Fatherly Advice

The Wisdom That Safeguards

Bible Passage: Proverbs 2:1-22

Having spent some time on Mother’s Day in the book of Proverbs, I thought it fitting to spend Father’s Day in it as well. The introductory chapters of the book of Proverbs in particular act as a father’s advice to his son. While we will be primarily spending time in Proverbs 2 this morning, I would encourage the curious to read more as Solomon’s wisdom is laid out for his son to learn from and he encourages his son to pursue it as though it were the most important thing in the world. And in a way, Solomon presents wisdom as the most important thing in the world, and as Christians, we can agree that right after salvation (namely being restored to a right relationship with God through Jesus Christ), Godly wisdom is a great thing to chase after and will lead to a great many benefits in every area of our lives.

Before we get too far into things, I found a quote that might be helpful for some of us who have a hard time distinguishing between knowledge and wisdom.

First, a word about wisdom. What is it? We must not confuse it with knowledge. Knowledge is information; wisdom is application. Knowledge is comprehending facts; wisdom is handling life. Knowledge is theoretical; wisdom is practical.

Roger Ellsworth

Proverbs is all about wisdom and pursuing it for the incredibly valuable thing that it is. It is a collection of wise sayings from various authors, most notably Solomon, that should encourage the reader in small bite sized snippets for how to behave in life in such a way that our productivity is maximized, our faith is solidified and our lives and souls are protected. The main idea for this message today is that pursuing wisdom as outlined in Proverbs not only equips us for righteous living, but also draws us closer to Christ, who is the true source of wisdom and security.

1. Prioritize Pursuing Wisdom

Proverbs 2:1–5 NIV

My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

This is the starting point… the first step to the path a father encourages his son to take. Solomon is known as the wisest man that ever lived. (1 Kings 3:12 “behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you.” ) It stands to reason then that Solomon would want his children to be wise. How do you become wise? It’s one of the perks of getting older, but you can speed along its acquisition by actively searching for it. Learn from those who have it. Solomon begins his charge to his son by telling him to watch for it, to incline his ear for it, to cry for discernment and raise his voice for understanding. Seek after it as though it were precious silver and hidden treasures.

Pursue wisdom as though it is the most valuable thing you could possibly acquire. Next to salvation and a relationship with Jesus Christ, there are few things in life as valuable as wisdom. But what does Solomon indicate his son will find when he makes wisdom his soul objective?

Fear of the LORD and the knowledge of God. There is a great deal we could dive into regarding the Fear of the LORD, but suffice it to say that ultimately it revolves around having a right attitude as we approach God. We are talking about respect and humility and a genuine fear that God is all-powerful… namely He could wipe us from existence if He so willed it. Praise God that He doesn’t do that and that He has been very clear in His word about His expectations and desires. Praise God that He is loving and cares for His own!

Ultimately, this is the place in which we need to start. Look for wisdom. Acquire the fear of the LORD. Everything else that Solomon talks about builds from this foundation. Without it, we are in no position to do much of anything and will likely make a great mess of things.

2. Protection and Discernment

Proverbs 2:6–9 NIV

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path.

These verses make clear that God is the source of all wisdom and understanding. Solomon points out the foundation in the previous verses and here underscores the importance of that foundation as we begin to build upon it. Through God given wisdom, we are able to walk confidently forward knowing that HE is leading. He is protecting those who listen to His wisdom. If you have the foundation of the Fear of the LORD, you know that you are walking in integrity. Solomon declares that He is not only a shield, but He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of His godly ones.

This is a call to right behavior and to doing the right thing. There is an assurance that God is watching when we do the right thing and will be there with us and will bless us. We need to be careful not to read something here that is not being said. There is no guarantee that good behavior leads to blessings all the time, nor bad behavior to punishments. The book of Job speaks against such notions. Rather, because God is watching all that transpires, even when we experience the bad things that happen in life, God knows and sees. In His wisdom, He allows things to happen that will lead to our benefit and growth. His preservation and provision is not conditional upon our behavior, rather He will make all things right, but we must be patient to see the fullness of what He is accomplishing.

As we learn to trust in His protection, we begin to discern some of why He does what He does and we begin to trust that He has purposes for what happens. We begin to see “every good path” as Solomon says in verse 9… we understand “right” and “just” and “fair” a little more like how God sees it.

3. Protection from Wickedness

Proverbs 2:10–15 NIV

For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who have left the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.

Here Solomon moves into the blessings that come with wisdom. There is a sense of protection and discernment that comes with it and it makes sense. To be wise is not simply to know, but to understand.

The idea here is that as you pursue the things of God, particularly wisdom, you are inevitably safeguarding yourselves against a great deal of the evil and wickedness that is out there. By pursuing wisdom, you are better able to identify that which is good for you and that which is not. You can spot evil intentions more effectively and thus avoid them more efficiently.

Despite being written long before Christ was born, to wisely consider following Solomon’s advice would put us well on our way to pursuing Christ-likeness. If anyone in all of scripture, or indeed all of history, were wiser than Solomon in his prime, it would be Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The same Jesus who called to His followers to come and follow Him. These proverbs paint a beautiful portrait of what that looks like.

Look at the benefits of wisdom. It not only guards us, but saves us from the ways of the wicked. Discernment enables us to quickly identify the motives and tactics of those who would seek to influence us. It helps us understand the difference between that which is in the light and that which is in the dark. It might seem like we should have no problems identifying those who are crooked and perverse, but life isn’t always so clear. As much as I would love it if we could identify the “bad guys” out there by their maniacal laugh, such as in a Bugs Bunny cartoon, life is much more subtle and we need that God-given wisdom to begin to understand the hearts of those who would seek to influence us.

4. Preserving Against Seduction

Proverbs 2:16–19 NIV

Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God. Surely her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead. None who go to her return or attain the paths of life.

Here is a theme that will arise throughout the next few chapters of Proverbs… the adulteress. This is a darker theme personified in a seductive woman and is clearly someone to be avoided. Let us carefully consider what the adulteress represents.

Seduction comes to mind right from the start… the essence of temptation, which of course leads to sin. As Solomon has already presented godly things such as Fear of the LORD and pursuing righteousness as things we should aim for, these are the things that will take us away from those goals. Solomon presents the adulteress as an alluring woman very intentionally. Not to say that there is something wrong with females, rather wisdom is also personified as a different woman also seeking your attention, just going about it in a different, more appropriate way. You can see hints of it in Proverbs chapter 1, but it also comes up in the following chapters more explicitly. No, there is nothing wrong with attraction, but rather when we allow that attraction to overtake us and to lead us away from righteous pursuits. This is the embodiment of temptation. Anything that would seek to distract you from the things of God can be compared to this adulteress. It could be lust, it could be greed, it could be gossip, gambling or any other number of vices. It could be more subtle things, or even things that didn’t exist at the time. Technology has had a dramatic impact on people’s ability to accomplish things, and while it can be used constructively, it also has the potential to distract and sabotage.

Fighting temptation is a battle that every individual faces, but believers in particular should be more aware of it. Wisdom shields us from seductive temptations and helps us understand how to navigate the difficult paths of life. In today’s world, we need all the help we can get. Pursue God’s wisdom and pursue God’s Spirit. Only through such things will we be able to understand the twisting paths of life better and to follow God’s leading to follow that narrow path Jesus talked about in Matthew 7:13–14 which says: ““Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

5. Securing Righteousness

Proverbs 2:20–22 NIV

Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

I am thankful that Solomon gives his wisdom is smaller packets. Each of the early chapters in Proverbs acts as a complete packet, while later in the book, individual verses or pairs of verses are self contained wisdom nuggets to learn from. Here as Solomon closes one packet, he declares that if you do all the things that he has proposed, you will be well on your way in the paths of righteousness. The picture is painted of a virtual paradise and the clear declaration is that the wicked will not have access to this blessed result. It is likely that Solomon is talking about heaven rather than some place on earth because we know that no such place exists here on earth where evil people cannot access it.

But the righteous have full access to such a place and that will be the ultimate reward we are promised.

Conclusion

Let’s get back to our main point. Pursuing wisdom as outlined in Proverbs not only equips us for righteous living but also draws us closer to Christ, who is our true source of security.

Perhaps more than most passages, the book of Proverbs offers extremely practical advice for daily living that could be directly applied to our current circumstances. And considering that this book is several thousand years old, it is remarkable that God saw fit to inspire the authors to write it such that it would be relevant at virtually all points in history.

Even so, it is important for us to consider a proper path from the passage to our daily lives. The verses we examined today were written for Solomon’s son and then they were passed down to the people. The wise advice obviously transcended beyond the one family and has blessed many throughout the generations. But this wisdom also points us to Christ because we know that true righteousness, one of the primary goals Solomon is hoping to encourage his son to achieve, only comes through Christ. Thus, the wisest choice anyone could ever make is to put their trust in Jesus Christ. As we pursue wisdom, understanding, and righteousness, and we have an established relationship with Christ as our Savior, then we are inclined to gain further wisdom for life, which would lead us back to the Proverbs and the God given wisdom Solomon recorded. We can carefully consider how these verses not only apply to his son back then, but to us today as there are many things we can learn from these wise words.

The advice given in the opening chapters of the book in particular finds relevance on a day like Father’s Day as it is a father’s advice to his son. As a dad, I often wonder what the best way to raise my children would be. I’d love to say I have all the answers and that if you follow an easy 12 step process, you too can have perfect children, but the truth is that we are all human, and we all make mistakes and hopefully we are learning from them. Parents are going to make mistakes in raising their children. Children are going to make mistakes in being raised by their parents. It’s not a matter of if we do something wrong, but when. The question arises of what do we do about it? Solomon tries his best to teach his son to be proactive and try to prevent possible problems, but it all starts from the first step of pursuing God given wisdom and a right relationship with our heavenly Father (the fear of the LORD).

We are all seeking answers to questions that arise as we go through life. Sometimes we find good answers, othertimes, we struggle to find the right answer and we settle for something that is good enough. So, making sure that we set our sights on the most important things is really where we find our best strides forward in the right direction. And for Solomon, that meant starting with aiming at the Lord and seeking out wisdom. Those two things, while seemingly separate are so intricately connected that you cannot find one without stumbling across the other in some sense or another. The wisest among us acknowledge the interconnected relationship wisom has with the Spirit of God.

Considering the content of the book of Proverbs, we would do well to put into practice the words shared. Start with pursuing wisdom. That’s where we all need to start in our lives. Pursue it. Chase it. Treat it like a treasure you have discovered and will stop at nothing to acquire. There are myriad benefits to achieving it. And it is one of those things that the more you pursue it, the more you will acquire. And you will begin to reap the benefits of that acquisition almost immediately, and all the more so, the further along you go and the more wisdom you acquire.