Proverbs 10:17 Read And Framed

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All right, welcome back to another wonderful lesson in Proverbs. Today it's going to be chapter 10, verse 17. And this is another great, interesting one. It's going to ping off of just what we learned the other few days and re-emphasize and grind into us that there's more to life than just sitting around and waiting. So let's read it together. In Proverbs chapter 10, verse 17, it says, He who keeps instructions is in the way of life, but he who refuses corrections goes astray. Now also I want to connect Proverbs 623 that we did the other day together. For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching is a light, and the reproofs for discipline are the way of life. Man, there is so much truth in those verses. Notice the phrase the way of life. Not the way of temporary excitement, not the way of emotional hype, nor in the way of comfort, but the way of life. And I've really been thinking

When Faith Must Produce Results

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about some younger believers lately, good, passionate people, people who truly love the Lord. They're excited about worship, excited about God, excited about the freedom they have in Christ. And honestly, I love seeing that fire in them. I remember those days so well personally. And you know, I truly miss them. But eventually, every believer has to collide with this life. And that change, that kind of like euphoria that went from everything is just going to be a golden road. It's kind of a hard one to do until you get a lot of well, what we're teaching, Proverbs in you, when you start realizing there's more to life than just sitting, waiting and praying. At some point, Christianity has to move beyond emotion and begin producing. And producing what you might say? Well, real world results. And I think this is where many get confused. Some think once they become a Christian, life is supposed to magically happen for them, like somehow God is going to do everything while they sit still, waiting for signs from heaven. But that's not the pattern I see in scripture. God told Noah to build. God told Joshua to move forward. God told David to fight. God told Nehemiah to rebuild, and God told the servants in the parable of the talents to multiply what they were given. And then the master left and expected them to act.

Fear Disguised As Waiting On God

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And the servant who buried his talent did not do it because he lacked ability. No, he buried it because of fear. And honestly, I think fear keeps more people trapped than failure ever does. Fear of rejection, fear of embarrassment, fear of looking foolish, fear of stepping out, fear of not succeeding. And then people some spiritualize this fear. They say, Well, I'm waiting on God. Now sometimes we truly are waiting on God. I understand that. But sometimes if we're honest, we're not waiting on God at all. We're hiding. We're afraid. And meanwhile, life itself is trying to correct us. That's the part of Proverbs I think people miss. It says, But he who refuses correction goes astray. It's not for some reason we always get in our mind correction means no drinking or cussing or hanging around those that do, and live this fantasy holy life. No, it's to have life in life more abundantly, and that's to get you to think and to grow. And you know, sometimes correction comes through consequences. Sometimes life itself becomes the reproof. Sometimes God allows reality to expose what must change in us. Maybe somebody keeps hitting the same wall financially because they're terrified to step into responsibility. Maybe somebody is praying constantly for a breakthrough while refusing to move and courage. Maybe you're more excited about escaping work than building something meaningful. And I understand the mindset because when you're young, we naturally chase comfort and entertainment, excitement, freedom, and we love to just play. There's nothing wrong with enjoying life. God created joy. God created laughter and God created celebration. But maturity

Building Joy Through Hard Things

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begins when you realize joy comes from more than that. It comes from building things, building character, building discipline, consistency, building a good family, building a great running business, building wisdom for yourself, and building a relationship with God. And you know what? Building is hard. But hard is not bad. In fact, some of the deepest joy in life come after enduring difficult things. And one thing I've learned over the years is this failure is not your enemy. No, fear is. Failure teaches you and it sharpens you. It humbles you and exposes his weaknesses inside of you. Failure creates wisdom. But fear freezes you. It could freeze you for decades. People spend years waiting until they feel ready. But most people in the Bible did not feel ready. Moses didn't feel ready, Gideon didn't feel ready, Joshua didn't feel ready, and neither did Peter. But you know what? They moved anyways. And that, my friends, is courage. And I really believe God puts gifts and ideas and desires inside you because we are made in the image of a creator. There is something inside human beings that wants to create, to build, to multiply, grow and accomplish great things. But fear talks people out of it. You know, it also is the Bible, fear not, fear not. And then you also read all over there where it says, you can do all things through Christ. Because what do you fear? It mentions two things about fear. Fear God, and then it always says don't fear. And it's words, not the Creator himself that he wants you to fear. He wants you to fear that what he says is more true than what your brain is telling you to be afraid of. You can do it. Because fear whispers, what if you fell? What if people laugh at you? And what if it doesn't work? But what if it does? What if the thing God put inside of your heart is waiting on the other side of obedience and courage?

Real Estate To Insurance Breakthrough

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And honestly, this reminds me of something from my own life. There was a season years ago after I first moved to Florida that I was determined to become successful in real estate. And I worked incredibly hard. I went door to door to a thousand homes every month and did a thousand mailers to condos at night. And I believed a Christian man should behave a certain way. So not only did I work very hard, but I made sure I didn't hang around anybody who didn't it resemble somebody of a straight lace goody two shoe. You remember that we learned about what righteousness was. I still would slip into that old style of, well, righteousness is making sure it behave a certain way. And maybe that's what good well, I'm pretty sure I look back on that's what God was getting me out of. But honestly, you know, I was hating life back then. I was starving financially and wondering why nothing was working. And I remember finally having one of those real moments with the Lord. You know, I call it one of those coming to Jesus moments, where I stopped pretending that everything is going to be okay because it was a mess, and I knew something wasn't right. And so I got along with the Lord and put the word before him and said, this is not right. It's just totally not right. But in the background, now this went off for like a couple years, but in the background, my wife had a good friend trying to get me into the insurance business, and I thought that was the biggest failure I could ever get into. But after realizing I can make a couple thousand bucks a month, it's better than starving, and I went for it. And as I started working there, the Lord gave me an idea where when I was working so hard as a real estate agent, all the agents in the area had these little boxes, and all these loan processors would come by and put little flyers in there trying to get us to send them our customers to get a loan through them. And some would put little tiny pieces of candy in there. That was kind of cool. So I got this idea. I don't ever remember any insurance agents doing that. And our business is to write home insurance. So I had quite a few things going for me. One is all the realtors knew me and my work ethic, so they trusted me. Two is I was the only one putting my flyers in all their boxes once a week. And back then you could get a whole candy bar for like 25 cents. So I'd slip that in there with them. So kind of got known to be the candyman, but whatever, it was a miracle. It was like Zig Ziglar said, is like my rocket was full of fuel, and I didn't know those two, three years of working so hard was gonna pay off so well the way it did. I did not know it. But praise God that it did. And that is one of the biggest things younger people need to understand. Just because something is difficult does not mean God abandoned you. Sometimes a struggle is a training ground. Sometimes God is preparing your thinking and your endurance, your discipline, and your wisdom, and the courage for the thing you actually were created to do.

Move With Peace Not Anxiety

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And I think many people miss opportunities because they're waiting for God to make everything perfectly clear before they move. But often God guides people while they are moving. I heard somebody say one time, it's easier to turn a ship that's moving than one that's sitting still. And that is so true. I didn't like it or believe it at the time, but now that I'm older, I'm repeating it again, and probably whoever told me that was repeated by an elder two. So, bottom line, get going, even if you're not sure. There's this thing that I've learned where I always read in the Bible, like, be anxious for nothing but everything with prayer and thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. So I'm really emphasizing you gotta hear from the Lord. And so you know you hear from him, but there's something inside you also, something you desire to do, what he put there. You didn't put it there, he put it there, but you're afraid to go for it. But then when it comes time, the fear takes over, the anxiousness takes over. And so I finally realized the reason he said, don't be anxious, is because me personally, I can't hear from him clearly when I get stressed and anxious. But as the years went by in the training, I realized there's all kinds of scriptures that the apostles talk about. They did what seemed right for him. You got a seamer inside you. So then you tie that in with all the scriptures that say, I'll just paraphrase, let peace be your guide. So are you feeling anxiety and pressure because the bills are piling up or something's going on and you're just not happy and you want to go in this direction, but fear is keeping you from going in that direction, but you have this deep inside feeling you would a peace that that's the way to go. So if you're at the point now in your life where you're in that mess, go the route of peace. Get out of the nightmare. God doesn't want you inside all kinds of anxiety and stress and torment. That's not from Him. That's what we're learning about here is you're heeding instruction. Get out and go in the way of peace and do it in courage. It says all in the Proverbs. We're going to hear it more and more as we go through, to be courageous. And that's why life itself sometimes tries to correct you. The bills pile up, the opportunities pass, the fear grows, and the excuses grow. And eventually life starts screaming.

Final Challenge And Book Recommendation

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Wake up, not because God hates you, but because he loves you enough to refuse to leave you trapped. And maybe somebody listening today needs a real moment of honesty, not condemnation, honesty. Where are you really at? Are you growing? Are you building? Are you moving forward? Are you hiding behind fear while calling it spirituality? Because the Bible says he who keeps instruction is in the way of life. Life, my friends, real life, not passivity or laziness, not endless entertainment, not sitting around waiting for a miracle while refusing your responsibility. That's life. And maybe today the thing standing between you and the next chapter of your life is not the lack of talent. Maybe it's fear, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of trying. But hear me carefully. Failure is not your enemy. Fear is. At least failure means you moved, at least failure means you learned. At least failure means you grew, and at least failure means you stop burying your talent in the ground. God is with you, but he still expects you to move. He opened the prison door, but expects you to walk out of it. And if you will move in faith, courage, discipline, and responsibility, you'll discover that the very thing you once thought was failure was actually God preparing you for the life he intended for you all along. Well, that was another great one. And I just want to thank you for listening. And again, if by now you're not hearing or know you're hearing from the Lord, I encourage you, get my book, God, Why Won't You Talk to Me by Edward L. Carpenter. Until next time, have a blessed day.