Proverbs 13:12-17--The Proverbs of Solomon

Proverbs 13:12-17
New American Standard Bible
​12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,
But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
13 One who despises the word will do badly,
But one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.
14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,
To turn aside from the snares of death.
15 Good understanding produces favor,
But the way of the treacherous is their own disaster.
16 Every prudent person acts with knowledge,
But a fool displays foolishness.
17 A wicked messenger falls into adversity,
But a faithful messenger brings healing.

---

Deferred hope is not always a bad thing, but we should not make promises that we always tell someone that we will fulfill later.  If we don't fulfill some of the promises that we make now, then it will be harder for someone to believe that we will do the things that we promise we will do later.  Specifically, we may imagine the hope that we have in heaven and how that is something that cannot have in its entirety immediately.  We can have some of the blessings of communion with God and others right now, but it's not quite the same as the promise of being free from the power and presence of sin (we are free from the penalty of sin right now if we are in Christ, though we still have to face the consequences of our bad actions and live in a word that is tainted by sin and that has sinners ruling it and opposed to God and His people).  All this that I just described makes us long for the total fulfillment of that promise in a good way.  Nothing makes us doubt the promise because a guarantee has been given to us--The Holy Spirit was given to us as a downpayment and as surety.  However, our heart is made glad when we receive something we have worked for that was promised to us or something that we haven't worked for that was promised to us.  Either way, there is an expectation--a hope--that is turned to joy when our faith becomes sight, and we receive that in which we have believed.

Solomon then warns us not to despise the Word.  In context here, I think he's talking about the Word of God.  In the past he's warned his son to not despise the words of his father and mother and wise counselors, but here Solomon talks about not despising "The Word" (though the capitalization is not there in this version).  This could refer to the Scriptures, but we know that this is also a name for Jesus, the second person of the Trinity who is the living and active Word of God.  Those who despise the written word or the Living Word will not have things go well for them, but the one who fears God and obeys His commandments because of a changed heart will be rewarded.  His hope will be fulfilled, and his faith will become sight as we talked about with the first verse.

God promises long life and a good life to His people Israel when they obey HIs commandments.  The words of wise counselors would encourage them to obey and to listen to the voice of the LORD.  However, the words of fools would encourage people to rebel against the LORD and to seek one's own path to happiness and to ignore the clear commands of God that were given His Word.  Such a fool is bound for destruction and judgment both in this life and in the life everlasting because you cannot rebel against an earthly king and expect to get away with it.  How much more than should our expectation be that those who rebel against the Maker of Heaven of Earth who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords would not get away with their rebellion?

Wise men try to hear all the facts and think about things before coming to a decision, but a fool rushes to judgment, maybe without even hearing any facts or with only hearing one side of the story.  A wise man examines what he hearts to help him perceive if what he is hearing is true, but a fool has no regard for the truth and may even look for "facts" that support their desired outcome.

The job of a messenger is to be faithful to the message that he was given and to represent the message and the one who penned the message.  The one who speaks presumptuously inserting his own message instead of the message he was given will come to ruin as will the man who fails to deliver the message he was given, or who speaks ill of the one who wrote the message or tells those to whom the message was sent to ignore the message.  All of us are sent as messengers to carry the message of God's Word to those that are part of the kingdom of darkness and to be ambassadors to tell those in darkness how they can become citizens of the kingdom of His marvelous light.  When we faithfully convey the message (don't worry about if the words are hard for people to hear, just faithfully convey the Word of God--don't try to edit it), then we will be blessed, and healing will come to the hurting and broken people around us.