Don't Stop Listening

“Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge.” Proverbs 19:27

There is a temptation for us to grow arrogant as we grow in knowledge. For those of us who have been church attenders for some time, there can arise an internal pride that groans: “I have heard this all before.” “I have heard this teaching over and over again; could we please do something new?” Sometimes our ears tune out the common refrains in Scripture because we have “been there done that” one too many times. As someone who has grown up in a Christian home, attended a Christian school, studied Bible in college, and been immersed in the local church since day 1—I understand the tendency.

The verse above tells us something interesting about human nature in reference to instruction. The father warns his son, if you “stop listening to instruction, you will stray from the words of knowledge.” It is clear that the proper way to walk, the way that accords with the words of knowledge, is not natural to the son. If it were, there would be no need for him to listen to instruction! The son is not inclined by nature towards the instruction of his father, and for him to stop listening is to stray from it.

To phrase it more positively, the son needs to be continually listening to His father's instruction—likely listening to even the same, repetitive instruction he has heard throughout his childhood—in order to remain in the words of knowledge.

Experience tells me this is so very much the case. When I look at the lives of the many who have “strayed from the words of knowledge” (even myself in several instances) I do not see that the people were uninformed on what was right and wrong. It is not as if they had never heard what the Scripture prescribes, or had not read how the Lord would have them walk. The very act of straying implies that the subject was in a right position originally but has since moved on. In many cases I even think the people who stray believe the Father’s instruction to be correct all along. Yet they stray anyway.

What happens is we stop listening to instruction. We break away from that precious stream of truth, and proceed to go the way we would go by nature—the way of death.

It has been said that people need to be reminded more often than they need to be taught. Unsurprisingly, both testaments of the Bible are full of reminders, festivals, rituals, patterns, repetitions, songs, parallelisms—all with the purpose of calling and recalling to the minds of the people of God the great things God has done and what He has commanded of them. How important is it also for us take heed of those reminders in the Word of God, for we forget the fundamentals so easily!

It seems to me that Christian maturity is not so much about unpacking new theological angles, or continually delving into the minutia of controversial texts. To be sure, there is a wealth of things to learn in the Christian faith and every detail extracted can be greatly beneficial to the Christian. Ignorance is not bliss for the Christian! But I am persuaded that the substance of Christian maturity is composed of walking and delighting and persisting in those old, basic, common tenants of the faith. It consists of preaching the simple gospel of Jesus Christ to ourselves day by day, and ever reminding ourselves our Father’s instruction.

The challenge for us all is the same challenge given to the son in the Proverb above. Don't stop listening. Don't become satisfied with what you “know to be true” and leave it at that. Don't stop reading the Word and hiding it in your heart. Don't stop feeding yourself truth. Don't stop listening to instruction, for to stop listening is to stray.