Proverbs 23:12 Commentary and Bible Study

Apply your heart to instruction because there are many distractions that make it hard to obtain wisdom. Satan has a vast array of lures and bates which turn our attention away from this great benefit of wisdom, because his strategy is to prevent us seeing what is most good for us. He sees more clearly than we do the way of escape from his clutches, and the instruction of Scripture properly understood will certainly tell us the danger of remaining in bondage to his temptations. Wisdom will lead us to deny ungodly lusts and to pursue righteousness which throws off his tyranny.Apply your heart to instruction because God only instructs those who give him their full attention. He teaches the one who desires his instruction more than anything else and who understands the value of it. He teaches us inwardly as well as outwardly, but the outward word will do us little good if it is not made effectual in us by the Spirit. But the Spirit will be grieved if we are half hearted in our lessons. To be half hearted is to dishonour him; it is to fail to see how great is our need and the enormous condescension of God in ever troubling to teach members of this fallen human race.We must apply our hearts because this is the most important thing of all for us to learn. Failure to study at school may leave us disadvantaged for this life, but failure to learn from God leaves us unfit for life and eternity. We must apply our heart to instruction because there is much to learn and we start off in a very low state of ignorance. We have much which we need to unlearn before we can properly learn what God has to say to us. Even the disciples who were taught personally by the Lord Jesus Christ did not learn their lessons in a day but took years to be prepared for their ministry after his departure. Some lessons they had barely grasped at the end of the three years training and only fully mastered after his resurrection. Even after he had ascended they continued to learn.