August 25, 2002
Proverbs 19:20
Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest
of your days.
One of the major problems with many of the youth of our day is the negative attitude they have toward counsel and discipline from their elders. Their attitude for the most part is, “I know what is best for my life. I know what direction I want to go in life”, and they take it! Often the result is chaos. (Young people, I am not picking on you. Read on!)
This is nothing new. The news media if full of the results of “doing our own thing.” I think we all have this attitude to a certain degree. It’s built into us from Adam. However, if we’ll just listen to God’s Word we could save ourselves much heartache.
This is true of adults as well as the young. If we as adults would listen to the counsel of God and accept His discipline we would be not only examples to our children, but much better off ourselves. For example in our passage for today’s Pen Pulpit, Proverbs 19:20, we are told to listen to counsel and accept discipline. Why? So that we may be wise the rest of our days.
We must realize that God’s counsel takes everything into consideration, from beginning to end. He sees the pitfalls that could be avoided. He knows exactly how to discipline us back onto the right paths when we stray, and He does this because of His great love for us.
My
son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are
reproved by Him, FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES, He disciplines (Hebrews 5:6-7).
Scripture also tells us that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord (Psalm 37:23) and He delights in his way.
So – what is the end result of accepting counsel and discipline? Wisdom. Once thing is certain and that is we can’t get by in this world without it. We need wisdom in the decisions we make and that comes from counsel and discipline.
No horse gets anywhere until he is harnessed.
No steam or gas ever drives anything until it is confined.
No Niagara is ever turned into light and power until it is tunneled.
No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.
Beloved, let us work on getting counsel from our God and gladly accept His discipline, then pass that on to our children. God bless.
In His matchless grace,
Pastor Charles