Proverbs 1:11: Highway robbery

“If they [sinners] say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood; let us ambush the innocent without reason;’”
-Proverbs 1:11

Did you ever want to run around with bandits,
To see many places and hide in ditches?
It’s not always easy, it’s not always easy
When the winter comes and the greenery goes
We will make some shelter

I couldn’t help but think of this song when I read this verse. It’s my favorite song from what very well could be my favorite album: “Bandits” from Midlake’s “The Trials of Van Occupanther.” This is a side note, but I do recommend this album extremely highly. “Bandits” is a song about a couple whose house is completely emptied by bandits while they are out looking for food, forcing them to start over. Another family comes by, having also been robbed on the trail. So the narrator invites them to stay for a while.

In time, though, the narrator, who is a romantic and prone to daydreaming, begins to wonder what it would be like to be a bandit himself.

Few would be as honest as the narrator in this song. Few would admit to romanticizing thievery. And yet this call is not so unfamiliar to us.

The “sinners” in this verse are tempting someone to become a highway robber, to kill and rob innocent people. Now would be a good time to look at what I felt was a difficult phrase in the verse, which is “without reason.” The robbers certainly have a purpose: money. So we really can’t say they don’t have a reason to do what they are doing. What they are really saying is that the victims don’t deserve it. The sinners are saying, “Let’s ambush the innocent who don’t deserve it.”

Is this something you daydream about? Probably not. What part of it are you guilty of? The verse is talking about being tempted to take advantage of someone who doesn’t deserve it, not necessarily highway robbery specifically. How are you tempted in this way? I’m not asking you IF you do it, because you do. So how is it that you do it?

Did you talk another person down at work so you would get a promotion? Did you lie a little on the last business deal for a little more money? Fib on your taxes? Get angry and demanding with some cashier until the store gave you a discount you really didn’t need?

Did you cut back on your church offering so you could buy something you really didn’t need? Did you give anything at all to the church? It’s not your money, after all; it’s God. And if you horde it rather than use it the way He would want you to, you are trying to take something that isn’t yours.

I am so happy that God doesn’t treat us the way we treat Him and the way we treat each other. On a whim, we will take the things that should belong to others, people who don’t deserve it. And yet we DO deserve to have everything taken from us, and yet God has mercy. He has so much mercy that He sent His Son to die in our place.

We are guilty of standing with sinners in situations like this. But God has given us a way to stand with the righteous instead. Jesus took the punishment we all deserve, and if we repent of those old ways and trust in His forgiveness, we can take on His righteousness.

Proverbs 1:10: Simple advice greatly needed

“My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.”
-Proverbs 1:10

Well, duh!

Solomon begins his practical advice rather simply, doesn’t he? Is this the wisest man in the world? “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.” That one seems a little obvious to me.

Or at least I wish it were so.

Sadly, I’m beginning to realize how profound a statement like this is. The sad fact is that, when sinners entice, we normally jump right in.

And I’m not even really talking about non-Christians here, but people in the Church. As we have said over and over again on this blog, we cannot even begin to really live according to what we read in Proverbs without Jesus, so let’s use that as a starting point. There are countless Christians who still answer the call of sinners every day.

We have some great excuses for it to. When the guys are making inappropriate comments about a woman in the office, we tell ourselves that it is harmless fun. If we get angry often, maybe we tell ourselves that’s just how we’re wired, it’s our nature. If we keep falling to sexual sin, maybe we’ll say that we’re weak and the other person took advantage of that.

We even use the fact that we are sinners (which we are) to excuse sin. How many times have I heard a Christian say, “I’m trying, but I’ll probably slip. I’m a sinner after all!”

Thankfully, it is true that, when we sin, Jesus will be an advocate for us. But there is a difference between striving for righteousness and using our pasts to excuse our present actions.

The profound thing about this statement is that we CAN say “no” when sinners entice. This goes against the practice of so much of Christianity. We live in a society that tells us “it’s not your fault,” “it’s just the way you’re wired,” and “that’s just the way you are.”

And the simple reply of the Bible is, “do not consent.”

In a way, the world is right. We were sinners from the start (Psalm 51:5), and we are slaves to it. We can try to bend our wills to be good, but we will always eventually fail.

It is only through Christ that we have a chance to rise above to the level of “do not consent.” It is only by repenting of our old ways and seeking after His that we can turn away from the enticement of sinners and embrace righteousness.

Before we take a step farther into Proverbs, if you have not done so, I urge you to make that turn toward Him. Repent of the old selfishness and pride, and submit to Him. Only He is righteous, and so only He has the power to guide you in righteousness.

Proverbs 1:9: A garland of behavior

“for they are a graceful garland for your head and pendants for your neck.”
-Proverbs 1:9

I was working a part-time job at a bookstore when I was in college, and one of the women I worked with scolded me for not noticing her haircut. “Men never notice!” she lamented, and went on and on about how we should be paying more attention to these sorts of things.

What she didn’t realize was that I had gotten a haircut the night before as well, and she hadn’t noticed.

We do things to get noticed. We arrange our hair in a certain way, or we will wear certain things (sometimes certain things that we really shouldn’t be wearing). Sometimes we just wait for someone to say, “New shirt?” of “New earrings?” just so we can talk about them.

Strangely, very few people want to be noticed for their character.

This is exactly what Solomon is talking about here. If you remember from verse 8, he is encouraging us to remember the godly teachings of our parents, and now he is comparing the remembrance of those lessons to things we wear.

And these are things we would wear prominently. A pendant is not just a simple necklace, but is a stone or symbol that hangs from the necklace. It is something that we would see immediately. A garland is a wreath of flowers or leaves you would wear like a crown, often awarded as a prize in a competition. It is something worn for the expressed purpose of bringing honor and attention to the wearer.

Solomon is telling us to live rightly, and to live rightly to such a degree that it will bring attention.

But you will also notice that he is not telling us to walk on our own path to live so rightly, but to walk in the ways of something greater. In this case, we are following the example of our parents, but with the understanding that our parents are walking with God. And ultimately, that is who should be getting the glory from our right living.

A lot of people wear a certain type of pendant today: the cross. I see all sorts of people wearing it around their necks, and I wonder how many people actually believe in that symbol. I don’t think it’s wrong to wear things like that (I often wear a ring that has a cross on it), but that’s not what Solomon is talking about. Jesus would rather have us known for something else. In John 13:35, He tells us: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

And surely His love was seen by the whole world, even if it didn’t understand. His love made it possible for us to follow the greatest example who has ever lived. Any other garland of behavior we wear will be self-serving and destructive, but in Him we find righteousness.

Proverbs 1:8: Honoring your parents

“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching,”
-Proverbs 1:8

I’m going to be honest, I have a hard time, right now in my life, talking about the Bible’s teachings on the parent / child relationship. In a way, I’m somewhat in between the two.

It’s not that I don’t make an effort to honor my parents, because I do. It’s just that I’m not a child anymore, and so our relationship is not quite the same. I don’t have a curfew, and I don’t have to ask them permission to go to the movies (even the ones rated R!).

At the same time, I’m not a father yet. I hope to be one relatively soon. Not now, because I’m still unmarried (for six more weeks), and my fiancée and I don’t plan to have children right away. But soon.

On the other hand, I can appreciate this teaching more than ever. One thing that is rather neat about Christianity (and something that a lot of people miss) is that it is a personal thing, but it is also a community thing. We are not meant to just be a Christian alone in a cave. We are meant to be part of something. We are meant to live together, helping and loving one another, and submitting to one another.

The first forms of this we encounter is our relationship with our parents. It’s our parents’ job to raise us into, well, Christians. In return we’re supposed to honor them and submit to their instruction.

Which is just about as rare and parents who teach the Word to their children!

When I was younger, I didn’t think my parents had any idea about what I was going through. Like the Fresh Prince once told us, “Parents just don’t understand.” I wonder what he thinks of that song now that he has children. Just a thought.

I now know that my parents did understand, and they probably could have helped me through a lot of the messes I got myself into had I just asked for help. I seek their advice a lot more now.

I hope, and I do pray, that my children will realize that I experienced the same stuff they’re going to experience. I hope they will come to me, and I hope they will listen when we open the Bible together and seek out God’s answers.

There’s a reason honoring your father and mother is one of the Ten Commandments. It speaks to our community, and it speaks to our humility. We don’t know everything, and there are a couple of people right in our own houses that have experienced many of the same things.

As for parents, this is also a call for you (and me too, eventually) to be godly. Teach the Word, so if your child is listening, he will be listening to truth.

So what do you think? Do you think that you are too wise to listen to your parents? Do you think you know better than them? Did you know that Jesus obeyed His parents? Take a look at Luke 2:51: “And he [Jesus] went down with them [Mary and Joseph] and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them.”

Now this Guy had every reason in the world to go His own way. He was God, right? I mean, talk about a good reason not to clean your room! But in humility He obeyed. We should do the same. You are not better than Jesus, and so you do not have an excuse for not honoring your own parents.

But before we can, we need to repent of the ways we have fallen short. Confess those times to God, and ask for His guidance and mercy in your life. As Jesus also submitted to God the Father, we should do the same doubly, since we are not perfect as He was. If He submitted in humility, how much more do we need to do the same?

Proverbs 1:7: The first step

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
-Proverbs 1:7

I was trying to fix my computer recently, and I found some very helpful websites that explained what to do in exactly my situation. They told me to go the command prompt, to type this, to look at that, and to change this.

There was only one problem: I didn’t know how to get to the command prompt.

I’m quite sure the websites were right in what they were telling me, but I had no way to find out, since I was lost on step one. I had to go elsewhere to figure out how to do that one step, and only then could I go back and try again.

Sometimes I think the church is like this. I’ve heard so many sermons about how we need to stop sinning, and cut out that behavior, and we need to act like that. And I think so many people in the pews are thinking (though they may not admit it aloud), “I agree, but HOW?”

Where do we start? Are we to grit our teeth and stop sinning by sheer will power? Are we to suddenly turn away from the life we have always known and suddenly be perfect by setting out minds on it? Are we to suddenly know everything perfectly and be able to walk in the paths of righteousness? How does this happen?

Solomon gives us the first step in his first proverb of the book. Fear the Lord, and then we begin to understand.

What is this word fear? Are we supposed to cower away from God? Fear comes from a Hebrew word that is more of a respectful awe. In sort of the same way a child might fear his parents. The child probably doesn’t cower away (we would hope not!) unless he does something wrong, and he understands that his parents have great power, and you should not forget it. His parents care for him, love him, provide for him, but can also punish if not obeyed.

This is sort of the same concept here. When we fear the Lord, we are obedient to Him. We respect Him for His goodness and power. At times we should truly fear Him, for He has authority over us far more than anyone in this world. Jesus summarizes it nicely:

“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!”
-Luke 12:4-5

So we are talking about all these things combined when we speak of how we should approach God. Yet we usually do not do these things. We will fear all sorts of things in this life, but we will not give God the respect He deserves. No wonder our world seems to come crashing down when we get dumped or fired or our electricity goes out! No wonder! We fear the wrong things, and as a result, we lack understanding, so we react badly to things that ultimately don’t matter very much.

Jesus came to earth guide us back to that right relationship with God. And you know what? We hate instruction and wisdom so much that we killed Him. But God is so great and so awful (I use the word in its proper meaning to be “full of awe,” which is exactly what God is), that He used this terrible crime against His Son and turned it into a saving act for us all. By the Blood of Jesus we can return to God, properly this time, upon our knees, surrendering all, repenting of all, and be restored to Him.

It all begins with the fear of the Lord. Repent of your old foolishness and come to Him, and this will be the beginning of understanding.

Proverbs 1:6: Reading more to understand

“to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.”
-Proverbs 1:6

I recently had a conversation with a coworker about the Bible. I had mentioned something cool I had found in the Psalms, and she replied, “You shouldn’t take everything in the Psalms literally.” She went on to explain that certain parts of the Bible were, in essence, wrong.

Now, whether or not we take Scripture literally is a debate we can have for another time; what interested me in this conversation is how utterly unable this woman was, when I asked her, to give me one example of a verse that was wrong.

This is so often the problem. Here in the West we always hear about the Bible. We are always hearing about the Bible, whether in praise or in condemnation, and yet it is all so distorted. It’s distorted because we’re always “hearing about” the Bible, and so few of us ever read it.

Solomon has given us several verses that we could label at the purpose of writing the book. He told us first about the goal, and second about his audience. But now he tells us something else: We should read Proverbs in order to understand Proverbs.

Does that sound strange? Normally people, when they don’t understand something, they put it down and ask someone else (or just forget the whole thing). The last thing we would do is to simply reread it.

I was an English major, and I read a lot of things I didn’t understand at first. When I started, I went to criticism, hoping the literature critic would explain what I had read. Sometimes that worked. But then, as I continued, I began just going back, looking at it again, meditating on it, exploring it.

And I began to understand things a great deal better.

There are a lot of people who have been offended by the Bible. Either they misunderstood parts, didn’t like what they read, or they didn’t want to confront their own sin. They jump out immediately and say how sexist the Bible is, or that it promotes slavery, or that it is filled with contradictions, or some other nonsense. Most of the time, this person is saying it because he didn’t understand it in the first place.

I love Bible commentaries. I love books about the Bible. I love listening to sermons. But if I substitute any of those things, things that come solely from man, for my own study of the Word, something that comes from God, then I am not doing myself any service.

Solomon is right here: We read the Word in order to understand it. It interprets itself. One verse comments on another, one chapter on another, one book on another, one testament on the other. If I don’t understand a part or don’t like a part, I read on, and it gradually becomes clear.

I still may not like it, but once I understand, I am left with a choice. I can either trust my own ways, which have failed me over and over again, or I can follow God, who has never failed me at all.

I am thrilled that you are reading my blog. I truly am. I hope you continue to do so, but do not let this take the place of study and meditation on the Word of God.

Because here’s the truth. You have failed yourself as much as I have failed myself. Everyone else out there is going to fail you too. Don’t let them dictate the fate of your eternal soul. Repent of that way and follow Christ, the God taught to us by His own Word.

It's floodin' down in Texas . . . (I do loves me some Stevie Ray!)

Hey all:

I'm trying to get prepared for Hurricane Ike here. I think my fiancée is a lot more worried about my safety than I am of my own (she's well out of the way of the storm). Anyway, please pray for the Houston area and all areas affected by this one.

If I can, I want to get the next verse in Proverbs done this week, since, with today's post, I'm only at two for the week. Hopefully the power will stay on long enough tomorrow for me to do that. But who knows when power will be back, so if you don't hear from me in a while, it'll probably be a lack of power. No worries, friends! We're just going to prepare as best we can and leave it in God's hands.

There are certain parts of the Bible I turn to in certain times. When I really feel like I’m under attack, I may turn to Ephesians 6, while my coming marriage causes me to turn to Ephesians 5 quite often. When I just want to dwell on the greatness of the Word, I will turn to Psalm 119, and John 1 never fails to bring an awe of Christ.

In times like these, the book of Philippians brings me great peace. There are so many verses I could quote, but here’s a good one:

“The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
-Philippians 4:5-6

Surely it was God’s providence that I was listening to Mark Driscoll preaching on this very verse not a few days before I knew Ike was coming this way. (By the way, Mark Driscoll is a wonderful teacher of the Word, and I would recommend his podcasts to those willing to learn.) How wonderful of God to give me this sort of peace in the very time most would be most anxious.

It seems so strange of a concept, to not ne anxious of the looming hurricane with a 200-mile radius. It is natural to be worried about something like that. Of course it is!

Except . . .

Except that we say we have faith in God. We have faith that the death of Christ would save us from death, and that His resurrection would mean ours as well. We have faith that He will bring about His Kingdom. Our hope rides on that.

Why do we not think He has control over this situation as well?

Let’s be clear: The hurricane is our fault. Seriously. And not because of global warming or some other theory like that. Because of sin. With sin, we didn’t just bring death to ourselves, but also to nature. We should not blame God for this.

But we should also trust Him to use this for good.

Certainly we should prepare. Certainly we should make sure our families are safe. Certainly we should pray. Especially should we pray. But most of all we should trust in the Source of our salvation.

You may think I’m crazy to say so. Maybe. Maybe it’s just because I’m starting to understand more of what Paul is talking about in this letter. Check it out tonight, and check it out the next time you are tempted to be anxious about something.

Proverbs 1:5: Wisdom for the wise

“Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance,”
-Proverbs 1:5

Hopefully you have some people in your life who you consider to be wise. People you can turn to for guidance or a word of wisdom. For many, this would be a pastor or a former teacher or a parent. Sometimes a friend fills this role, or a neighbor. Who they are in relation to you doesn’t matter that much; it’s that they are there.

For me there are several people, but one I wanted to bring up was a former pastor of mine. I actually went to his church before I was a Christian, and left it because of a really great youth group in the next city. But I always kept in touch with this pastor, and a few years ago I found myself working right beside that church.

I was going through a terrible time, and I was seeking comfort in the prayer garden right beside the church. By this time, I had become a Christian, and I suddenly felt the need to go speak with this man.

Over the next couple of years, he was always there for me, willing to help. I have since changed jobs, but I try to still stop by on occasion, though it is far too seldom that I get to do that.

He is not the only wise person in my life, and I am thankful for them all. The other wise people I know are not much like this pastor friend of mine. Actually, none of them are much like the others. They have their own personalities, own habits, own tastes, own senses of humor. There are only a few things they share in common.

They fear God. Every one of them. They love the Bible.

And they never stop learning.

Last time, I spoke of the “wise fool,” the person who was wise enough to know that he doesn’t know that much. Solomon is writing his Proverbs for that person, to help him grow in wisdom.

So what then? Once this person becomes wise, is he done? Doesn’t this verse seem strange? Why would the wise need more learning? Why does the one who understands need guidance?

It is because we never know everything. God is so infinitely large that we can never know Him completely. Understanding is always a journey, and wisdom is always a pursuit. Once we decide we know it all, we have made a very foolish statement and show great lack of understanding.

The more I learn, the more I understand that I should be striving after Christ with every breath. There is so much I do not know, and so much I do not understand, and yet that much is clear. He has given me wisdom enough to see that I am wholly inadequate to live rightly and wisely without Him. He has given me wisdom enough to repent of my own ways and follow after Him.

Is He telling you the same thing? It may be that you have come to this blog today so that God can tell you something about wisdom. Perhaps you are telling yourself that you have it covered, that you are living rightly all by yourself. But I think you know better. Every wise person I know has become wise not in himself, but in learning from others, from listening, and from God. I urge you to flee from your own path and turn to Him who has perfect wisdom.

Proverbs 1:4: The wisdom in being foolish

“to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth —”
-Proverbs 1:4

I wish I had known earlier in life how little I knew.

I know almost as little now as I did then, but at least I know it. But a major problem in my life in high school was that I thought I knew a whole lot. Since I thought I knew so very much, I had very little interest in learning anything more. And so I learned very little in high school.

In college and after, I have learned a great deal. But it wasn’t that my teachers were better or the material all that more interesting. It was that I figured out that I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. I learned because I was willing to learn.

Strange how a little humility opens you to so much. The proud do not think they can learn, and so they do not.

Almost certainly this is why Jesus preached a humble approach to His message. The proud end up like the Pharisees who did not accept Christ because He did not support their own petty interests.

The proud do not think they need a Savior, and I certainly didn’t think I needed one. It wasn’t until college that I slowly began to realize that there was so much I could still learn, and the more I learn, the more I realize that I remain ignorant.

I once heard that the word “sophomore” comes from a Greek phrase meaning “wise fool.” The idea is that a sophomore in school is beginning to understand that he is foolish, and that makes him wise.

A neat idea, and those Greek terms do exist, but that’s not where we got the word “sophomore.” We got it from an Old French term. Too bad, I say. I still like the idea of the wise fool. I fervently pray that this term describes me, in fact, because I want to be teachable.

In verse 4 of the first chapter, Solomon continues to give us his purposes in writing down these Proverbs. The verse is interesting to me, because it is the first time he gives a hint as to his audience, and it really isn’t who we would expect.

I say that because too often we think that only pastors and scholars need to study the Bible. But Solomon is not directing it to those people at all. Those people can be benefited, of course (as we’ll see in verse 5), but that’s not who he primarily talking to.

He’s talking to people who was wise enough to know they are foolish.

But we should not be content to remain fools, and Solomon is writing to give us “prudence,” “knowledge and discretion.” This is where the “wise” part of being a wise fool comes in. Because if we realize we’re foolish, but still do not seek knowledge, then we are simply foolish.

But isn’t this exactly what we do when it comes to God? Some people really think they know everything about religion and that they have nothing to learn. That is foolish. Then there are some people who would wholeheartedly agree that they don’t know much about God, but they don’t seem to be in a hurry to learn anything. This is also foolish.

These philosophies are foolish for simple reasons. The first is that God is big enough that we cannot know Him completely in this life; the second is that God is too important to not try to know Him in this life.

In the Bible, we have God speaking to us. The only legitimate response to it is to come in humility and accept the wisdom there. His words were given to guide us, and it would be foolish to ignore those words. And yet how often do we really read our Bibles?

But this is the same thing that happens with Jesus. He came to earth to provide us a way to heaven, and most of us are so foolish that we think we know everything we need to about eternity, or we bask in our ignorance. Again, the only wise choice is to repent of our own prideful ways and to submit to Him.

He is simply too important.

Proverbs 1:3: Living at a higher standard (or failing to)

“to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;”
-Proverbs 1:3

I was supposed to be rock climbing right now. Which, if you know me, has probably already made you laugh. Hey, I was going to give it a try. Truth is, I woke up rather ill today and didn’t even make it through the day. Besides that, I was having plenty of conflict in my personal life, and it was just the wrong day for it.

When I got home I (early, because my manager sent me home), I really just wanted to sleep. Proverbs was rather far from my mind at the time.

It just seems sometimes that the little details just jump in the way, and it makes it impossible to consider the larger issues. When I finally did look at my verse for today, I realized just how far off the mark I had been today.

Not that I was particularly unjust or unwise. Maybe I was at times, I really can’t say. I’m only saying that it wasn’t my goal today. This silly cold, as minor as it was, got me looking at the ground.

When I was leaving work, I realized that I hadn’t prayed since this morning. With everything going on right now, that’s probably something I should have been doing from the start.

Solomon reminds us that our eyes should be cast a little higher. He gives us a few more purposes to Proverbs in this verse:

“wise dealing:” I like the ESV translation here, because too often this word is translated “wisdom,” which is the same word from verse 2. But it is a different word in Hebrew, and it has a slightly different meaning. This does not just speak to our ability to judge correctly, but if we live that way. It’s one thing to know the right way, it’s another thing to walk it. “Prudence” would be a good translation here.

“righteousness:” There is a slight distinction between living “wisely” and living “righteously,” and this latter term speaks specifically of the moral rightness of our actions. To be “prudent,” as the last term could be translated, is to have discretion, wisdom. Here we are not just prudent, but living rightly. You can walk wisely in the wrong direction, and you can be reckless in righteousness, but Solomon asks us for both.

“justice:” “Justice” speaks of our actions toward others. We are supposed to treat others with righteousness, not just ourselves. I’ve known far too many people who sought to live correctly, but didn’t care a bit about the people around them. They had no justice.

“equity:” We should be fair and equal in our dealings. To paraphrase Jesus, what good is it to only love those who love us? Everyone does that! We can be just with our friends and treat our enemies like dirt, but that is neither loving nor fair. Solomon desires our righteousness to be consistent with everyone.

Solomon tells us right off the bat that these are things that should be occupying our hearts. These are things we should be seeking.

How quickly I get concerned over the things of this world. How quickly do I forget to pray during hard times. How quickly do I worry about fixing a problem and forget to be fair and just when doing it.

I am thankful for the reminder that Solomon gives us in this verse. I am thankful that he is here urging me to look up to higher things. If only I had remembered earlier, perhaps I would have been a better example today.

I am thankful also for the reminder of how much I need Jesus. Such a little thing like a cold caused me to turn within myself and forget, for a moment, the great things above me.

Like Peter, when my eyes are on Him, I feel as though I can walk on water. But then I look down, and I start to sink. The great thing about Jesus is that He will always catch me.

And with His help, I will be able to stand tomorrow, even though I may have stumbled today.

Proverbs 1:2: Wisdom, Understanding, and Instruction

“To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight,”
-Proverbs 1:2

I always wanted to be a D&D player. Seriously, I always found the concept rather fascinating, but I didn’t really hang out with many gamers when I was growing up, so I never got into it. As an adult I tried to start games a couple of times to varying degrees of success, but I never got into it like I wanted.

One of the things I really liked about the concept was the creation of a character. There are some really neat ideas that went into the character-building system, and one of those ideas as the division between “intelligence” and “wisdom.”

“Books smarts” and “street smarts” we may say. We’ve all experiences those people who are really intelligent, that is, they know a lot of stuff, but don’t seem that bright when dealing with people and situations. On the other hand, we’ve met people with almost no education, and yet they always seem aware of what is going on. “Wise,” we may call them.

Solomon begins this book with a paragraph to tell us his purpose in writing it, and the first purposes are listed here in verse 2. And we notice right away that he is using different words for things we may normally use interchangeably, much like Dungeons & Dragons may use intelligence and wisdom in different ways while the normal guy on the street may think of them as the same thing.

In the Bible, “wisdom” is often associated with the ability to do the right thing. A wise man will just know what to do in any situation. It’s very much like the “wisdom” from D&D. You just understand the situation and what you need to do.

What about “instruction”? This one is interesting, because the same Hebrew word can be used in several ways. It can be “instruction,” “reproof,” even “doctrine.”

But it also means “chastisement” or “discipline.”

Does he mean that reading Proverbs is punishment? Well, when I was a kid (and not a Christian), I may have thought so. But that’s not it at all. But we will find that Solomon fully believes that teaching truth and goodness will sometimes require more stern and forceful methods. He doesn’t joke around with this stuff; learning to follow God is a lesson of critical importance, and Solomon is not afraid to even use physical punishment to teach the lesson (we’ll get to that a bit later).

And certainly everyone can agree on this: If the Bible is true, then it is a lesson that should be sought before anything else, for nothing would matter more.

That’s why it strikes me as so strange that people do not seek God, but rather put off that journey until after that have “had their fun.” And I did it too! I have always believed in God (though not always a Christian), but did not seek Him for years. Why? Surely we must see that there is nothing more important we can do with our time. And yet we just assume that He will honor our own feeble attempts to be good people, no matter how often we fail at that.

Solomon does not simply assume that his readers will eventually come to the truth. Instead, he encourages discipline – now.

Finally, we come to the final phrase and purpose stated in verse 2: “to understand words of insight.” How wonderful it is that God desires us to “understand.” He wants us not to simply obey, but to understand what we are doing and even desire it.

I’ve heard the teachings of a lot of religions that simply make no sense. Even some Christians act without understanding, and they do not seek understanding. You ask any of these people, “Why do you do this in this manner?” and they will be completely lost for an answer.

God does not want us to go through motions of great mysteries without understanding. Yes, there are “mysteries” in the Bible, but rather few; most things are explained rather well. He has given us the Bible so that we would understand and to know Him better. This truth, to use another phrase from the Bible, will set us free. It is not that the motions set us free.

The Bible becomes our “words of insight,” and they should be sought for understanding. But how can we understand if we do not study? I think the primary reason so many Christians go through the motions without understanding the meaning of what they do is simply because they do not want to take the time to learn what they claim to believe. But again, if this Book is true, and surely it is, then there is no better use of your time than to study, pray, meditate, and seek after God.

Is there a difference here between wisdom, instruction, and understanding? Certainly there is. To know “instruction” is to simply know the moral teaching of the book. To “understand” is not only to know them, but to know the meaning and Source behind them. Lastly, with “wisdom,” we know how to apply these teachings to our lives.

You can know the teaching without understanding them or even following them. You can even understand, generally, without knowing the specific teachings. There have been many cases when, as I read the Bible, I come across a teaching I didn’t know was there, even though I have a basic understanding of Scripture and Christianity. But God desires for us to have all three, and more.

But I must reiterate what I have stated in a previous entry: We must come to this teaching through God, and not without Him. We can try to be moral out of force of will, try to understand God by our own reason, but it will not get us very far.

Christ tells us that He is the “way, the truth, and the life.” The path to God is not one we can make alone, but we must make through the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus called Himself “the
Wisdom of God” (Luke 11:49), and He tells us very clearly that as wonderful is Solomon’s wisdom is, that He is greater than Solomon (Matthew 12:42). If we wish to be truly wise, we must follow after Wisdom.

Truly He is greater than Solomon. Obviously, I think there is value in learning from Solomon, but we must have our priorities straight. Repent of your futile efforts to do it all yourselves and submit to Christ. He can be your way to the Father.