Proverbs 1:23

Letters to the Faithful - Proverbs 1:23

Berean Standard Bible

If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.

King James Bible

Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

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To the beloved of God, to all who are called to walk in the light, who bear the name of Christ and carry the testimony of His grace in this world, grace and peace be to you in abundance. I write to you with urgency in my heart, compelled by the fire of the Word and by the trembling awareness of the hour in which we live. For the voice of wisdom still cries aloud in the streets, in the marketplaces of thought, in the crossroads of conscience, and in the chambers of every human soul. And it is this voice, firm yet merciful, that beckons us to turn.

“If you turn at my reproof,” says the voice of wisdom—not in condemnation, but in divine invitation. These are not words of cold chastisement but of holy pleading. The wisdom of God does not lash the hearer; it awakens the slumbering. It does not speak to destroy but to redeem. It reproves to realign, to rescue us from the path of folly and bring us into the counsel of the Lord. Yet wisdom is not passive. It speaks, it warns, it confronts. And when it does, we are faced with a decision: to resist or to turn.

This word—turn—is not a mere suggestion to adjust course slightly, as though we had only drifted a little. No, it is a summons to repent, to abandon our stubborn ways, to cease leaning on our own understanding, and to submit to the direction of heaven. It is a call to the proud to bow low, to the deceived to awaken, to the compromised to return to the path of righteousness. It is not a cosmetic shift—it is a turning of the heart, a reorientation of the soul, a redirection of the will.

Beloved, the reproof of God is a mercy. It is not punishment—it is prevention. It is the voice that intercepts us before we destroy ourselves. And yet, how often we treat reproof as offense. We take correction as insult. We despise the interruption of our plans, thinking them wise, when all the while the Lord is standing in the way of destruction, pleading with us to turn. He reproves through His Word, through His Spirit, through the voices of faithful messengers, and through the trials that shake us loose from illusion. Will we hear? Will we respond?

To turn at reproof is to acknowledge that God is wiser than we are. It is to say, “I was wrong, and You are right.” It is to silence the inner lawyer that argues and justifies, and to kneel in the dust of humility where grace is waiting. And here lies the promise: “Behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.” Oh, what glorious reward for the soul that yields!

The outpouring of the Spirit is not reserved for the curious or the casual. It is given to the contrite. God does not waste revelation on the proud. He does not whisper secrets to the hardened. But to the one who turns—who humbles themselves under the weight of truth—He pours out His very Spirit. Not sparingly, not conditionally, but abundantly. The Spirit comes not only to comfort but to transform. He enlightens the mind, convicts the heart, and empowers the will. He causes the Word to come alive, not as distant commands but as living bread for the daily walk.

And more still: “I will make my words known to you.” Here is the miracle of divine friendship. The God who formed galaxies stoops to speak. The One who holds the oceans in His hand offers His thoughts to us. He does not leave us to wander in confusion or assumption. He reveals Himself. He makes His will known. He teaches us how to walk, how to speak, how to discern. But this knowledge does not come to those who merely study; it comes to those who surrender. Revelation is birthed in repentance.

Therefore, let us not despise reproof. Let us cherish it. Let us welcome correction as a sign of His nearness. The world teaches us to defend ourselves, to hide our flaws, to protect our pride. But the Spirit of wisdom bids us to expose our hearts, to lay them bare before the Lord, to say, “Search me, and know me; try me and correct me.” For it is only when we turn that we are prepared to receive the greater things: the Spirit without measure and the Word made plain.

This truth has practical consequence. In your day-to-day life, you will encounter many moments where reproof comes—perhaps through the conviction of the Holy Spirit in prayer, perhaps through the faithful word of a friend, perhaps through a Scripture that pierces, or a sermon that confronts. Do not shut your ears. Do not silence the voice. Lean in. Ask the Lord what He is saying. Ask where you need to turn. And as you turn, expect the promise. Expect the pouring out of His Spirit. Expect insight, clarity, direction, power. Expect the unveiling of His voice in your life.

For those who feel far from God, for those who say, “Why can I not hear Him? Why is His Word dry to me?”—I urge you, go back to the last place He reproved you. Go back to the place where He gently put His hand on something and you resisted. Go back, and turn. There, in that surrender, you will find the flow begins again. There, the Spirit will be poured out anew. There, the words of God will become clear once more.

And to the Church at large, this word is urgent. For we live in a time when many love inspiration but resist correction. Many gather teachers to tickle their ears but flee the voice that says, “Turn.” Yet the promise of the Spirit and the knowledge of God’s Word comes not through affirmation alone, but through repentance. We need a revival not only of worship but of wisdom—a revival that begins with turning. Only then will we see the outpouring we long for. Only then will His Word burn again in our pulpits and our hearts.

So I implore you, as one who longs for the fullness of God in your life and in the Church: do not run from the reproof of the Lord. Embrace it. Turn quickly. Turn fully. Turn with trust. For in the turning, there is life. In the surrender, there is power. And in the humility of repentance, there is the door through which the Spirit of God comes rushing in.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ keep your hearts tender, your ears open, and your spirit yielded. May you be among those who turn swiftly at His reproof, and may you walk daily in the joy of His poured-out presence and His revealed Word.

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O Most High and Holy Lord, God of all wisdom, mercy, and truth, we come before You today with hearts bowed and spirits lifted in reverence. You are the One who speaks, the One who calls, the One who corrects in love and instructs in righteousness. You are the fountain of understanding, the source of life, the Judge of all flesh, and yet the Father who bends low to correct His children. We thank You that You do not leave us in silence or ignorance, but that You speak—clearer than thunder, deeper than thought—calling us to turn, to yield, and to walk in the way that leads to life.

O Lord, we hear Your reproof. We confess that we have not always welcomed it. Too often, we have hardened our hearts, closed our ears, and justified our ways. We have been quick to defend ourselves but slow to humble ourselves. We have mistaken Your correction as rejection, and Your truth as offense. Forgive us, Lord. We have chosen convenience over conviction, pride over purity, and stubbornness over surrender. Yet in Your love, You have not remained silent. You have continued to call out to us. And today, we say with trembling and sincerity: we are turning.

Father, we turn from our complacency. We turn from our resistance. We turn from the way that seemed right to us but has led only to confusion and dryness. We turn from self-righteousness, from hidden sin, from shallow faith, and from divided hearts. We turn toward You, the Living God, not merely for relief, but for renewal. We turn not only with our lips but with our lives. We turn, because You have called us with mercy, and because Your correction is better than the praise of men and sweeter than the approval of this world.

And now, O Lord, as we turn, we lift our eyes to Your promise. You have said that if we turn at Your reproof, You will pour out Your Spirit. So we cry out: pour out Your Spirit upon us. Not in part, but in full. Not once, but daily. Not as a visitor, but as a resident in our innermost being. Pour out Your Spirit upon our homes, upon our minds, upon our gatherings, upon our leadership, and upon our speech. Pour out the Spirit that teaches, that leads, that corrects, that comforts, that empowers, that sanctifies. Pour out the Spirit who opens the Word and sets it ablaze in our hearts. Pour out the Spirit who convicts of sin, who reveals Christ, and who conforms us into His image.

We do not ask for Your Spirit to make us feel something—we ask that He make us become something. Make us holy. Make us wise. Make us bold. Make us tender. Make us truthful. Make us discerning. Let our lives be living epistles, marked by the evidence of divine indwelling, shaped by the wind of Your breath.

And You have said also that You will make Your words known to us. We do not take this lightly. To know Your words is to live. To hear You clearly is to walk securely. To be instructed by You is to be preserved in the day of trouble. So we ask, make Your words known to us—not just intellectually, but spiritually. Not just as information, but as transformation. Open the eyes of our understanding. Let the noise of lesser voices be silenced, and let Your voice cut through every distraction. Let Your words define our values, direct our steps, and discipline our hearts.

We ask that You speak to us in the secret place. Speak to us in the Word, in the stillness, and in the storm. Speak through conviction, through encouragement, through correction, through revelation. Let us be a people who do not guess at Your will, but walk in it with clarity. Let us be a people who do not twist Your words to fit our desires, but who are shaped by what You have truly spoken. Let Your Word dwell richly in us—guiding, cleansing, preserving, and sustaining us.

O God, we pray for the Church. We pray that the body of Christ across the earth would heed Your reproof and return to You with weeping and with joy. We ask that pulpits would once again thunder with truth spoken in love. That altars would be filled not only with seekers, but with repentant saints. That leaders would tremble before You and delight in Your correction. That entire congregations would walk in humility, marked not by perfection but by persistent turning, day after day, into the deeper light of Your wisdom.

We pray for our children and our youth—that they would not grow up deaf to Your voice, but would be raised in the awareness that correction is a gift. We pray for our cities, filled with noise and deception, that they might be pierced by the sound of Your Spirit speaking through those who have turned. We pray for the discouraged and the disillusioned, that they would hear Your voice anew and find in it the hope they thought was lost. We pray for those in secret compromise, that Your reproof would not be their ruin, but their rescue. Let there be a great returning in this generation, not to tradition or to noise, but to the living Word and the outpoured Spirit.

And Lord, let it begin with us. Let us be the first to kneel, the first to turn, the first to cry out, and the first to be changed. Let there be no part of us closed off from Your correction. Let us live lives of constant turning—not out of guilt, but out of longing for deeper fellowship with You. For You correct those You love. And we know that in every reproof, there is the invitation to go higher, to walk closer, to be made more like Christ.

We thank You, Father, for not leaving us in silence. We thank You for calling us back. We thank You that Your reproof comes with promise. And now, we receive it. We embrace it. We turn. Pour out Your Spirit. Make Your words known. And may we, Your people, walk in the fullness of this promise all our days.

In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.