Revere God’s Word!!!!!!!! (Proverbs 13:13)
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Proverbs 13:13
Whoever despises the word brings destruction on himself,
but he who reveres the commandment will be rewarded.
Oh man, when I tell you this is one of my favorite Proverbs, I mean it. I love what it has to tell us about our posture toward the Word of God.
Here Scripture sketches two postures and two destinies:
One man shrugs at God’s Word and walks straight into ruin.
Another bows before it and walks straight into reward.
One person treats God’s Word as optional—perhaps interesting, perhaps inspirational, but certainly not authoritative. The other treats it as reality itself, as the very wisdom that stitches the world together.
And Proverbs says these two postures don’t just shape your beliefs; they shape your destiny.
To “despise” God’s Word doesn’t necessarily mean shaking your fist at heaven. It can be as subtle as indifference, as quiet as deciding that your own impulses are more trustworthy than God’s voice. But when you do that, Proverbs says, you set yourself against the grain of the universe. You’re sawing off the very branch you’re sitting on.
But to revere it—to uphold it, to chase it, to bind it to your heart like a life-preserver—that man, says the proverb, will be rewarded. And what is the reward? Nothing small. Nothing shallow.
The reward is life.
Life braided with God’s joy.
Life shaped by God’s character.
Life warmed by God’s presence in the unremarkable hours—the Tuesday afternoon moments when no one else is watching.
The Word does this because the Word carries this: God Himself.
Paul said it plainly in Philippians 3: he strains forward toward “the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Christ is not merely the giver of the prize—He is the prize. The crown, the finish line, and the joy at the finish line.
Open the Scriptures and you will find Jesus winking back at you from every page.
So let me ask you plainly—How do you view the Word of God?
Do you revere it?
Do you believe in God but disregard His Word?
Do you struggle to sit still long enough to hear His voice?
Be encouraged today—not shamed, not scolded, but invited.
Take up the Book as though your life depends on it—because it does.
Do not live by bread alone, but by every word that drips from the mouth of God.
Open your Bible, and expect God to breathe on you.
For the man who honors the Word finds that the Word honors him — with life, with light, with Christ Himself.
Let’s pray.
