Proverbs 2:11: Someone to watch over me

“discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you,”
-Proverbs 2:11

Have you read the poem “Footprints?” It’s a nice little poem that has unfortunately been over produced on wall plaques and cards, though the idea of it is pretty good.

The basic plot is that there’s a guy walking with Jesus though the sand, and at the end of his road he looks back, and at the worst times of his life, he notices that there are only one set of footprints. He’s sort of upset, because these are the times he really needed his Savior. “Jesus,” he says, “where were you in those times?”

“Those are the times I carried you,” Jesus replied.

I think of Jesus a lot like this, as a guide and traveling companion, and that is true. But in this verse I’m struck by something else. You see, the trouble with thinking of Jesus as a mere guide is that sometimes you get too far behind for a guide. I remember one friend of mine who once wanted me to follow him to a certain part of town, but then he sped off, swerving in and out of traffic, and I had no hope to follow. Sometimes a guide can be like that.

But that’s not the full promise of Jesus. Yes, He does promise to be with us, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20), but he also promises to send His Spirit (Acts 1:8). His Spirit is a guide, but He is a guide within us.

The promises God makes in this section of Proverbs is to change us from within, to guard us from within, to better us from within.

In this case, our new understanding will protect us. This understanding of God and His creation will first protect us by steering us away from sin in the first place, but it will also protect us from fear and worry, for we will know God, and we will trust in His plan. It will guide us against false teachers, and lead us in telling others the truth.

We will also have discretion to speak, think, and act wisely. How much trouble I would have avoided, even in the last week, had I only held my tongue instead of speaking or said something differently than I did!

The Hebrew word here is interesting, because it can also be translated “purpose.” I think the end result is the same. Someone with discretion will avoid distractions and traps, but so would someone with purpose. But I think the fullness of this word adds something to the verse. He gives us purpose. That is something I have found lacking in so many.

We do not get these things by being good or earning them. We cannot. We have all fallen short of God’s glory. In every moment of greed, selfishness, undue anger, and lust we fall short. That’s not the way we receive God’s Spirit.

We receive it through Jesus.

Only He has proven worthy of the glory of God, and yet He sacrificed Himself for us. He died upon the Cross to take the punishment for our sin. We need only accept that sacrifice through repentance and asking for forgiveness.

It is a free gift, made out of love, and with it comes discretion, understanding, purpose, and life.