Proverbs 1:1: Listening to counsel

“The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:”
Proverbs 1:1

I cannot overstate the importance of godly counsel in my life. Certain pastors or friends who have taken the time and patience to help guide me through the Word and prayer have been invaluable. Not all of this has happened in the church, and some people in the church have given me some rotten advice, and so it is sometimes difficult to know what is godly and what is not.

There have been several times when advice sounded really great, but later I would look back and realize it was really rotten. Sometimes I would look in the Bible and realize it was not only rotten, but also unbiblical.

Once such time happened when I was a kid, and an older kid was picking on me. It was really the only time in my life I was bullied, because I was always a big kid. But some people told me to stand up to him.

And I got in trouble.

It was rotten advice, but it sounded good at the time.

Sometimes great advice doesn’t sound that great. Sometimes you don’t realize it’s good. Sometimes you just have to have faith in the person giving the advice. If you have faith that this is a wise person who will not lead you astray, then you are more willing to follow the advice, no matter what it is.

That’s one reason I love the Bible so much. It is a source I have learned that I can trust in all things. In countless ways, the Bible has proven itself to me. When it gives advice, I know I can trust it.

That’s what Proverbs is. It’s wise counsel on a variety of subjects that may not be explicitly commanded in one way or another. It’s just a practice handbook on how to live like Christ in this life.

I think it’s worth our study, and so I plan to walk through it, verse by verse, on this blog.

But let me add this disclaimer right up front: You can follow every word of Proverbs to the letter and it ultimately won’t matter. You can keep every commandment in the Bible from now on and it won’t help you when you step before the Throne of God for judgment. The truth is that we are sinners; we have messed up in the past and we will mess up in the future. We cannot hope to stand to the great moral perfection of God and heaven.

If you approach Proverbs or any part of the Bible with the idea that you are going to start living right and that will make God like you, you’re not going to make it. “The wages of sin is death,” and we have stumbled in some incredible ways. We have lied, stolen, used God’s name in vain, and approached others in hatred.

We deserve death, and you cannot earn your way out of that.

But that is why Christ came. In His death, He paid the price of death that we have earned while giving to us His righteousness. All we have to do is yield to Him, confessing our sins, and He is faithful to forgive and to impart that righteousness.

Now free from sin, we can approach the Bible in a new way, not as one trying to earn his way out of sin, but as one freed and trying to love Christ by obeying His Word.

I urge you to seek the Grace of God before coming to this book to learn God’s advice on how to live. The only way this can have a lasting effect on you is if Christ is already within you. First thing’s first: get right with God through His mercy, not by your inadequate actions. Then move forward, deeper in His Word to get closer to Him.

Thanks for staying with me so long. I doubt the future entries will be this long. God willing, I will continue to comment on verse 1 once or twice more this week and then move forward. My plan is to write three times a week, spending one entry per verse, unless it strikes me that I need more (as with the first verse, since I want to say some things on Solomon).

I look forward to seeing more of you.