By Pr Isaiah White
Proverbs 13:13 says: “The one who despises the Word will be destroyed, but the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.”
A story is told of a group of drunk friends who went to pick up their colleague.
While she walked towards the car, her mother accompanied her but was worried about the drunkenness of her friends.
Holding her hand, the mother said: “My daughter, go with God and may He protect you.”
The daughter replied: “Only if God travels in the trunk, because the car is already filled up.”
Hours later, news spread that they had been involved in a fatal accident and everyone had died, but surprisingly the trunk was intact.
More still, the tray of eggs that was in the trunk remained whole and none was broken.
In this story, the daughter despised God and jokingly sent Him to the trunk.
God sat where He was assigned and when the accident happened, He defended His station and held those who despised Him in debt.
Study
The book of Proverbs is found in the section of the wisdom writings of the Bible.
In this book, we read bits of extreme wisdom that we need to dwell on and investigate almost every statement therein. Proverbs 13’s immediate audience was the Jews.
The commandment talked about is the ‘Torah’, as it was stated by Moses.
In this proverb the word and the commandment of God are synonymous; whoever despises the Word of will be in debt to it.
The word ‘despise’ is translated as ‘booz’ in Hebrew. This word means to mock, dishonour, ignore or disrespect God.
Mockery, ignorance and dishonour are offences that can only be committed by those who have no fear of the Lord.
This is the reason the proverb quickly contrasts such with those who fear the commandment of God.
Despising someone who is older, stronger and bigger than you is an act of the docile and those who lack wisdom.
Only the wise will bow down in worship and reverence (fear) to God, for they know that He holds their future and cannot be mocked.
Ignoring or despising God is a debt. The Hebrew translation of ‘debt’ is ‘chabal’. Humanity was created to work and worship.
In life, we have seen many people who have despised work and the world eventually has caught up with them.
As it is that we cannot cheat the principle of work and production in ordinary life, it is a reality that we will not get away with the mockery of God.
It is not because He will retaliate against those who despise Him, but it is in the law of the universe at work; despising the source of your life will lead to death eventually.
We must remember the more a person despises God and His Word, the greater the debt he accumulates throughout his life.
Modern history
In modern history, we have a record of people who have mocked and despised God.
Some were under the influence of drugs, others were sober, but due to pride and prejudice, they assumed a higher status to who God is and publicly despised Him. Teenabling records were some of these:
1-Tancredo Neves (President of Brazil): During the presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from presidency. He got the votes, but got sick a day before being sworn-in and he died
2-The man who built the Titanic: After the construction of the titanic, a reporter asked him how safe it would be, and with an ironic tone, he said: “Not even God can sink it.” The result was the disastrous wreck of the ship and it sank.
3-Cazuza (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet): During a show in Canecio, Rio de Janeiro, while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said: “God that is for you.” He died at the age of 32 of horrible lung cancer.
Despising God and His Word demonstrates two major problems: lack of wisdom regardless of how clever one is, and being possessed with evil spirits that quench the spirit of obedience, teachability, discernment, wisdom, worship, or faith in God.
Apostle Paul warned us in Galatians 6:7, saying: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”
God will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, treated with contempt or allow His precepts be scornfully set aside.
