Let us pay attention to the word of God!
[Proverbs 4:20-27]
Have you ever heard the term "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder"? In English, it is called "Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)." This disorder is a psychiatric condition in childhood and adolescence, characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, impulsivity, and learning disabilities. The symptoms of this disorder are primarily a lack of focus and impulsive behavior. It is also marked by significant emotional fluctuations and a decline in memory. Furthermore, predicting behavior is difficult, and anger management becomes challenging. People with ADHD are also sensitive to stimuli and tend to intervene or interfere often. It is said that 75% of children with this disorder exhibit ongoing behavioral problems such as hostility, anger, aggression, and defiance (source: internet).
When I think about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, I wonder if there might also be a spiritual Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder among us Christians. The symptoms of this spiritual disorder are that we Christians often struggle to focus on Jesus, the one who perfects our faith, and we also fail to focus well on God's word. Instead, we Christians with this disorder often experience emotional fluctuations, which cause us to speak and act impulsively. So, how can we overcome this spiritual disorder? What should we do to better focus on Jesus and His word?
In today’s passage, Proverbs 4:20, God speaks to us saying, "My son, give attention to my words..." How should we pay attention to God's word? Through this passage, I would like to share five lessons on how we should do so:
First, we must listen carefully to the words God speaks to us.
Look at the second half of Proverbs 4:20: "...incline your ear to my sayings." King Solomon, the author of Proverbs, had already said in Proverbs 2:2, "Incline your ear to wisdom," and also in Proverbs 5:1, "My son, give attention to my wisdom." We live in an age that can be described as an era of information overload. With the constant barrage of information from every direction, it seems like our ears are filled with too many things. The problem is that the more we hear, the harder it becomes to listen to God's voice. As a result, we often make unwise and imprudent choices. These unwise and imprudent choices are the result of “not receiving sound teaching, and because our ears are itching, we accumulate teachers who speak according to our own desires” (2 Timothy 4:3). We must give our ears to "sound doctrine." We must listen to God's word. The reason we must do this is that when we listen to God's word, we will become wise and discerning. By doing so, we will be able to discern the information and words that flood the world, listening to what truly matters. Jesus said in John 10:27 that “My sheep hear My voice.” As the sheep of the Lord, we must listen to the voice of our Shepherd. This is what it means to live a life that pays attention to the word of God.
Second, we must not let the word of God depart from our eyes.
Look at the first part of Proverbs 4:21: "Do not let them depart from your eyes..." King Solomon already said in Proverbs 3:21, "My son, let them not depart from your eyes; keep sound wisdom and discretion." However, I think we often disobey this command and allow God's perfect wisdom and discretion (right judgment and perspective) to depart from our eyes. The reason for this is that Satan continuously tempts us, drawing us to the lust of the eyes (1 John 2:16), leading us to live and make decisions based on what we see rather than what is spiritually right. As a result, we tend to walk by sight rather than by faith. How can we, as it is written in 2 Corinthians 5:7, "walk by faith, not by sight"? To do so, it is important that we read, meditate on, and examine God's word with our eyes (Park Yun-sun).
Why is this important? The reason is that when we do this, our faith becomes firm (Acts 17:11-12) (Park Yun-sun). When we cannot focus our eyes on the Lord and instead keep looking at difficult circumstances or the people around us, we will inevitably be shaken. Even Jesus' disciples, in the Bible, looked at the storm instead of focusing on the Creator who controls the storm, and as a result, their faith was shaken and they were afraid. In order not to make this mistake, we need to open our ears to hear the words of Jesus Christ (Romans 10:17). The reason for this is that faith comes by hearing the words of Christ. Not only our ears, but also our eyes must focus on God's word. We must read, see, and meditate on the word of God written in the Bible so that our faith will be strengthened. Moreover, we must keep the Bible with us all our lives and read it (Deuteronomy 17:19). Therefore, we need to learn to fear God, so that our hearts are not proud over others, and that we do not turn aside from His commands, either to the left or to the right (verse 20). We must walk with a firm faith, keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord and walking in His ways (Proverbs 4:25).
Hebrews 12:2 comes to mind: "Looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." We must fix our eyes on Jesus, the one who perfects our faith. This is living a life that pays attention to God's word.
Third, we must keep God's word in our hearts.
Look at the second part of Proverbs 4:21: "...keep them in the midst of your heart." We must not merely listen to God's word with our ears or look at it with our eyes and then stop there. We must keep God's word in our hearts. Why is this necessary? Look at verse 22: "For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh." The reason we must keep God's word in our hearts is that it will not only become life to us but also bring health to our entire body. In the end, both our life and our health are in God's sovereignty, and when we listen to, read, and keep God's life-giving word in our hearts, the "God of the life of the flesh" (Numbers 16:22) will protect our life and health as well. That is why King Solomon says in Proverbs 4:23, "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life."
Personally, I believe that we Christians, especially church leaders, must "manage" well. The basis for this thought comes from 1 Timothy 3:4: "One who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence." The apostle Paul mentions this as one of the qualifications for a "bishop." So, what should we manage well? I have thought of six areas: health management, time management, financial management, crisis management, heart management, and soul management. When it comes to managing the heart, I have considered two important points:
(1) We must diligently reflect on our hearts.
Look at Hebrews 4:12: "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." We must diligently examine the thoughts and intentions of our hearts with the living and active word of God. The reason for this is that "it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man" (Matthew 15:11, 18). Jesus says, "For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. These are the things that defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man" (Matthew 15:18-20). We must engage in spiritual warfare in the realm of our thoughts. We must have "good thoughts" and not "evil thoughts." We must fight against thoughts of hatred (murder) towards others (1 John 3:15), impure thoughts, theft, and false thoughts, and instead think about love and truth. Look at Philippians 4:8: "Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
(2) We must diligently cultivate our hearts so that they do not become hard.
We must soften our hearts. Look at Hosea 10:12: "Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you." How do we break up fallow ground? The answer is in 2 Timothy 3:16-17: "All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
(a) We must receive teaching from God’s word.
The "time" mentioned in 2 Timothy 4:3 has come. "For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." But we must pay attention to sound teaching. How much should we listen? We should listen carefully enough that our hearts themselves teach us (Psalm 16:7).
(b) We must receive rebuke from God’s word.
Look at Ephesians 5:11: "Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them." When we are participating in the fruitless deeds of darkness, the Holy Spirit within us reveals our sins through God’s word. When the light of God’s holy word, the sword of the Spirit, shines into our dark hearts, our conscience will be convicted. And our hearts will be broken like a hammer breaking a rock (Jeremiah 23:29). At such times, we will, like the 3,000 believers in Acts 2, listen to the word of God through a servant of God and respond: "Brothers, what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). Then Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). We must receive rebuke through God’s word and repent of our sins.
(c) We must be corrected by God’s word.
Satan twists our thoughts and leads us to walk on crooked paths. But God makes us think rightly through His word and leads us to walk on the right path. If our hearts are not in the right direction, we must receive teaching and rebuke through God's word and then walk on the right path.
(d) We must be trained in righteousness through God’s word.
By God’s grace, we have been justified through faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, we must live righteous lives. To do so, we must be trained in righteousness through God’s word. We must guard our hearts more than anything else, because from it flow the issues of life, and we must guard it well with God’s word. This is what it means to live a life attentive to God’s word.
Fourth, we must speak God’s word with our lips.
Look at today’s text, Proverbs 4:24: “Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you.” King Solomon encourages us to not only guard our hearts with God’s word, but also to guard our lips. His message is that we should put away and distance ourselves from “deceitful words” and “perverse words” from our mouths. As I meditated on this exhortation, I thought that if we do not properly guard our hearts with God’s word (correct teaching), and our hearts become crooked and perverse, then the words that come out of our hearts will only be crooked and perverse. I believe the same applies to our ears and eyes. If our hearts are not attentive to God’s correct teachings, our ears, eyes, and lips will inevitably listen to, look at, and speak crooked and perverse things. Proverbs 26:24 says: “He who hates, disguises it with his lips, and lays up deceit within himself.” We must not be like our enemies or hypocrites who disguise their hatred with their lips but harbor deceit within themselves. Instead, our hearts should be truthful, and with our lips, we should speak the truth sincerely. The apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 3:10: “For he who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit.” If we love life, we must control our lips. We must never speak evil or deceit with our lips. To do this, we must preserve knowledge with our lips (Proverbs 5:2). We must guard the knowledge of the Bible and the knowledge of God with our lips. And we must speak God’s word. We must testify of God’s word. This is the life that pays attention to God’s word.
Finally, fifth, we must ensure that our feet do not stray from God’s word.
Look at today’s text, Proverbs 4:26-27: “Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil.” King Solomon advises us to “ponder” the path of our feet. Here, the word “ponder” means “to measure.” This means we should carefully consider whether what we are about to do is safe (Park Yunseon). No one among us would knowingly walk toward a dangerous path. Especially if we know that path will jeopardize our lives, we would not walk down it. Instead, as it says in verse 26, we would choose a firm path and walk on it. Therefore, King Solomon is now advising us to make our paths firm. For that, the Bible says we must remove our feet from evil (v. 27). In other words, if our feet do not depart from evil, it will endanger not only our physical lives but also our spiritual lives, so we must ensure that our feet turn away from evil.
As I meditated on this word, I remembered the “foolish young man” in Proverbs 7 (v. 7). He went near the corner of the street of the adulterous woman (v. 8), and succumbed to her temptation, following her. The Bible compares him to an ox going to the slaughter and a fool who is led with chains to punishment (v. 22). This foolish young man did not pay attention to God’s word, so his heart was led astray towards the adulterous woman’s path, and his feet were directed toward the perilous path of the adulteress. And what was the result of this foolish young man walking down the dangerous path of the adulteress? Look at Proverbs 7:23: “Till an arrow strikes his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare, he does not know it will cost his life.” The result was the loss of life. Therefore, we must pay attention to God’s word and make sure that our feet do not stray from His word. By doing so, our paths will be firm, and we will not turn to the right or to the left. We will be able to walk in the straight path. This is the life that pays attention to God’s word.
I want to conclude this meditation on the word. We must live a life that pays attention to God’s word. We need to develop spiritual focus and listen carefully to what God is saying to us. We must also ensure that God’s word does not depart from our eyes. We must keep God’s word in our hearts. In doing so, we must speak God’s word with our lips. And we must ensure that our feet do not stray from God’s word.