Proverbs 3
1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;
2 For length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.
We are forgetful creatures – what we learn today, we may forget tomorrow. We have to expend effort to not forget. For this reason, we are reminded to expend the effort needed to not forget.
We remind ourselves through repetition. It is not enough to read God’s word once. We have to do it again and again, and sometimes even commit His word to memory.
What is the value of that? The value is that a life of wisdom brings eternal value. If you’ve lived 80 years, and only 5% of it resulted in eternal reward it is as if you only lived for four years (4 is 5% of 80). But if you were wise, and 50% of those 80 years resulted in eternal reward then, from the perspective of eternity, it is as if you lived 40 years, which is so much better than four years.
Further, a day lived in peace is so much better than a day lived in turmoil. Wisdom brings peace to your life – for example, you won’t be spending time remembering all the evil that people have done to you, and thus ruin your peace.
3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.
Two key elements of wisdom are kindness and truth. They seem to be in conflict because sometimes, the telling of truth can be cruel. They are mentioned together over here precisely because they must be expensed in balance.
As people grow up, they tend to get mean and at the same time they tend to expand their lying. Both of those traps must be avoided. Do not forsake telling the truth to get what you want or to make life easier for yourself. Also, do not neglect to be kind to people. You will see a lot of people messing up all around you. Don’t beat them up when they are down. Don’t gloat over their misery in private or in public. Be helpful and encouraging. God will see your attitude and give you the wisdom to avoid making the same mistakes.
If on the other hand, you scoff at others or deal roughly with the afflicted then God will block wisdom from you and you will end up making the same or worse mistakes than those around you.
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.
Every time a decision needs to be made, we tend to rely on what our mind tells us. That is to be wise in our own eyes. This may work fine when it comes to the application of science and technology, but is a recipe for disaster when it comes to life.
For example, you see a beautiful woman, and your instincts tell you to impress her so that you can do what you want with her. That is ‘your understanding’ and you accept it without even a second thought. What have you just done? You’ve leaned on your own understanding.
If you want to learn wisdom, you’ve got to stop there and check what the Lord wants you to do in such a situation, and trust what He says instead of what your mind says.
To acknowledge Him in your ways means to take into consideration what He says to do in a situation rather than just do what your mind tells you to do.
Don’t just do this in one area, but ‘with all your heart’ – that is, in all areas of your life.
When you learn to live like that God will make your paths straight. That is, He will protect you from going astray.
9 Honor the LORD from your wealth and from the first of all your produce;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine.
Let the Lord have full access to everything you have, and allow Him to take it away whenever He needs to discipline you. Don’t worry – at the right time, He is well able to give you what He took away.
11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD or loathe His reproof,
12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.
If you decide to live a life that is pleasing to God, then He will accept you as a son, and He will discipline you when you go astray.
Sometimes, God’s discipline can be very strong. If you stray in a very dangerous area, or if you’ve walked with the Lord for a long time, the discipline can be severe, and from an earthly perspective, you can lose much.
We all err and go astray at some point, and have to face discipline. Will you get offended if God takes away things that you love and enjoy? Please don’t. Don’t sacrifice your birthright for a plate of stew. See the big picture. Remember that God gave Job double of what he had before.
It is so much better to have the Lord’s discipline and lose some earthly pleasures because of it and end up with rich reward in eternity than to live a life of wanton pleasure on earth and end up in Hell.
13 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.
14 For her profit is better than the profit of silver and her gain better than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than jewels; and nothing you desire compares with her.
16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.
17 Her ways are pleasant ways 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 hold her fast.
You have to have the right attitude towards wisdom, and you have to see its true value. That’s what makes it easier to go through the discipline of the Lord.
As you grow older, you will see the benefits of the wise decisions you made when you were younger. And you will be very thankful. Your days will be filled with peace and happiness, and without regret. You will be glad that you did whatever it took to acquire that wisdom that is such a blessing to you now.
19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding He established the heavens.
20 by His knowledge the deeps were broken up and the skies drip with dew.
Even when you look around you, you see a world that works with marvelous order. The more your understanding of the universe is, the greater you can see the greatness of God’s wisdom in designing the universe. If you live your life with wisdom, it can be something like the display of God’s manifold wisdom in the unfolding of the universe.
21 My son, let them not vanish from your sight; keep sound wisdom and discretion,
22 So they will be life to your soul and adornment to your neck.
23 Then you will walk in your way securely and your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
If you stay away from foolishness then you can sleep well. When you are awake, you will be able to walk without stumbling. Waking or sleeping, you will enjoy life and the fruit of it. No one will be able to accuse you of any injustice before God. There will be peace between you and God, and God Himself will help you accomplish everything He has planned for you to accomplish in your generation.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden fear nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes;
26 For the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.
God will protect you from whatever may happen. Whatever He allows will only work for your good because you love Him.
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.
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 harm against your neighbor, while he lives securely beside you.
30 Do not contend with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm.
If you owe someone a favor, do it. Don’t make life hard for someone unnecessarily, just because you can.
Don’t harm your neighbor for no reason. Don’t pick a fight with anyone unnecessarily, just because you are stronger and know you will win.
These are small things, and easy to follow, but some people don’t follow them and unnecessarily bring upon themselves the wrath of God.
31 Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways.
32 For the devious are an abomination to the LORD; but He is intimate with the upright.
Do you see people who grab things for themselves? Sometimes, siblings grab their parent’s inheritance from themselves, and it may almost look like they have succeeded. Just because it appears like that, don’t for a moment think that you can do the same and get away with it. No one gets away with wrongdoing.
Sometimes, we see people being devious and getting promotions at work, and we think that we should do the same. Don’t fall for that. Let them be wicked. God will not be intimate with them, and they will be an abomination to Him. Who knows what toll their promotion will bring upon their family relationships? In the years to come, while you enjoy a lovely relationship with your children, they may have a lot more money than you, and yet have a life filled with loneliness and dissatisfaction.
33 The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the dwelling of the righteous.
You have to understand something about God – He curses the wicked but blesses the righteous. Only a fool would want to be cursed by God. So stay away from wickedness.
34 Though He scoffs at the scoffers, yet He gives grace to the afflicted.
To scoff means to pay no attention to what someone is trying to say to you. One more thing to understand about God: if you ignore what He says, He will ignore you when you are in trouble.
When God tells you that wisdom is valuable, and that wisdom is something that you should take great pains to acquire, you need to pay attention to what He says, and act upon it. If you do that, He will help you when you need His help; but if you don’t, He will ignore your pleas for help, just like how you ignored His words about acquiring wisdom.
35 The wise will inherit honor, but fools display dishonor.
To honor someone is to regard them highly. If you are wise, people will see your wisdom, and regard you highly. On the other hand, if you are foolish (which is the opposite of ‘wise’) then you will do things that will cause people to have little regard for you.
In summary, Proverbs Chapter 3 talks about the value of wisdom, and gives you some basics of what wisdom is all about.
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