, nor the moon by night.
7 The LORD will protect you from all evil; He will keep your soul. 8 The LORD will guard your going out and your
coming in from this time forth and forever.
Turning
Points Wisdom for Today: “Our strength
is seen in the things we stand for; our weakness is seen in the things we fall
for.” (Theodore Epp) “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is
like a city broken down, without walls.”
(Proverbs 35:28)
1/31/2013
12:56 PM
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