There are many children today who have absentee fathers. There are also quite a number of children who have never known their father at all. The role of the father in today’s culture is often downplayed and even mocked in popular television shows. The father is often portrayed as a loser and a buffoon. However the Bible states that the role of the father is very important, and not to be taken lightly. Yet for those who have never known their father, either because he was never there to begin with, or because he was present physically but never embraced his role as a father, God has you well covered.
Today we will be studying God’s advice, which He gives to us freely as our loving Father. If you have never known the love of a father, you are not alone and you have not been forgotten. God is our ultimate Father, and this is not just a title of reverence, but a title of relationship, as we will be examining today.
So is this merely a crutch which we have invented to make those who are without physical fathers feel better about themselves? Not at all. In-fact it is God Himself who has taken this role upon Himself willingly for no other reason than because He loves each and every one of us this much. This is mentioned in Psalms 68:5:
“A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.”
We see here that God names Himself as a father to the fatherless. Those who have been abandoned, He gathers up safely in His arms. He is the ultimate adopter, and the greatest Father that anyone could ever have. It is worth noting here that we also see that God is a judge (advocate) of the widows, being sure that they are not taken-advantage of, He defends them especially from predators who might be looking for an easy mark. This is the love and character of God for those who are vulnerable.
Now that we have established God as our Father, we are set to receive His fatherly advice. The advice of a father is a treasured thing if that father is a follower of Christ, then it will be faithful and true advice. Unfortunately, many fathers today are not followers of Christ, but followers of themselves, headstrong, stubborn, prideful and lost. This is mostly due to the degeneration of the culture. If they have not been raised into a right relationship with Jesus, then they also will not raise their children in such a way (not without a true conversion), and this leaves the children in a tough spot. Who do you turn to for advice if your own father is also lost and wandering? This is where God comes in. Since we have seen that God is our true Father, and also that He is all-knowing, all-powerful and all-loving towards us, we can be sure of His motives, His intentions and His care for us. God will never play us out, nor will He ever forsake us in favor of other interests as many human fathers do. His love never fails, nor does it ever fade. We have these assurances promised to us in Deuteronomy 31:8:
“And the LORD, he it is that does go before you; he will be with you, he will not fail you, neither forsake you: fear not, neither be dismayed.”
Just as a good father, God goes in-front of us as a barrier against any enemies or attacks. He is a shield for us, and He is also with us at our side always. He promises to never fail us or forsake us. This is the love of God towards us. And since He made these promises with His own mouth, and His words never fall flat or fail to be true, we can trust in them completely. These are not the words of man, but of God.
God as our loving father has given us fatherly advice, so that even when our earthly fathers fail to instruct us in Godly wisdom, we are not left to starve. God has stepped-in and supplied directly from Him to us. Let’s read now Proverbs 4:1-5:
“Hear, you children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
For I give you good doctrine, forsake you not my law.
For I was my father’s son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
He taught me also, and said to me, Let your heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.
Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.”
This is the introduction. We see that what we will find is good doctrine, if we actually “attend to know” it. To attend to know something means to diligently focus on it and meditate on it. It also means to “regard it well”. There are many people today who know of God’s advice but they do not regard it well.
In verse 4 we see that God’s advice leads along the path of life. Why? Because He always points us to Jesus. This goes hand-in-hand with regarding His advice well. So many people assume that if God says to avoid something it’s because He is mean and wants to deny us pleasure. However the truth is that He never denies us any good thing (James 1:17), and if He tells us to avoid a thing and to not go down a certain path, it is actually for our well-being and safety – just like a parent telling a child to not play in the street. However if we are not regarding His advice well, above our own desires and reasoning, then we end up hurting ourselves and many people blame God for the resulting pain, even though He was the one warning us about it all along.
Now another interesting part of verse 4 is that it says to let your heart keep my commandments. The message of the world tends to always be “when you don’t know what to do, follow your heart.” – as if the heart was our great master leader. Yet we can see plainly here that it is the heart that we need to keep in-line with God’s Word. It is the heart that always wants to lead us astray. It is the heart that always wants to follow its own passions and desires. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. The heart is not the source for counsel, wisdom or leading. In-fact it is the place of deception, error and wickedness. To keep a close guard on our heart and to let our heart keep the advice and leading of God’s Word brings us life. This implies that to not do so brings death. The choice does seem clear.
Verse 5 tells us the beginning and primary focus should be to get Wisdom. To be clear this is not worldly wisdom or the counsel of man, but this is Godly wisdom that only comes from once source: Jesus Christ. There are all kinds of other sources vying for our attention, but in the end only one will stand; only one is the solid rock on which we can build, and that is Jesus Christ alone. 1St Corinthians 1:30 tells us plainly that Jesus Christ has become everything for us, including wisdom — and truly, apart from Him we have nothing.
The entire chapter of Proverbs 4 is filled with wonderful fatherly advice from God and I would recommend that you take time to study the entire chapter and meditate on it as we are doing here today, but because of time we are going to move down to verse 19 and read to the end of the chapter:
“The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
My son, attend to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
Let them not depart from your eyes; keep them in the middle of your heart.
For they are life to those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Put away from you a fraudulent mouth, and perverse lips put far from you.
Let your eyes look right on, and let your eyelids look straight before you.
Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.
Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove your foot from evil.”
What we see here in verse 19 are some tell-tale signs of the wicked person. They are always confused, unsure of why they are stumbling and falling – because they do not have the light of Christ to illuminate their path. They have no assurance and no hope. Because their way is dark, they can never see what is in-front of them.
Repeated in verses 20 and 21 is another caution to keep God’s Words in our heart at all times. To continue to focus on Him and not on any other distraction. It must be important for God to keep mentioning it. Again this is not about rule-keeping, but keeping us from danger because He loves us. Our heart always wants to pull us off of God’s perfect course for us, but we are to keep our heart in-line by staying focused on Jesus and His Word.
Verse 22 tells us the incredible benefit that He brings to us… that is life and health to all of our flesh. Jesus is life, and Jesus is healing, and the more we receive of Him, the more we allow Him in, the more He can heal us. The only thing that ever stopped Jesus from healing anyone is when they failed to respond to Him. He was available, but the people failed to acknowledge Him. Yet Jesus healed all who came to Him. (Matthew 9:35).
Verse 23 is yet another warning about the heart. God is not being redundant, it really is so important that we understand the danger of the heart and reject the worldly idea that it is our great leader. Our Leader should always be God and His Word alone.
Next in verse 24 we see that a fraudulent (perverse/contrary) mouth is another thing that can get us into trouble. Now at this point some of you may be thinking that this is leading to a rule-keeping law-centered mentality, but it is not. Notice that this verse comes only after three separate warnings about the heart, and there is a lesson principle to learn here. Once we have our heart focused solely on Jesus Christ and we allow His love to come in and His Spirit to take His rightful place in our lives, then we will effortlessly fulfill this verse – because our mouth simply will no longer be contrary to God’s Word. In-fact, I will submit to you that we cannot fulfill verse 24 until we have truly received Jesus as our Lord.
The last three verses 25, 26, and 27 are final warnings about distractions. My friends, do you see how much time God spends on warnings against distractions and things that pull us away from focusing on Christ Jesus? This is not an accident. It is not mere fluff or filler. These are real warnings from a real God who really loves us as a Father and a friend. He cautions us against these things for our protection. Not only can distractions hurt us on the earth, but if left unguarded they can even pull us away from Christ and cause us to miss our destiny and calling from God. I have seen it happen to some very dear friends over the years. I have even seen some people die prematurely because distractions kept them from focusing on Christ. I have seen ministers miss God’s best for them because they allowed their heart to lead them instead of God’s Word.
Make no mistake, God mentions these things repeatedly because they can have serious and sometimes dire consequences. Now I am not saying this to scare you or put fear into you. Fear is not of God and the perfect love of God casts out all fear. Instead what I want you to take from this is that God loves you enough to write these warnings against certain things that pull us away from Him. Remember apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).
This is Godly advice from our loving Father God. Written not to scorn, nor is it written with malice. God wants the best for each of us, and that only comes through Jesus Christ alone. Your True Father sends His love, who has spared us all from the punishment and curse of sin, to bring us into perfection and His perfect love forever.