The book of Proverbs is an example of the Biblical wisdom.
It raises questions about moral behavior, the meaning of human
life, and right conduct. The repeated theme is that "the fear of God
(meaning submission to the will of God) is the beginning of wisdom. Seeking
wisdom is the goal of the spiritual life. There is just so much wisdom in the book of Proverbs
that it’s not a coincidence that there are thirty one chapters
in this book. Read one chapter for each day of the month.
After a few years, these proverbs
begin to become needed daily godly wisdom for your life. The book of
Proverbs contains many valuable lessons for the believer. Below are five of
the greatest lessons to be taken from this wisdom literature.
1.
“Before
you do anything, put your trust totally in God and not in yourself. Then every plan you make will succeed.” (Proverbs
16:3,
TPT) We
know that God seeks to have us glorify Him. The key point is that if we commit
our plans to His glory, for His purpose, and seeking to do His will, then God
will bring us success in our endeavors. God’s promises are sure and if
you are seeking to glorify God in your plans, you can be certain that He will
make those plans work out. God’s will is to have us exalt Him in our
words, our deeds, and in our thoughts and if we are committed to glorifying God
then we knew that we must be truly committed to Him. We have already
learned that “Within your heart you can make plans for your future, but the Lord chooses the steps you take to
get there.” (Proverbs 16:9, TPT)
2.
“Every
promise from the faithful God is pure and proves to be true. He is a wrap-around shield of protection
for all his lovers who run to hide in Him.” (Proverbs
30:5,
TPT) The
main point here is that every single word of God is true. It is pure. It is so
perfect that it shields us from a lot of harm we would otherwise incur.
We can also take refuge in His Word for His Word has power. There
is zero chance of reading a part of the Word of God that is not perfect and it
is always perfectly good for us. This is what David knew and why he wrote
“God’s
Word is perfect in every way; how it revives our souls. His laws lead us to truth, and his ways change the simple into wise.” (Psalm 19:7, TPT). There is
every chance that my words are imperfect, but no chance of God’s Word being
imperfect. His Word is like the old word document program: Word Perfect.
3.
“How
then does a man gain the essence of wisdom? We cross the threshold of true knowledge when we live in obedient devotion to God. Stubborn know-it-alls will never stop to do
this, for they scorn true wisdom and knowledge.” (Proverbs
1:7, TPT) The
very beginning of wisdom is not necessarily Bible
study, hearing sermons, or attending church, but devotion the Lord. This
devotion is not the kind of devotion of being struck dead but one of
reverential respect, deep admiration, and awe of the glory of God for all
wisdom comes from God. He is the ultimate source of all wisdom. If
you want to have wisdom, you must be devoted to the Lord and to have this
devotion you must continually abide in His Word, the Bible. We cannot be devoted to what we do not know and the
more we know about God the more we learn to be devoted to Him. To despise
wisdom and be a fool is to not to be devoted to the Lord. Where there is no
fear there is no wisdom.
4.
“Trust
in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on Him to guide
you, and He will lead you in every decision you make.” (Proverbs
3:5,
TPT) If
you want to see how things go wrong then look at some of this Bible verse in
the Old Testament where it was written that “In those days Israel had no king; all the people did
whatever seemed right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25, NLT) When mankind, just like Israel
did, leaned on their own understanding they were sure to fail. The idea
of trusting in God is trusting in what He says, and what He says often is
contrary to what humans believe. The history of the nation of Israel
shows times the results of their leaning on their own understanding. When
we lean on our own ideas then we are showing a lack of trust in God. Lean
on God. For if we lean on our own understanding, we are going to fall and fall
hard.
5.
“You
can rationalize it all you want and justify the path of error you have chosen, but you’ll find out in the end that you took
the road to destruction.” (Proverbs
14:12,
TPT) This
is close to Proverbs 3:5 because what we think is right to us (leaning on our
own understanding) ends up leading to death and Solomon could be talking about
an eventual eternal death. When you need to make an important decision,
this is the time to get godly counsel and seek the advice of other Christians.
You will know what is right if you are in the Word of God every day. The
greatest way to build discernment is to read the Word of God for it has the
power to discern what the best path to take is. This is because God’s “Word is like a lamp
that guides my steps, a light that shows the path I should take.” (Psalm 119:105, ERV)
“Whoever tries to hide his sins will not
succeed, but the one who confesses his sins and leaves them behind will
find mercy.” (Proverbs
28:13, VOICE)[i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“5 Great Lessons from the Book of Proverbs” by Jack
Wellman
·
“Book of Proverbs” from
Wikipedia
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