Trust in the Lord to Prosper Your Path

Introduction:

When I tell you that the title of this sermon is “Trust in the Lord to Prosper Your Path,” I know that your first idea of what I am going to say is probably wrong. Our human nature sees prosperity in a particular way which does not correspond to a biblical definition of prosperity. Instead, our human nature sees prosperity in the way that it is defined by the so-called Prosperity Gospel, which explains the popularity of that false teaching.

The truth of the matter is that a biblically prosperous path is a path of God’s discipline. While our idea of a prosperous life includes an easy and happy life, God’s idea of a prosperous life challenges our simplistic view of things. As the writer to the Hebrews said, “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:” (Heb 12:11a).

So, I invite you today to dig into the Scriptures with me. I invite you to be willing to put aside your preconceptions and biases. I invite you to ask the Holy Spirit to teach you to trust in the Lord to prosper your path from Proverbs 3:11–20. As we examine this passage of Scripture, we will see three exhortations from a father to a son that help define how to live a biblically prosperous, biblically successful life.

I. An Exhortation to Accept Yahweh’s Discipline (Prv 3:11–13)

Explanation: I have chosen to use the word discipline here because that is the common word we use in our everyday speech that encompasses the two main ideas that I see here from the Hebrew. The translation “chastening” certainly brings to mind one of those ideas, and that idea would be as a punishment for sin. So, I might say that I “disciplined” my child for lying. The idea is that I brought some hardship into his life to train him to avoid doing what he ought not to do. But this Hebrew word is also used to refer to training for doing things we are supposed to do. This is disciplining ourselves with exercise to get ourselves into shape for something we will need to do later, or learning a bunch of basic and repetitive tasks that you need to assemble into a harder task later. The writer of Proverbs uses it several times in this way in chapter 1 where it is often translated “instruction.”

Illustration: Manny Pacquiao is one of the greatest boxers to ever live. In preparation for each of his boxing matches, I can guarantee you that Manny Pacquiao was under discipline, and both kinds of discipline we’ve talked about. I’m sure his trainer identified some things that Manny was doing that he should not be doing or was doing in the wrong way. I’m sure his trainer brought some hardship into his life to correct those issues so Manny could be successful in his match. Likewise, to be successful, a boxer must have stamina. So a boxer runs, jumps rope, punches a bag, perhaps lifts some weights, and a whole bunch of other exercises designed to build his strength and endurance.

Illustration: Another example of this is the child who is memorizing the shapes of letters and the various sounds that they can make so that eventually they can read. They can’t read after the first day, or even the first week. They may grow tired of the work that they are doing and even be discouraged that they can’t read yet. They probably want to quit and go play with their toys instead. But through the discipline of being forced to finish the work of learning the letters and their sounds, alone and in combinations, eventually the child learns to read, and reading may even grow to be one of their favorite activities. So, we have an exhortation to accept Yahweh’s discipline.

A. Natural responses to Yahweh’s discipline (Prv 3:11)

1. Despise it (Prv 3:11)

Explanation: In our shortsightedness and love of pleasure above all, it is easy to be less than appreciative of the Lord’s discipline in our lives. Notice how Israel responded when initially shown the Promised Land for the first time. “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. . .. Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.” (Num 14:1–4, 29–31)

2. Grow weary of it (Prv 3:11)

Explanation: Again, our sinful condition works against us, and we can grow weary of the so-called hard things of life. Notice Israel’s response to God’s provision in their lived in the wilderness. “And the people spake against God, and against Moses, ‘Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread.’” (Num 21:5)

Application: There are times when the Lord asks us to do hard things, and if our focus us only on how hard it is, we will naturally grow weary of it, perhaps to the point where we rebel against it like the children of Israel did in the wilderness. Instead, the key is to keep our eyes on the prize at the end of the road. We must take the long view. We must recognize with the writer of Hebrews––who quoted this verse––“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Heb 12:11). This is why our author goes on to show three responses of faith to Yahweh’s discipline.

B. Faith responses to Yahweh’s discipline (Prv 3:12–13)

1. View it as a sign of God’s love (Prv 3:12)

Explanation: In the Septuagint, the translators used the Greek word Agape to convey this meaning of God’s love. As we all know, this includes the idea of God having our best interests at heart. So, like a doctor putting us through surgery to save our lives, we can understand how God can use difficulties, trials, and punishments to produce ultimate good in our lives as he did with Moses, Joseph, and Job. So, God’s discipline may be viewed as cruelty by the world, but the child of God must learn to know that it is love which motivates the necessary discipline which God brings into our lives.

2. View it as a sign of God’s delight (Prv 3:12)

Explanation: The phrase “in whom he delighteth” carries the idea of “whom he accepts favorably.” Lest we be persuaded to think of God only as a loving disciplinarian who keeps us at arm’s length, the Sage here uses parallelism to highlight a facet of God’s love to show that includes delight, or favorable acceptance. I’m reminded of the story of the shepherd in Matthew 18:12–13 who willingly leaves 99 sheep alone for a brief period to recover the 1 straying sheep, and when he finds that sheep, the passage doesn’t indicate he is angry, harsh, or in some other way upset with it. It says he rejoices over it. It is favorably accepted in his eyes in spite of its tendency to wander off. Though we, like that sheep, have a tendency to wander off, God, looks at us and smiles. We, as his children, remain, in the words of the Apostle Paul, “accepted in the beloved” [one] (Eph 1:6).

Application: I wonder if you view yourself and your relationship with God through your own lens or through a biblical lens. Do you see God responding to you as his child with exasperation or with the unspoken threat, “I’ll give you one more chance”? This is not God’s way. How can you forget Paul’s wonderful and encouraging reminder to us in Romans 8 that there is NOTHING that can separate us from the love of God?!

3. View it as a source of God’s wisdom (Prv 3:13)

Explanation: Immediately after the Sage’s discussion of how to view the Lord’s discipline in our lives as God’s children, he declares that the one who finds wisdom is blessed. I use the word blessed rather than happy, because we look at happiness as an expression of our emotions. The benefits of finding wisdom go far beyond merely granting us positive emotions. That is why the translators of the Greek Old Testament in use in the time of Jesus translated this with the same word we have in our New Testament that Jesus used in the sermon on the mount: “blessed.”

Argumentation: And so, I ask you, why the close connection made by the Bible here between the Lord disciplining us and the finding of wisdom? There can be no doubt that the purpose behind the Lord disciplining us is to help us find wisdom, or we might say to teach us wisdom. We can even say, since we know from Paul that Christ is the wisdom of God, that God disciplines us to bring us into a more intimate relationship with Christ, our Savior, for he who finds wisdom finds and knows God (Prv 2:5).

II. An Exhortation to Appreciate Wisdom’s Value (Prv 3:14–18)

A. It is superior to temporal wealth (Prv 3:14–15)

Explanation: Psalm 49:1–20

Application: As we have just seen earlier in this chapter of Proverbs, one of the values of wisdom is that we learn to invest in what honors God. When we do that, God returns the blessing to us with treasures in heaven. “…lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Mt 6:20).

Quotation: Ray Ortlund expounds this well by saying, “The sage is counseling us, ‘Don’t aim at money. If you need money, aim at wisdom and you’ll make the money that’s right for you.’ That is why wisdom is ‘more precious than jewels’ (v. 15). Wisdom is skill at living life well. Money is not. Money can put food on the table, but wisdom puts laughter around that table. Money can buy a house, but wisdom makes it a home. Money can buy a woman jewelry, but wisdom wins her heart. All the ways of wisdom are ‘pleasantness’ (v. 17). You cannot say that about money. We can wreck our lives by settling for the wisdom that does make us money when God is offering us the wisdom that takes us to ‘a tree of life.’… That tree of life feeds our hearts with the special grace of Jesus Christ. He died on the cross for geniuses who excel in earthly skills but are clueless about real life.”

B. It is superior to temporal longevity (Prv 3:16–18)

Explanation: Psalm 30:1–12

Argumentation: Again, we must see the emphasis of the Sage here when he talks about wealth and longevity. We can only understand his arguments in light of God’s view or the long view, or the eternal view we might call it. If we live and think, as so many are tempted to do, that this life is all there is, we miss the father’s instruction here. If we take this as a prosperity gospel preacher would teach us, we will miss the truth of this passage. God’s main interest is not that we have a wonderful life on this earth. God’s main interest is for us to be restored to be the image bearers that he designed us to be so that we accurately reflect his character.

Illustration: The truth of this passage is illustrated by Solomon’s own actions in 1 Kings 3:7–9.

III. An Exhortation to Acknowledge Wisdom’s Source (Prv 3:19–20)

A. Yahweh created through wisdom (Prv 3:19)

B. Yahweh sustains through wisdom (Prv 3:20)

C. Yahweh destroys through wisdom (Prv 3:20)

Quotation: The Baptist pastor and educator, John Piper gives a brief illustration of God’s wisdom in the world. “Picture yourself as a farmer in the Near East, far from any lake or stream. A few wells keep the family and animals supplied with water. But if the crops are to grow and the family is to be fed from month to month, water has to come on the fields from another source. From where?

Well, the sky. The sky? Water will come out of the clear blue sky? Well, not exactly. Water will have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea, over several hundred miles and then be poured out from the sky onto the fields.

Carried? How much does it weigh? Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water, which is 206,300,160 gallons, which is 1,650,501,280 pounds of water.

That's heavy. So how does it get up in the sky and stay up there if it's so heavy? Well, it gets up there by evaporation. Really? That's a nice word. What's it mean? It means that the water sort of stops being water for a while so it can go up and not down. I see. Then how does it get down? Well, condensation happens. What's that? The water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide. That's small.

What about the salt? Salt? Yes, the Mediterranean Sea is salt water. That would kill the crops. What about the salt? Well, the salt has to be taken out. Oh. So the sky picks up a billion pounds of water from the sea and takes out the salt and then carries it for three hundred miles and then dumps it on the farm?

Well it doesn't dump it. If it dumped a billion pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed. So the sky dribbles the billion pounds water down in little drops. And they have to be big enough to fall for one mile or so without evaporating, and small enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks.

How do all these microscopic specks of water that weigh a billion pounds get heavy enough to fall (if that's the way to ask the question)? Well, it's called coalescence. What's that? It means the specks of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger. And when they are big enough, they fall. Just like that? Well, not exactly, because they would just bounce off each other instead of joining up, if there were no electric field present. What? Never mind. Take my word for it.

I think, instead, I will just take Job's word for it. I still don't see why drops ever get to the ground, because if they start falling as soon as they are heavier than air, they would be too small not to evaporate on the way down, but if they wait to come down, what holds them up till they are big enough not to evaporate? Yes, I am sure there is a name for that too. But I am satisfied now that, by any name, this is a great and unsearchable thing that God has done.”

Conclusion:

If you and I are to prosper in the truest sense of the word, we need to trust in the Lord. We need to trust in the Lord enough to allow him to discipline us. God’s discipline is the method he uses to teach us how the world was created to work so that we can live by God’s order. Living according to God’s order or plan is what we call wisdom, and nothing is more valuable than wisdom. The author of the very book we are reading from this morning goes on to say in his next chapter, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” (Prv 4:7). You can trust in the Lord to prosper your path.