Uncommon Sense study in Proverbs

Day 1: Living with Heart Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. P R O V E R B S  3 : 5–8

Trust in the LORD with all your heart....

The beginning of wisdom starts in this place called the heart

Reflection:

What does it mean for you to trust the Lord with all your heart

What are some obstacles or things that prevent you from loving the Lord with all your heart

How is it that the fear of the Lord can be “healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones”?

How does trusting the Lord and fearing the Lord work together and why do these things lead to wisdom?

Day 2: Lean In and Listen

1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. 9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; 10 for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;

P R O V E R B S  2 : 1-10

What is a teachable heart? Listen

Reflection:

Where do you need time to stop, listen, and learn?

What time can you open up in your schedule to sit with God and his Word and hear from him?

Proverbs 2:1-10; Proverbs 4:20-23; Proverbs 8:10-11; Proverbs 19:20; Proverbs 22:17-18; Proverbs 27:17

Day 3: Coming out of Hiding Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. P R O V E R B S  2 8 : 1 3

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 1:9–10. Hiding leads to harm Our nature is to hide, yet hiding is harmful. We harm ourselves, we harm relationships with others, and we harm our relationship with God. Why do we remain hidden? What keeps us from confessing to God and others? Some of us have experienced deep shame when we confessed our sin to a person in the past. That awful memory remains embedded in our hearts, and our hearts respond with self-protection. Others of us have been told that good people do not sin and should not sin, so when we fall short of perfection, we beat ourselves up, telling ourselves, “You should have known better!” or “How can you be so stupid?” Some of us worry that people would think less of us if they knew what we were thinking or what we did behind closed doors. Isn’t it safer to remain hidden? These secret hiding places are not safe places; they are self-made cages.They are places of isolation, shame, and self-loathing. We were made to sing, but hiding silences us. We have silenced ourselves through our sin, but God invites us to raise our voices again. In confession we find freedom, healing, hope, relationship, and joy. He longs for us to be free to sing! It may seem safer to remain hidden, yet God’s invitation and promise of forgiveness says it is safe to come out. Will we trust His invitation? God is inviting us to trust His promise of forgiveness, mercy, andgrace. To admit our sin also means admitting our humanity and lack of perfection. It means admitting that we can and have disappointed people. It means admitting that we are not God, and we need a Savior. Confession takes courage. Confession takes heart. Mercy is ours Mercy is ours, friends. Mercy that comes from God Himself. From the cross of Christ, whose innocent and perfect blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. He invites us to confess our sin and find freedom for our burdened hearts. Freedom from the guilt, from the isolation, from the cage. As we confess, He brings healing, hope, mercy, and forgiveness.This echo of mercy and forgiveness never fades. It does not diminish over time, nor does it run dry. It is steady and true. His mercy and grace are as strong as ever, a constant assurance of the truth that in Christ, we are forgiven. To confess our sins entails acknowledging them by coming out of hiding. And in speaking our confessions, we open the door to our cages and, like a liberated songbird, find that our voices were made for music. God invites us to confess, to speak, and then learn to sing the songs of His goodness and grace in a world that needs to hear our song. Will you sing today? Reflection: Spend time in prayer asking God to show you any unconfessed sin. Would you courageously confess? Also, if you have trusted friend or friends, consider bringing your sin to light with them, that they might speak God’s grace and forgiveness back to you.

Why do we remain hidden? What keeps us from confessing to God and others?

Scripture Proverbs 12:20 Proverbs 14:30 Proverbs 20:9 Proverbs 28:13

Day 4: Ready for Feedback My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights. P R O V E R B S  3 : 11-12 Perfect love speaks Proverbs speaks about receiving correction and discipline from God. The way of wisdom is to listen to His correction, because it is part of His perfect love for us. God is in the work of makingus into the image of His Son, and that can only be for our good. Proverbs 3:11–12 tells us that the Lord’s discipline and reproof are rooted in His delight in us. The Lord delights in us! He loves us! We are more readily able to receive correction from people whom we know loveus. We trust them, and believe what they have to say is for our good. In the same way, the more we know God’s goodness and trustworthiness, the more we welcome His correction and discipline. He provides a new way forward through God’s Word, through the work and voice of the Spirit, and through others who know and love God. We are strengthenedand helped by the Holy Spirit to live it out. Why do we find ourselves pulling back again? Why do we distance ourselves from God’s feedback? Because correction and discipline can hurt, and because it’s hard to admit that we did not get things right the first time—we were not perfect. We might need to change, and change can be stubbornly difficult when we think of the habits we will have to let go of—habits we have grown to love and rely on. Discipline may not initially feel good, but the invitation to new ways of living is always rooted in God’s love. The results of God’s correction lead to peace and joy. God invites us throughout Proverbs to trust with our whole heart. To lean on Him with our everything.To trust that the discomfort of correction is momentary and worth it, that He will help us transform our habits. We can rely on Him. Reflection: Reflect on a time you pulled back from God’s correction. Why do you think you did so? What can trusting and leaning into God with your whole heart during times of correction look like? In these times,remember, God loves you and delights in you.

Scripture Proverbs 3:11-12 Proverbs 6:23 Proverbs 12:1 Proverbs 17:10 Proverbs 20:5 Proverbs 27:19

Day 5: Put Down the Armor Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity. P R O V E R B S  2 8 : 1 4 Put Down the Armor All of us have experienced ill-timed and misplaced words. Words that hurt, words that divided, and words that were simply not needed. We have also experienced the brokenness and sin of others; being ignored, being abused, being taken advantage of. We have experienced the absence of love at the cost of intimacy, the absence of generosity at the cost of joy, and the absence of confidentiality at the cost of trust. When we are wounded, we put on protection and armor up. When we armor up, we also harden our heart. We do not want to be hurt again. Unfortunately, our experiences with sinful human beings are projected onto our relationship with God—we assume He will treat us like they did. We assume He will withhold from us like they did. We assume He will also wound us like they did. Consequently, welive with an armored heart. To know the Lord is to know His heart; a heart that longs to make us whole. God’s heart made itself vulnerable, and took on the pain of the world. He understands what is at stake when He asks us to soften our hearts toward Him. He also knows that a hardened heart will only close in on itself, whereas a soft heart will live, grow, and thrive. Out of a whole heart are we able to love. So, how do we put down the armor? Pay attention What is your internal response to feedback from others? More than one can apply: Grateful Push Away Lean Shameful Humble Intrigued Skeptical Doubtful Defensive Curious Argumentative What is your internal response to feedback from God? (This can come through Scripture,worship, prayer, etc.) More than one can apply: Grateful Push Away Lean Shameful Humble Intrigued Skeptical Doubtful Defensive Curious Argumentative 1. What similarities do you see in your responses to correction? What differences? 2.  Which responses indicate a hardness of heart? A softness of heart? Pray Spend time in prayer thanking God for the places you have a softness of heart and asking that this softness continue. Take the places of hardness of heart to God and ask Him to: heal your heart help you grieve and lament the pain that led to this hardness assure you of His forgiveness for any sin that has come from your hardness of heart help you do your part in any reconciliation that needs to happen give you the courage to have a soft and wise heart help you trust Him with your heart remind you to go to Him when pain and wounding comes.As you grow in softness of heart and put down the armor. Our gracious God, You are so tender, good, and loving towards us. You are constantly ready to speak Your gracious truth, show us Your kindness, and remind us of Your mercies. May we be people with soft hearts who are ready to listen, to take in, and to believe Your words to us. Would You workin our wounded hearts miracles we could never imagine? Would You give us courage to step into deeper places of trust with You? Would You empower us to overflow Your love to all those we encounter, whether for a brief moment or lifelong? As we live, remind us of Your wisdom that will never fail to lead us to deeper trust, deeper, joy, and deeper love. We thank You for these gifts of wisdom. Amen. These five days are an excerpt from Uncommon Sense: A Study of Proverbs. You can keep reading here.

Scripture Proverbs 28:14