Skip to main content

Proverbs, Wisdom

Wisdom is an essential part of living a godly life. The ability to make good judgments and identify potentially sinful situations are skills all Christians should have. The Bible repeatedly emphasizes that it is the duty of parents and older Christians to pass on these skills and train younger generations in wisdom.

The book of Proverbs is a book all about wisdom. The various authors of the book are trying to pass on the things they have learned to a younger generation. They want all that come after them to know that true wisdom comes from God.

Background

Like the book of Psalms, the book of Proverbs is a collection of various sayings and proverbs from many different people. The primary author we associate the book with is King Solomon, who wrote the most out of any single author, but he is just one of several writers. It is a very interesting book in this regard.

The book of Proverbs can be tricky because it isn't always consistent in how the text flows together. Some sections connect and build upon each other while in other sections each verse is intended to be read alone and isn't necessarily connected to the verses around it. This means we have to be observant when reading Proverbs so we know which type of section we are in.

Themes

There is one major theme in the book of Proverbs, and that is wisdom. This ranges from the source of wisdom to the application of wisdom. The authors implore us to be mindful of our surroundings and to make wise decisions. 

One major piece of information we need to discuss about this book is the very nature of proverbs. A proverb is NOT a promise. Take this famous proverb from Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." This verse does NOT promise that if you are a godly parent your child will grow up to be godly. What it does say is that being a godly parent helps produce godly children. Not always, but it is a huge factor.

If you want an example of how this doesn't always come true, just look at God. God is our Father, the ultimate parent; but just how good did Israel turn out in the Old Testament? It is not God's fault that Israel chose to be sinful and depraved. What I can say for sure is that Israel never would have even had a chance of being holy if God hadn't loved them and given them his Word.

Theological Point

The book of Proverbs is all about wisdom, and it makes a very important point about wisdom right in chapter one. Proverbs 1:7 says "The fear of YHWH is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." It all starts with God. 

True wisdom is understanding who God is and our relationship with him. We cannot be wise until we submit ourselves to his authority and instruction. As long as we refuse to recognize who we are in relation to God, we will never be able to see the world as we are meant to. It is only when we are on our knees before Christ that we see our lives and this world properly. That is wisdom.

Conclusion

I pray that this week you find true wisdom in surrendering to Christ. We often like to think that wisdom is based on our past experiences and trials, but true wisdom comes from recognizing who God is and submitting to him.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thankful

Today is Thanksgiving, the day that we are supposed to celebrate all the things we are thankful for. It is a time of family reunions, football, and turkey eating. I sincerely pray that each and every one of you has a good day today. I'll admit that being thankful has not been easy for me this year. As pretty much all of you know, my mother passed away December of last year. Though she had been in the hospital for months, we were not expecting it. In fact I was sure she would be finally able to come home within a matter of weeks. Instead she peacefully passed on into the arms of Jesus, whom she loved more dearly than anyone else. As you can imagine, the entire family was heart broken. After what can easily be described as the worst Christmas ever, I returned to home to Illinois. It was here that I finally broke down. I spent the next months doing everything except being thankful. I cursed God, wept, screamed, begged to have her back, and was generally not the nicest person to be...
3 comments
Read more

What is Theology?

Greetings all! For the first true post I have decided to cover what will be one of the defining aspects of this blog; theology. I know that when I was growing up theology wasn't a word that was used in the churches I attended. In fact I don't recall ever hearing the word until I was in high school, and even then it was used negatively like theology was a bad thing. Theology is inseparable from Bible study, Christian living, and being a disciple of Jesus in general. It is an indispensable part of being a Christian. The thing is we haven't always treated it that way. We have allowed our theology to fall by the wayside, believing it to be useless or not appropriate. So what is theology exactly, and why is it so important? What is Theology? The word theology simply means "the study of God." The goal of theology is to reveal who God is, and when we know God we also come to know ourselves, sin, the world, and so on. What we've done in the past (and this may ju...
1 comment
Read more

The Name of God

In the book of Exodus we are introduced to many important elements that appear throughout the rest of the Bible. This is where we meet Moses, the first prophet sent to the nation of Israel. It is in Exodus that we first learn of the tabernacle and God's intention of living among his people. It is in Exodus that we witness the first Passover, which is the type of what is to come in Jesus. There are several other events that we could look to in Exodus, but there is one in particular that is very important that we have largely ignored; God revealing his name. We typically only refer to God by his titles. We call him Lord, Father, Judge, King, and God (yes, God is technically a title). I would like to emphasize now that there is absolutely nothing wrong with doing so. In fact I would say that it is right for us recognize the power and authority of God in what we call him. What today's post is about is the fact that we have forgotten or even ignored the fact that God reveals his n...
1 comment
Read more