BEYOND WORDS

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Servants cannot be corrected by mere words; though they understand, they will not respond.

A servant pampered from youth will turn out to be insolent.

Proverbs 29:19, 21

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I remember the following scenario repeating itself many times during my career in the Navy:

A Sailor would choose to break any one of the many rules, regulations, and standards we were bound to by merit of our service obligation. Maybe it was as simple as not wearing the uniform right or not adhering to grooming requirements. As a result, their supervisor would give them a verbal rebuke and ask them to correct the issue. You would think it would end there, right?

It should but then the same Sailor commits the same violation and again, the supervisor corrects them verbally and they fix the problem. Now they have surely learned their lesson. At least that is what you would think.

But it doesn’t end there. For the unwillingness to conform to simple standards spreads to other matters. They show up late for work a few times and are counseled over the importance of being on time. When their barracks room is inspected, it’s a mess and they have to be reminded of the cleanliness requirements for where they are living. They display insubordination and disrespect to their supervisors, resulting in several more counseling sessions.

You can see what is happening here. The Sailor is becoming a disciplinary burden on their supervisors and the verbal correction is not having any effect. Sometimes, actions are needed that go beyond words.

It’s unfortunate that this needs to happen but there are times that consequences are needed in order to get a person’s attention and alter their behavior in a positive way. In the case of the Sailor, they ended up having to see their Commanding Officer who levied punishment for the Sailor’s inability to conform to the guidelines and principles they took an oath to uphold.

You can’t help but think it doesn’t need to be that hard. All it takes is for people to be obedient and do the right thing but unfortunately, we’re not always very good at doing this. We all have a tendency to give in to sin and its influence. And with this, sometimes the Lord needs to go beyond words to get us where we need to be.

This problem of stubborn insolence and impudence isn’t a new one. Looking at the two proverbs for today, we can see that they dealt with the same matters in Solomon’s day:

Servants cannot be corrected by mere words; though they understand, they will not respond. Proverbs 29:19

A servant pampered from youth will turn out to be insolent. Proverbs 29:21

We are all servants to the Lord God Almighty, our Maker and Master. With this, we ultimately answer to Him and Him alone with the way we live.

In order so that we might know the standards He expects us to live by, He has granted us His Holy Word, better known as the Bible and so there is no excuse for not knowing His expectations and desires. He also guides us through His Holy Spirit and speaks to our hearts and minds, ever seeking to guide us to do the right thing (something the world chooses to label as a conscience).

Yet, with all this at our disposal, with the words of our Lord to read and hear, we still choose to go astray and pursue either our own wants or the world’s desires over the Lord’s. We show the Lord over and over again that His servants cannot be corrected by mere words for although they are given to us, we choose to not respond to them, like the Sailor who chose to err over and over and over again.

Friends, this word of God is meant to get our attention and convict us of a very serious issue that dwells within all of us. Since the fall of man in Eden’s garden, we have rebelled against the words of the Lord, choosing our way and will over His. And in return, the Lord has doled out penalty after penalty, consequence after consequence, and reproof after reproof, yet we have not yet figured it out. It’s a wonder that He hasn’t just wiped us all out as a result of our disobedience.

But He hasn’t. He hasn’t given up on us, hasn’t turned away from us no matter how many times we have turned away from Him.

This is simply known as one thing: amazing grace.

There is no way to comprehend the depths of our Lord’s forgiveness, and love, no way to quantify it in a way that can be expressed. No, His mercies that are new each and every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23) are beyond words except two we should always be saying in humble praise, the words “Thank You.”

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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