Friday! Proverbs!

Strike a scoffer 

and the naive may become shrewd, 

But reprove one who has understanding 

and he will gain knowledge.

Proverbs 19:25 NASB

We have a scoffer.

Someone who hits the scoffer.

The naive person/people

The wise person.

And the narrator.

And the audience.

6 characters in this little story, written in and to an ancient Middle Eastern culture, and it's in the Bible so is there for us for a reason, and somehow is part of God's redemptive story...

The naive or simple person learns from seeing the hardship of someone else (the scoffer). But what is learned? 

To be shrewd so that they don't get beaten like the scoffer was.

There's change, but not at a heart level, not because what the scoffer did was wrong, but from fear of the consequences.

That's an OK way to learn when it's not a moral issue, but when it's about what's right & wrong, truth & error, good & evil, then it's not a healthy way to change, because it just brings about change on the outside, not the inside.

I'm like this sometimes, and I know God doesn't want me to stay the same, but His change is from the inside out...

#somethingtochewon