Proverbs 1-3
Imagine a child being raised in the wilderness with no one to teach him or give him guidance. Now imagine that kid being found and then put into society to see if he could survive. While it would be rare for this to happen, many parents neglect to give their children the proper training they need to successful in life. It almost like them been raised alone in the wilderness, which we call the world. The only thing they know and understand is the way of the world because their parents failed at trying to instill the knowledge of God and giving them the insight of how to understand that knowledge and use it wisely.
Solomon wanted to make sure that his children had the opportunity to know God and His wisdom, so he provides great instructions for his son to follow. In our last lesson we learned that the purpose of the Book of Proverbs is found in the first 7 verses of Chapter 1 and the beginning point of achieving the purpose of proverbs was to fear God. Let us begin to examine the great advice that Solomon gives his son:
Proverbs 1:8 My son,
hear the instruction of your father, And do not forsake the law of your
mother; 9 For they will be
a graceful ornament on your head, And chains about your neck.
There are far too many
parents that do not take the time offer instructions to the children. Instead,
they would rather let
First, we must be willing and dedicated to
offering our children the instruction. Second, our children need to learn to
respect their parents and the wisdom they have to offer. Some children think
their parents do not have clue about life, but just about child eventually
learns that neither mom nor dad were that clueless after all. As Christian
parents we should instill in our children they should listen to wisdom because
we have their best interest at heart whether they realize it or not. Besides,
God commands that the children should obey their parents (Eph. 6:1-3).
Ephesians 6:1 Children,
obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and
mother," which is the first commandment with promise: 3 "that it may be well with
you and you may live long on the earth."
Proverbs 1:10 My son,
if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11
If they say, "Come with us, Let us lie in wait to shed blood; Let
us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause; 12 Let us swallow them alive like
Sheol, And whole, like those who go down to the Pit; 13 We shall find all kinds of
precious possessions, We shall fill our houses with spoil; 14 Cast in your lot among us, Let
us all have one purse" -- 15
My son, do not walk in the way with them, Keep your foot from their path; 16 For their feet run to evil, And
they make haste to shed blood. 17
Surely, in vain the net is spread In the sight of any bird; 18 But they lie in wait for their own
blood, They lurk secretly for their own lives. 19 So are the ways of
everyone who is greedy for gain; It takes away the life of its owners.
One thing we all count on
is that there is always a sinner who wants to entice us to their way. No matter
what they offer, they always have their own best interest at heart. Many young
men have enticed to join gangs with promise of protection, money, and all the
worldly pleasure they want. They do no hide the fact that they are willing to
kill people for their money or to commit all kinds of crime because that is
their passion.
People who get involved
in gangs like these are sometimes killed by their own because, if someone gets
jealous about another gang member’s popularity or wants to take their cut of
robbery it is not big deal for them to kill their own. As the saying goes, “there
is not honor among thieves.” The best advice is to stay away from such sinners
no matter what they offer because a life of crime will never pay and it will
cause us to miss heaven.
Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom
calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. 21 She cries out in the chief
concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words: 22 "How long, you simple
ones, will you love simplicity? For scorners delight in their scorning, And
fools hate knowledge. 23 Turn
at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words
known to you. 24 Because I
have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one
regarded, 25 Because you
disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, 26 I also will laugh at your
calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,
27 When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction
comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 "Then they will call on
me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find
me. 29 Because they hated
knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD, 30 They would have none of my
counsel And despised my every rebuke.
31 Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And
be filled to the full with their own fancies.
32 For the turning away of the simple will slay them, And the
complacency of fools will destroy them; 33
But whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear
of evil."
In our text, Solomon personifies wisdom. Wisdom is available to all who will seek it. It can be found in many places, but we have to look for it and heed what it is trying to teach us. Wisdom is seen as warning and encouraging people to listen, but the foolish does not because the hate knowledge. When the foolish refuse to take heed, wisdom will laugh when they fall because they had ever chance to listen to it.
One cannot escape the consequences of their actions. To call
on wisdom during your fall or after your fall is too late because the damage
has already been done. So, the main idea is to listen to wisdom now and your
way will be secure and will have no need to fear evil. When we listen the
wisdom of the Scriptures, which brings about salvation (Rom. 1:16;
Proverbs 2:1 My son,
if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, 2 So that you incline your ear to
wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; 3 Yes, if you cry out for
discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, 4 If you seek her as silver, And
search for her as for hidden treasures;
5 Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the
knowledge of God. 6 For the
LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 He stores up sound wisdom for
the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; 8 He guards the paths of justice,
And preserves the way of His saints. 9
Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every
good path.
Before anyone can learn from wisdom, they must first have willing spirit. Solomon says, “if you receive my words.” There are plenty of people who are willing to pretend to listen to wisdom, but they are simple allow the words to pass through one ear and out the other.
To obtain wisdom take more than just having willing spirit to learn because Solomon says we must be willing to diligently seek it out like many seek out silver or hidden treasure. When someone wants to find precious metals like silver or gold, they do just blindly walk around a field hoping to find it lying on top of the ground. No, they seek out where they think it is and they dig for it for days, months, and years. All it takes to motivate them the dig deeper is to find more precious metals.
This same idea should be how we approach wisdom. We should be willing to learn and to seek it out diligently. Every time we find a little more wisdom it should motivate us dig deeper for more especial when it come from the Word of God. When we grow in the way of the Lord and put His wisdom into our hearts, we can know that we have in our possession the words of life (Jn. 6:68). Learning to understand God’s wisdom and following it will cause God to be our shield and defender. We will become better at choosing the righteous path, which is that difficult road that lead to heaven (Mt. 7:13-14).
Proverbs 2:10 When
wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul, 11 Discretion will preserve you;
Understanding will keep you, 12
To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse
things, 13 From those who
leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who rejoice in doing evil, And
delight in the perversity of the wicked;
15 Whose ways are crooked, And who are devious
in their paths; 16 To deliver
you from the immoral woman, From the seductress who flatters with her
words, 17 Who forsakes the
companion of her youth, And forgets the covenant of her God. 18 For her house leads down to
death, And her paths to the dead; 19
None who go to her return, Nor do they regain the paths of life -- 20 So you may walk in the way of
goodness, And keep to the paths of righteousness. 21 For the upright will dwell in
the land, And the blameless will remain in it;
When we allow the wisdom
of God to dwell in heart and we consider the knowledge of God as being pleasant
to our soul, we will have the wisdom and understanding to exercise great
discretion against the way of evil. The more wisdom we obtain from God’s, the
better prepared we will be face whatever Satan and the world throws our way. Since
Solomon is trying to educate this young man, he includes things that would be
more tempting to the youth, which is falling prey to sexual sins with immoral
women. Of course this same advice should be heeded by young women as well.
The key to overcome the
temptations of sin is by allowing God’s wisdom to remain in your heart at all
times and to have that fear of the Lord. When temptation presents itself, our
entire being will scream out saying, “no, this is wrong and God will not be
pleased.” We can know with confidence allowing sin into our life will only lead
to destruction and separation from God, so let us take the advice of Solomon
and stand fast in the way of the Lord knowing that we will blessed by God. Also,
Paul give gives us similar advice about being prepared to face our spiritual
battles with Satan (Eph. 6:10-18).
Also, we need to use
discretion with who hang around because the wrong kind of companionship can
drag us down that dark road where righteousness does not dwell. As Paul said:
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not
be deceived: "Evil company corrupts good habits."
Proverbs 3:1 My son,
do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands; 2 For length of days and long life
And peace they will add to you. 3
Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on
the tablet of your heart, 4 And
so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man.
The law of God is a
beautiful thing, but it possible for us to forget how beautiful it is (Heb.
2:1). However, if we will continue to put God’s Word in our hearts on daily
basis and live our lives by it is generally true that we lengthen the days of
life on this earth and we will certainly have peace in our life and be at peach
with those around us. When we treat our bodies like the
When we focus on being
merciful like our Father in heaven and cling to truth not only will we have the
respect of our fellow man, we will be pleasing to God. Perhaps the greatest
advice that will help us achieve this and sums up the plea of Solomon and
should be followed by every Christian is found our next verses:
Proverbs 3:5 Trust
in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge
Him, And He shall direct your paths. 7
Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. 8 It will be health to your flesh,
And strength to your bones.
This worthy advice sums
up what every God fearing servant of God should be working toward because this
advice will cause a person to be humble and be confident in God and all that He
promises. One of our biggest problems is thinking we are wiser than we are and
thinking we can do things better than God. When can learn to follow this advice
we will reap great physical and spiritual benefits from it.
Proverbs 3:9 Honor
the LORD with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your
increase; 10 So your barns
will be filled with plenty, And your vats will overflow with new wine.
We must always put God
first in every aspect our life. While this verse is not a guarantee that every
person that gives to Lord is going to real the physical blessings, it is
generally true that those who are givers are usually blessed with physical
blessing, but more importantly they are blessed spiritually. The main point is
to put God first, and then everything else will fall into place (Mt. 6:33).
Proverbs 3:11 My son,
do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction; 12 For whom the LORD loves He
corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
The writer of Hebrews gives the best commentary of this thought:
Hebrews 12:5 And you
have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do
not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked
by Him; 6 For whom the LORD
loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." 7 If you endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not
chasten? 8 But if you are
without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are
illegitimate and not sons. 9
Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them
respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of
spirits and live? 10 For they
indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He
for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be
joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the
peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
Living for the Lord is
not going to be without its trials, but these trials will make us stronger if
we allow ourselves to be trained by them. The trails we face will increase our
faith (
Next, Solomon talks about
the importance of wisdom again and understanding it:
Proverbs 3:13 Happy is
the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains
understanding; 14 For her
proceeds are better than the profits of silver, And her gain than fine
gold. 15 She is more
precious than rubies, And all the things you may desire cannot compare with
her. 16 Length of days is in
her right hand, In her left hand riches and honor. 17 Her ways are ways of
pleasantness, And all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to
those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her. 19 The LORD by wisdom founded the
earth; By understanding He established the heavens; 20 By His knowledge the depths
were broken up, And clouds drop down the dew.
21 My son, let them not depart from your eyes -- Keep sound
wisdom and discretion; 22 So
they will be life to your soul And grace to your neck. 23 Then you will walk safely in
your way, And your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; Yes, you will
lie down and your sleep will be sweet.
When we make it our aim
seek out the wisdom of God and understand it, it will benefit is us in many
ways because the more wisdom and understanding we have, the more like Christ we
will be.
Proverbs 3:25 Do not
be afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; 26 For the LORD will be your
confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught.
Those who is trust in God
should not fear the things of this world or the trouble the wicked bring forth.
Even if we lose our life at the hands of the wicked, we can still stand keep
our confidence in God because the man can never harm our soul or keep us out of
heaven.
Finally Solomon gives
some good advice on how to treat our neighbors, how to deal with the wicked,
and the benefit of following this advice:
Proverbs 3:27 Do not
withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in the power of your
hand to do so. 28 Do
not say to your neighbor, "Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it,"
When you have it with you. 29
Do not devise evil against your neighbor, For he dwells by you for safety's
sake. 30 Do not strive with a
man without cause, If he has done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the oppressor, And choose none of his
ways; 32 For the perverse person
is an abomination to the LORD, But His secret counsel is with the
upright. 33 The curse of the
LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the
just. 34 Surely He scorns the
scornful, But gives grace to the humble.
35 The wise shall inherit glory, But shame shall be the
legacy of fools.
As you can tell from these first 3 Chapters, our lives can be improved by following the great wisdom found in the Proverbs.