February 27, 2026 -- Proverbs 4:13-14 -- The spiritual ground-to-air defense system

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Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
guard her, for she is your life.
Do not enter the path of the wicked,
and do not walk in the way of the evil.
Proverbs 4:13-14 ESV
 
The word “instruction” is the Hebrew word that could also be translated, reproof, warning, correction, education or training. Depending on the context, it is either negative as a warning, or, as in our context, positive, as setting one on the pathway of life in Christ. According the one encyclopedia, the word instruction/discipline can be explained this way:
To discipline a person or a group means to put them
in a state of good order so that they function in the way
intended. Discipline, in spite of a popular misconception,
is not inherently stern or harsh. Bible translators chose
“disciple” as an appropriate term for one who learns by
following.
 Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible, pp 631–633
 
Instruction prepares the wise son, and the prudent daughter, so that every individual is prepared for the days of hardship or temptation which are brought on by the wiles of the Devil. Discipline as it is applied to Christians in community, aids individuals who are living and serving together so that the strong help those struggling in their time of weakness. Discipline both guards against waywardness, and it maps out a road to reconciliation and restoration. When one has fallen, discipline becomes discipleship, allowing the follower to find his way back to Jesus and back to full fellowship with His people.
 
Conversely, to enter the path of the wicked means that one has toyed with sin. One has recognized there might be danger in an activity, a movie, an invitation, a decision, but despite the ringing of the alarm bells of the conscience, one pushes past his good instruction and launches himself into the on-coming disaster. For the Christian, to enter the path of the wicked, or to walk in evil is not something accidental. It didn’t just “happen”. At some point it was a conscious choice. The small tentacles of evil stretched out towards you, fleeting considerations of something bad, but these were not immediately crushed and shunned. The idea took hold of your imagination, running in the distant background of your mind, while you went on with your daily activities. Eventually, you find at the end of the day, you’ve done your normal good, but the imagined evil from earlier in the day, not immediately renounced or rooted out, has become a full-blown compulsion. You feel a strong desire to do what you’ve been considering, justifying, because so much earlier you allowed it to be considered as a program running just below the surface of conscious thought.
 
If you guard the instruction given you by the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, and cling to the discipline given you through wise counselors, you will find that your heart has a missile defense system against evil. You will spot trouble, while it is very far off, and you’ll be able to shoot it down. As it is pointed out in the passage, ignoring the incoming missile of evil is death. Guarding instruction means that she will in turn guard you. She is a ground to air defense system prepared to launch against all the sly or unexpected spiritual attacks in the unseen realms. It seems to me, the question might well be, why would you let yourself be exposed to all manner of self-destruction, when the LORD your faithful Father has provided the way of relief? Choose to keep hold of instruction!
 
I was a stranger, an outcast, a slave, a rebel,
but Your cross has brought me near,
has softened my heart,
has made me Your Father’s child,
has admitted me to Your family,
as made me a join-heir with Yourself, Lord Jesus.
O that I may love You as You love me
that I may walk worthy of You, my Lord,
that I may reflect the image of heaven’s first-born.
May I always see Your beauty with the clear eye of faith,
and feel the power of Your Spirit in my heart,
for unless the Spirit moves mightily in me,
no inward fire will be kindled.
Amen.
Adapted from final paragraph of “Need of Jesus”, The Valley of Vision. page 187
 
https://youtu.be/rpYM6Et_hVY?si=NVOwkn-aYGb-xJhL He Leadeth Me
 

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