Proverbs 1-2: Simpleminded or Wise

What is the purpose of Proverbs?

Proverbs 1:2–7 “To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

To know = Ya’da = experiential knowledge

wisdom and instruction

Hokmah

General knowledge

Practical knowledge

Spiritual discernment

What could you need wisdom for?

righteousness, justice, equity

Prudence to the simple

Knowledge and discretion to the youth

You could use wisdom for all things. It’s the fabric upon which humanity is structured!

Proverbs are generally accepted instructions for living the “good life.” They aren’t promises and it isn’t a formula.

The world is much more complex than a formulaic approach. Humans love to systematize God. But we forget God is so much bigger and sometimes we categorize something as good that God categorizes as bad.

It is Proverbs not promises. It’s a general rule that if you do this you are just increasing your odds of living a good life.

But it isn’t just about living a good life. It’s a decision on how you want to live life. Face-to-face with God or by my own principles.

Eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and bad was choosing wisdom, choosing life based on my own understanding apart from God.

Eating from the tree of life keeps me in close proximity to God. Adam and Eve were living life with God. Face-to-face with him. In intimate communion with God.

Wisdom isn’t just about how to practically live a good life, it’s about discerning between two options every day.

Eat from the tree of this world —> Live life on your own. By your own ways and your own wisdom. And it’ll lead to death.

Eat from the tree of life —> Proximity to God. Experiential knowledge of God. The tangible manifest presence of God. Walk with God. Eternal purpose.

I can read Proverbs, memorize Proverbs, but if I don’t get face-to-face with God and understand the heart behind this user manual, I won’t develop the experiential knowledge required to enact in Hokmah.

The first 9 chapters are written in an exhortation, an encouragement for just that! Why we should desire wisdom and how to read and understand this thing called wisdom.

It’s written from the perspective of a father to his son.

Solomon at this time has endured many spiritual wins and losses. Solomon has eaten from the tree of good and bad and he has eaten from the tree of life.

Solomon is petitioning the reader to please listen. Don’t make the same mistakes he did. He tried living life by the tree of good and bad and he describes the life it led to throughout Proverbs.

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Solomon personifies wisdom as a woman.

Proverbs 4:6–7 “Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight.”

Solomon’s kryptonite. Solomon’s fatal flaw was his love for excessive women. It’s not coincidental that he personifies wisdom as a woman.

Solomon’s description of a person’s love for wisdom is akin to a husband for his wife.

v8: Cherish her, and she will exalt you. Embrace her, and she will honor you

Then for nearly 3 full chapters, Proverbs 5-7 you see Solomon speaking out of his heart. His pain and his mistakes. He did not love his first wife as he described one’s love for wisdom. And

Proverbs 5:3–12 “For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it. And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others and your years to the merciless, lest strangers take their fill of your strength, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, and at the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are consumed, and you say, “How I hated discipline, and my heart despised reproof!”

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Purpose of the Proverbs: Proverbs 1:1-7

Repent: Proverbs 1:20-33

If you can’t be rebuked and repent then you have no business progressing and deepening your knowledge in the Proverbs.

Proverbs 1:23 “If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you.”

Proverbs 1:27–31 “when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.”

The point is, wisdom is like a savings account. You need to build it up before you need it.

If you are offended by godly rebuke of your sin, Proverbs says good luck. If you are offended that’s probably an area that needs work.

Willingness to hear rebuke and repent is so fundamental to proverbs because if you can’t do that, then you won’t have the fear of the Lord. And proverbs says:

Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.”

Solomon says if you accept his words and rebukes…

Proverbs 2:5–6 “then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;”

The point is you can’t progress if you don’t get past offense.

Many times we ask God to speak and wonder why we are stuck in the same loop of sin or purposelessness.

Proverbs 1:32 “For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;”

Simple: Naive, inexperienced, gullible, easily deceived,

It’s to be open figuratively. To be open in your mind like children and young people.

Adam and Eve in the garden are put in a metaphorical state of childlike wisdom. And they were easily deceived.

How do you know if you are simple minded? If you are naive?

If you are looking for ways to rationalize or work through technicalities that’s being simple minded:

Can I make out with my GF or is it technically sinning?

Is it technically wrong to flip someone off or drop an F-bomb? I mean it means different things in different cultures, right? It’s all based on context.

Do I have to tithe or is it just an OT thing and I can just do it when I feel like it?

If you just felt a bit of offense, it’s either convection or there’s a stronghold on your life.

These are the wrong questions. You should be asking what is God’s heart? I want to be close to God because of my deep love for him. Not how far can I go while not sinning.

That’s making it a formula not a relationship.

You are reading Proverbs, you are reading the Bible, God’s law, God’s instructions from a formulaic perspective whereby you can squeeze your way into heaven.

We have all gone through this process. Be honest. Are you easily convinced to do something your Spirit or wise counsil says is probably a bad idea?

You need to get to step 1: understand your identity in Christ, and the LOVE of God, the heart of God.

Solomon is saying how long are you going to love being gullible like Adam and Eve.

If you are simpleminded you need to read proverbs, you need to read the Bible to get this:

Understanding God’s heart

Understanding your identity in Jesus

Understanding the cross, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Desire wisdom to desire to get closer to God.

I encourage you to sit and meditate in Proverbs 1-9. Solomon’s pleas for you to desire wisdom. Read it from the perspective of this is why God gave the law and rules.

Proverbs 3:2 “for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.”

Proverbs 3:10 “then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”

God gave you the law, he gave you discernment, he gave you his Bible because he wants you to live a long and good life of peace, prosperity, and joy. He doesn’t always promise it because he has his holistic and eternal and eyesight. But he really does just want the best for you. And he loves you so very much.

If you don’t properly understand God’s heart in this you won’t find your identity in Jesus. You won’t experientially understand wisdom. It will be head knowledge and a life hack. And that is no wisdom at all.

Remember the shame conversation yesterday? If you are living and sitting in shame that’s a place you need to get out of before you progress to God’s heart.

If you feel shame like you aren’t progressed in your sanctification process I want to encourage you. Sanctification is both circular and linear. You go over the same cycle but you go further every time.

Sanctification is like the wheels of a car. You need to go in the same circle each time you want to roll forward. But you are rolling forward. You may feel stuck because you have to do the same process the same thing over and over again.

God keeps saying, you need to open this closet. And you feel stuck and back at stage one. But you are rolling forward.

Think of a bumpy and twisted, knotted piece of wood. Tons of knots, tons of junk in this messy piece of oak. That’s your life. Full of mess, full of problems. Full of past hurt. But God is there sanding the wood down, chipping away at it. Smoothing it out. Some areas are messier than others and God has to go over it many times.

You’re back here God? I thought I was over this. I feel like you’ve sanded this part down so much, it hurts and feels so raw. Maybe you were over it at the level you were at prior. But you are getting deeper. You are going deeper. You are getting a closer understanding of who God is and what he made you for.

Are you content to be processed into a general piece of 2x4 still filled with impurities. Or do you want to root out all the junk smooth out all the junk and be a beautiful dining table for kings.

The thing about knots and impurities in wood is that when those knots, when those impurities are fully smoothed and processed, they become the unique character of the wood. The once imperfections become its trademark beauty. Because the wood worker processed those imperfections with what that piece of wood was meant to be used for in mind.

We go through cycles. Just because you feel more shame now, or because you feel like you don’t see your identity in Christ like you should doesn’t mean you are back at square one. Maybe God wants to get your identity deeper in him.

If you have progressed in your sanctification process and you don’t get offended from rebuke or feedback. You look to do things not because God said so and I begrudgingly have to. But God said so and I want to get as close as possible to his heart. Read the Bible and read proverbs to grow in those aforementioned items. But also to live to good life. To excel in what God called you to. Read Proverbs from the perspective it was intended for:

Proverbs 1:2–7 “To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

Convo with Rafi - I feel like you can’t teach until you’ve had that heart encounter. You can’t dive into certain doctrine if the heart isn’t ready and primed for it.

Just like Pursuit broke the ground and wasn’t looking for harvest. They were softening the heart, so that another can come around and harvest the crop.

A Christian cannot be taught doctrine if they haven’t had a heart change in that area. Is there an area you can get lovingly corrected, and still take offense, or get very defensive? Regardless if the person challenging is wrong or not.

You’re looking for ways they’re wrong

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not speaking about coming from a sound mind and understanding biblical doctrine. We should discern words and determine if something is counter scripture.

But how fast are you to say they’re wrong without understanding that perspective. Or that depth with God? Not on primary doctrine. I’m speaking of things like how boldness is exercised. Maybe don’t look at things always from the negative, critical, or viewing the worst in people. Defensive, offended reactions show me that’s where a person has room for deliverance or depth in their relationship with God.