TLIC PROVERBS. APRIL 24: SCOFFER.

Proverbs 9:7. Whoever corrects a scoffer gets himself abuse, and he who reproves a wicked man incurs injury.

Proverbs introduces us to the various kinds of fools that are walking this earth. The “simple” fool is where it all begins. As we’ve said before, everyone is born a simple fool. Naïve. Ignorant. Easily led astray. Lacking in understanding and insight. But the good news is that the simple fool doesn’t have to stay that way. The simple man or woman can go to the feast at Wisdom’s house (see yesterday’s devotional). Or we might say, the simple fool can easily receive Christ and the wisdom of God in the gospel.

Today’s proverb warns us about the scoffer. The scoffer is at the other end of the spectrum from the simple. He has graduated from being just ignorant and naïve to being stubborn and wicked.  The scoffer literally hates the fear of the Lord and mocks God’s ways. They hate being corrected and don’t take advice. The scoffer doesn’t respect authority and even mocks it. Satan is the ultimate scoffer.

Are you a scoffer? Do you know any scoffers?

The warning here is about correcting scoffers. Because the scoffer does not respect anyone and can’t take advice or heed warnings, it is likely that they will turn your help into hurt. Wise friends humbly receive correction, accountability, and warning. They are open to critique and listen to wise counsel. Scoffers aren’t wise friends, however.

Sadly, the God ordained strategy for impacting the scoffer is to let them suffer the consequences of their own wickedness. In Romans, Paul calls this the wrath of God that gives them over to their sinful desires. In 1 Corinthians Paul tells the church to turn the scoffer over to Satan. Why such harsh language? Wrath and Satan? Because the scoffer’s heart is so hardened that this kind of response is the only one that may work. The scoffer can’t be convinced by truth’s logic. They won’t be persuaded that their path is one of destruction. The only thing that will work is to let them travel further down destruction’s path until they see it for themselves.

Christ was crucified by scoffers. His trial was a mockery. His death was the result of fools who would not heed the corrections of Christ. Warning after warning did not work. So God let them push Jesus down their path of destruction all the way to Calvary. Jesus took their abuse and incurred their injury. Our abuse. Our injury. It was just as much our scoffing as it was theirs that crucified Christ. Jesus didn’t just try to persuade the human race to change our foolish ways. He allowed our foolishness to play out to its end – the murder of God. The death of the only innocent man who ever lived.  

The cross is the final stop on the path of the scoffer. But the good news is that death need not be the end. There is resurrection. Even the scoffer can die and rise again. In Christ, the scoffer in all of us has died and risen again, dead to sin, alive to God! Now it is our union with the cross of Christ that allows us to avoid that final stop on the path of destruction. In Christ we are not forever given over to our sin, or forever turned over to Satan. We are redeemed, restored, reconciled, and raised to life.  

You: Are there any scoffers in your life that you havebeen trying to warn?

You in Christ: How does union with the cross keep us humble and free from the path of the scoffer?

Christ in you: Where do you need to humbly receive correction this week?

Pray: Father, the last thing I want to be is a scoffer. Let my union with the cross remind me of sin’s destruction and the destruction of sin in my life. Amen.