Scorn and Favor

For Monday, September 18, 2006
Proverbs 3:34

Toward the scorner he is scornful,
but to the humble he gives favor.

The difference between God's scorn and that of the scorners is that God's is just and directed towards those who deserve it. The scorners in this proverb are those who scorn what is good. You see this everywhere in the world where the righteous and the moral are mocked. The Ten Commandments are ridiculed. The biblical standards for sexual relations and for marriage are belittled. Students and business people laugh at those who will not cheat. But God is not bemused by their humor and he will hold them accountable.

Those who do follow God's laws do so out of humility. They understand that there is a law above themselves. And like children who trust their father to know what is best, they humbly obey him. Thus God bestowes his favor upon them.

From whom would you rather receive favor, and from whom are you more willing to receive scorn?