11 ¶ A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver. 12 As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.
The right word spoken at the right time is like a beautiful picture of great value. Like jewelry and ornaments of great value, so is the picture of a person giving wise reproof and instruction (synonyms as per Proverbs 13:18) and correction (synonyms as per 2 Timothy 3:16) to a person who will hear it and obey. This picture requires the speaker of the word and the hearer. Such is the way of the Bible when you have a person who is teachable, who has been molded into the person who can be changed, when God’s word is applied to him or her.
Are you teachable? Can you handle correction? I’m not talking about being chewed out by a person who is as hard headed and self righteous as you are but about being changed by God speaking to you through His word? Some people are too stubborn, too arrogant, and too full of the worship of Self, the great “I”, who like the “great Oz” in the movie and book, stands behind a curtain pretending to be something he is not.
A fool will not hear reproof as we have seen several times in Proverbs. For example;
Proverbs 15:5 A fool despiseth his father’s instruction: but he that regardeth reproof is prudent.
Proverbs 15:10 Correction is grievous unto him that forsaketh the way: and he that hateth reproof shall die.
If you are not teachable then perhaps God will make you so. Perhaps you need a chronic illness. An injury. A great disappointment or failure or repeated ones. Perhaps you need to have God take one of your children home with Him in some tragic circumstance in order to get you to look up and realize that there is a God and you aren’t Him.
How long will it take for you to understand that this short life is not what it’s all about. This is the proving ground for what it’s all about. This is where those who will know the God who created them are separated from those who will not. This is where those who know the God who created them but will not hear Him are separated from those who will. We have a timeless eternity ahead of us.
Isaiah 50:4 ¶ The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. 5 The Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back.
A person who will hear and obey instruction and the person giving the instruction is a beautiful picture, a precious thing. The Holy Spirit instructing the Christian, piercing through the layers of Self worship and hardheartedness is an amazing thing. But, it is the two that makes the picture complete. God wants a relationship with you through Jesus Christ by the means of the Holy Spirit, all three being God in one. The Book is the vehicle, the vessel by which He accomplishes the instruction, the correction, and the reproof He wants you to have. Take up and read.
2Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
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