YOG - January 31, 2024

Icebreaker - Puzzling Question

Two sons and two fathers go fishing. They each catch one fish. The total number of fish caught is 3. How is that possible?

Answer: There is one grandfather, one father, and one son.

The more you take, the more you leave behind. What are you?

Foot prints

What 8 letter word can have a letter taken away from it and still make a word? Take another letter away and it still makes a word? Keep on doing that until you have one letter left? What is the word?

STARTING

Staring (remove a t)

String (remove an a)

Sing (remove the t)

Sin (remove the g)

In (remove the s)

I (remove the n)

Catch Up

What’s new?

How was break?

How’s the new semester going?

Introduction

In our culture, who and where are the voices of “wisdom” on how to live well?

What should a young man look for in a young woman? What wisdom can the Bible offer? Say I’m dating a girl and I’m thinking that maybe she’s the one. How can the Bible help? In my case, I was dating a girl named Gala. I could look for her name in the Bible. But, I’ll tell ya. I looked. It’s not there. How else can the Bible help?

12 IT (wisdom) will rescue you from the way of evil— from anyone who says perverse things, 13 from those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness, 14 from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion, 15 whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious. 16 It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a wayward woman with her flattering talk, 17 who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; 18 for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits. 19 None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life.

OR, Proverbs 31

Without looking at your Bible, what passages from the Book of Proverbs do you remember?

Open in Prayer

Life isn’t easy. We may enjoy temporary rest from the battle, but no one is completely immune to the complexities of circumstances and relationships. These problems range from minor annoyances such as getting called to jury duty at an inconvenient moment, to major disasters such as a serious illness or a significant rupture in an intimate relationship. Sometimes we wake up in the morning and see the day as a series of obstacles to be avoided. We would love to be able to navigate life in a way that minimized the problems.

The Bible never suggests that the life of a follower of God will be devoid of problems. If anything, it says exactly the opposite. Life has its joys, but, according to 2 Corinthians 1:5 (“You can be sure that the more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ”), even the joys are in the context of suffering. Unalloyed joy will come only in heaven. On this earth, we will have problems.

How do we handle life’s problems? How do we deal with difficult people or uncomfortable situations? What do we say and how do we act? How do we express our emotions? The Bible has a word to describe the person who navigates life well; that word is “wise.” A wise person lives life with boldness in spite of the inevitable difficulties.

But where do we find wisdom? We’ll see it when we take a look at Proverbs here in a moment.

Passage: 1 Kings 3

1 Kings 3:8–15 CSB

Your servant is among your people you have chosen, a people too many to be numbered or counted. So give your servant a receptive heart to judge your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?” Now it pleased the Lord that Solomon had requested this. So God said to him, “Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life or riches for yourself, or the death of your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to administer justice, I will therefore do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before and never will be again. In addition, I will give you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no king will be your equal during your entire life. If you walk in my ways and keep my statutes and commands just as your father David did, I will give you a long life.” Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.

Discussion Questions

How would you define wisdom? Are having wisdom and being smart the same thing?

The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream one night and asked him what He could give him. Read Solomon’s answer in I Kings 3:9-15. What did he ask for and what did God end up giving him?

Read I Kings 4:29-34. What stands out to you about this passage? Who are the people in your life that you could or should seek out for their wisdom?

Read Prov 1:1-7. In v2-4 we see the point of Proverbs. What are the action words?

to know & receive instruction

give prudence

PRUDENT. The Heb. ˓ārûm is used both in the good sense of sensible (e.g., Prov 14:8, 15, 18; 15:5) and in bad sense of shrewd or crafty (Gen 3:1; Job 5:12–13; 15:5; Ps 83:3). Heb. bı̂n and Gr. synetos, on the other hand, stress an intelligent decision (Prov 16:21; 18:15; Isa 29:14; Mt 11:25; Acts 13:7; 1 Cor 1:19). See Wisdom.

hear and increase in learning

obtain guidance

Read Prov 1:7 again. What does it mean to ‘fear the Lord’? (not scared, but reverent, humble honoring of who God is) How can you seek to grow in your of ‘fear of the Lord’?

The fear of the Lord. This ‘fear’ must be distinguished from any idea of terror. It is a phrase used constantly throughout Scripture to describe the appropriate response of human beings to the self-revelation of the God who has created and redeemed his people (similar phrases are found in 2:4–6; 9:10; 15:33; Psalm 111:10; Job 28:28). Thus, it carries the notion of reverent awe and submissive faith. It is also important to note that it is not some vague response to an idea of deity, but an encounter with the Lord God of Israel. We truly respond to him only when we respond to what he reveals about himself and about his purposes for his creation (see chapter 4: ‘Is there a theology of wisdom?’). The reference to God as ‘Lord’ means the God of the covenant and the redeeming God. This places Proverbs squarely within the covenant faith of Israel. is the beginning of knowledge. The ‘beginning’ can mean both the starting point and the chief goal or principle. What God reveals in his word is the only real basis for understanding what life is about. The significance of this is highlighted by the typical use of antithetic parallelism in the second line of this verse.

In what areas of your life do you feel you most need wisdom?

How can you practically begin to walk down a path of wisdom rather than folly?

Closing Thoughts

Definitions

Folly In general it expresses the unprofitable action or results of foolishness. Folly is the opposite of wisdom (q.v.).

Wisdom The essence of wisdom is skill, the ability to do a job. The same Hebrew word is used of the skilful workers who prepared Aaron’s garments and of those who built the tabernacle and the temple (Exod. 28:3; 31:1–11; 1 Kings 7:14). Their exceptional ability to work with fabric and bronze was necessary and admirable (Prov. 22:29). Such skills were only obtained through hard work. The wisdom offered by the book of Proverbs is skill for living. Wisdom is not merely intellectual or academic; it is primarily moral. Solomon, as the wisest man on earth, demonstrated wisdom and skill as a naturalist, an administrator, and a judge (1 Kings 4:21–34; 3:6–28). The book of Proverbs teaches you how to live skilfully in every area of your life including family, finances, friendships, speech, and work. The goal of wisdom is that you might achieve a life of beauty and significance so that at the end of your days you will have accomplished something worthwhile and lasting. Jesus is the one who exemplifies wisdom, as he lived on earth with perfect skill. It is through Christ that we are made wise and gain the ability to live wisely.