The Inescapable Invoice: Two Ways to Live Text: Proverbs 13:13
Introduction: Reality's Two Columns
The book of Proverbs is intensely practical. It is not a collection of abstract platitudes for needlepoint pillows. It is a divine field manual for navigating reality. And at the heart of this manual is a fundamental, unyielding distinction. There are two paths, two ways to live, and only two. There is the way of wisdom and the way of folly. There is the path of the righteous and the path of the wicked. There is the man who builds his house on the rock and the man who builds his on the sand. Here, in this potent little couplet, Solomon boils it down to our response to God's Word.
We live in an age that despises antithesis. Our culture wants to blur every line, erase every distinction, and pretend that there are a thousand shades of gray but no black and white. It is an age that wants to treat God's Word as a suggestion box, a buffet from which we can pick and choose the palatable bits while leaving the demanding bits behind. We want to be our own authority, our own source code. We want to define our own reality.
But this proverb crashes into that relativistic fantasy with the force of a head on collision. It tells us that God's Word is not a suggestion; it is a system. It is an all encompassing reality. You can either align yourself with it or you can collide with it. But you cannot ignore it. To despise the Word is not to escape it; it is to guarantee that you will be broken by it. To fear the commandment is not to live in cringing terror, but to live in joyful alignment with the grain of the universe. This verse sets before us a foundational choice that every human being must make, whether he acknowledges it or not: will you treat God's Word with contempt or with reverence? The answer to that question determines everything.
The Text
The one who despises the word will be in debt to it,
But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.
(Proverbs 13:13 LSB)
The Scoffer's Debt (v. 13a)
The first half of the proverb lays out the grim finances of rebellion.
"The one who despises the word will be in debt to it..." (Proverbs 13:13a)
The word for "despises" here carries the idea of contempt, of looking down on something as worthless or beneath consideration. This is the posture of the modern secularist, the sophisticated unbeliever, and, tragically, the compromised Christian. They treat the Word of God as an ancient, irrelevant text, full of myths and outdated moralisms. They scoff at its commands, mock its promises, and dismiss its warnings. They act as though they can simply walk away from it, as if it were a contract they never signed.
But the proverb tells us something profound. You cannot simply dismiss the Word. If you despise it, you "will be in debt to it." Some translations say you will be "destroyed" or will "pay the penalty." The Legacy Standard Bible's rendering, "be in debt to it," is wonderfully precise. It reveals a crucial truth about the moral structure of the universe. God's Word is not just a book of rules; it is the very fabric of reality. To violate it is to defy gravity. You might think you are getting away with it for a time, but gravity always wins. The bill always comes due.
Think of it this way. If a man despises the laws of nutrition and eats nothing but poison, his body will present him with an invoice in the form of sickness and death. He is in debt to the biological laws he ignored. If a man despises the principles of finance and spends recklessly, the bank will present him with an invoice in the form of bankruptcy. He is in debt to the economic laws he flouted. In the same way, when a man, a family, or a nation despises the Word of God, reality itself presents an invoice. The moral, social, spiritual, and personal chaos we see all around us is that invoice. Broken homes, rampant crime, sexual confusion, political corruption, and existential despair are not random misfortunes. They are the predictable consequences of despising the Manufacturer's instructions. You are in debt to the Word you rejected.
This is the story of Adam in the garden. He despised the word, "You shall not eat," and was immediately in debt to it. The bill was exile, sweat, thorns, and death. This is the story of Israel in the wilderness, despising the word and finding themselves in debt with a 40 year wandering. This is the story of King Saul, who despised the word of the Lord through Samuel and was handed an invoice that cost him his kingdom and his life. You cannot break God's law; you can only break yourself against it.
The Wise Man's Reward (v. 13b)
The second half of the verse presents the glorious alternative.
"But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded." (Proverbs 13:13b)
Here is the other side of the ledger. The contrast is not between despising and merely tolerating. The contrast is between contempt and fear. Now, this "fear" is not the quaking dread of a slave before a tyrant. This is the biblical concept of the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom. It is a trembling awe, a profound reverence, a joyful submission to the goodness and authority of the Lawgiver. It is the attitude of a son who deeply loves and respects his father and would never want to disappoint him. It is the recognition that the commandment is not a burden, but a blessing; not a cage, but a guardrail on the path of life.
The one who has this posture, who reveres the commandment, "will be rewarded." This is not works righteousness. This is not about earning your salvation by checking off boxes. This is about living in accordance with how the world actually works. The reward is the natural, God-ordained consequence of walking in wisdom. If you honor the law of aerodynamics, the reward is flight. If you honor the principles of agriculture, the reward is a harvest. If you honor the commandments of God, the reward is life, peace, favor, and stability. "The law of the wise is a fountain of life," the very next verse says, "To turn one away from the snares of death" (Proverbs 13:14).
This reward is comprehensive. It touches every area of life. Humility and the fear of the Lord bring wealth, honor, and life (Proverbs 22:4). The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction (Proverbs 19:23). This is not the health and wealth gospel of the charlatans. This is the robust, covenantal promise of God: "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).
The man who fears the commandment understands that obedience is not a restriction of his freedom, but the very definition of it. True freedom is not the ability to do whatever you want; that is slavery to your passions. True freedom is the ability to do what you ought. It is the freedom of the fish to swim in the water, not to fly in the air. The commandments of God are our native element. To fear them is to love them, and to love them is to live.
The Gospel Ledger
When we bring this proverb to the foot of the cross, its meaning explodes with gospel light. Every one of us, by nature, is a despiser of the word. We are all born in Adam, with rebellion in our hearts. We have all incurred an infinite debt to the law of God. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). The invoice has been posted, and the penalty is death (Romans 6:23). We are utterly bankrupt, with no hope of paying what we owe.
This is where the glory of the gospel shines. Jesus Christ, the eternal Word made flesh, came to live the life we should have lived and die the death we deserved. He is the ultimate man who feared the commandment. He delighted to do the will of His Father; the law was within His heart (Psalm 40:8). He was obedient, even to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). He perfectly fulfilled the second half of our proverb and earned the reward.
But then He did something astonishing. On the cross, He took upon Himself the full weight of the first half of the proverb. He took our cosmic debt. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). The invoice that was against us, He took and nailed to His cross (Colossians 2:14). He paid the penalty that our despising of the Word had incurred.
Therefore, when we, by faith, are united to Christ, a great exchange takes place. Our debt is credited to His account and paid in full. His perfect record of fearing the commandment, His reward, is credited to our account. We are no longer debtors facing judgment, but sons enjoying an inheritance. This is the heart of the Christian faith. We are saved not by fearing the commandment ourselves, but by clinging to the One who feared it perfectly for us. And now, filled with His Spirit, we are freed and empowered to begin to truly fear the commandment, not out of slavish dread, but out of grateful love for the One who paid our impossible debt.