RECOGNIZING A SCOFFER
Proverbs 9: 8-10 NKJV
8 Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you;
Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;
Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.
10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
The purpose in recognizing a scoffer is so that we make sure that we are not that person. A scoffer, according to my Olive Tree online word study, is one who scorns, mocks, and or derides. I typically do not use words such as scoffer or derides. I had to look up both words. Deride, if used in a sentence, would be: Deride to Dallas is less than three hours. Just kidding, that is wrong on a couple of fronts. Deride means to treat with contempt or dismissively. And it takes a bit more than three hours to get to Dallas unless you are really moving fast. I just wanted to make sure you were awake.
The Proverbs warns about the scoffer and tells us how we can spot one. The reason for the insight is that people can hide their contempt or mocking, particularly from authority figures. But they can’t hide it forever. The first place to look is how a scoffer handles correction. If you correct them and they respond poorly with anger or contempt, you have a scoffer on your hands. The contrast would be correcting a wise person, and they may feel the sting, but they will appreciate the help.
The best way to uncover a scoffer is to contrast them with the wise person. The wise person will learn from instruction. The wise person will not have to be punished to learn. Simply instruct a wise person and they will increase in learning. Note that the wise and the just, or righteous, are grouped together. Verse 10 gives us the reason the wise is that way.
Verse 10 says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This is where a truly wise person starts, with a reverence and respect for God. Someone can be highly intelligent but not wise. IQ and wisdom do not always correlate. Someone can have an off-the-charts IQ and not have an ounce of wisdom. In fact, they can be an intelligent scoffer. They may be worldly smart, but they can be spiritually dull.
Someone with the fear of God is going to have a teachable spirit about them. We can’t genuinely have a respect for God and not appreciate correction. Truly wise people will often ask for input. If there is something they are missing or if they are going in the wrong direction, a wise person wants to know. When it comes to godly wisdom, what we don’t know can hurt us.
So if you feel yourself bowing up at someone in authority who has corrected you, watch out. Make the heart adjustment and don’t wind up in the camp of the scoffers.
PRAYER
Lord, help me to keep a teachable and humble spirit. When correction comes, I will welcome it. My heart is to please You and be an example for You. Thank You for correction that gets me back on track.