Hear the Instruction and Discipline of God – (Proverbs 23:12)
Daily Proverbs
Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.
Daily Bible Study
There is so much meaning in this passage! God in this short verse has given us so much wisdom for our understanding of God's word. This passage speaks of being disciplined in our study and learning of God's word, the Bible. And through obedience to the Holy Spirit, we are to develop a deep desire and a discipline to seek out and understand the scripture. It means to apply ourselves with all earnestness to the learning of wisdom from the Lord through the study of His word, the Bible. This passage is speaking of how we, as children of God, are to approach the Bible. And when we do so, we are to understand that the Bible is God's revelation to us, about Himself to mankind. The Bible was not written by men, but was written by the Holy Spirit who inspired the writers to record the revelation of God's plan of redemption and His interactions with humanity.
The term used by Bible scholars is "verbal plenary inspiration." And this means that God through the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of scripture using their own vocabulary and cultural experience to record God's plan of redemption and God's instructions for mankind. And these passages are meant to help us understand how we should go about the study of God's word and how we are to build our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. God's word tells us it's not to be a casual learning. It's not meant to be taken only as a past-time, or to be done only in leisure. Instead, we are to approach God's word with all eagerness, making it our heart's desire to study and know God's precepts. To know the story of our Lord and what He has done for us. To understand as best we can what God has done because of His immense love for us. The Bible from front cover to back cover, from the Old Testament to the New Testament is about Jesus. And the Bible is God's word which reveals to us His plan of redemption for mankind. Therefore the scriptures speak of life because they speak of and point to Christ Jesus our Lord.