Shalom Y'all!

Proverbs 3:1–8 ESV

My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. 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.

Intro:

I love Ray Ortlund’s opening paragraph in his book on Proverbs.

WHY ARE WE STUDYING THE BOOK OF PROVERBS? Because we need more than ethical principles. We need new hearts. We need wisdom deep within, at an intuitive level, as we hurry from one complex decision to the next, moment by moment, in the concrete realities of our daily lives. Without God’s wisdom, many difficulties in life will remain confusing and threatening. With God’s wisdom entering our hearts, we get the hang of how life really works, and we come alive more and more. Irenaeus, the early Christian theologian, famously said, “The glory of God is man fully alive.” That is where Proverbs 3 wants to take us. Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., Preaching the Word: Proverbs—Wisdom That Works, ed. R. Kent Hughes (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 59.

He goes on to say that

“in Proverbs 3:1-8 God is showing us the way into Shalom” (p. 59)

What is shalom though?

It’s the peace that surpasses all understanding. It is a peace so profound that nothing can shake you. It is a peace that is only found in Christ. It is a peace that comes out a true understanding and embracing of Romans 8:31-39

Romans 8:31–39 ESV

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That is shalom. Whom shall I fear? Nothing. What shall I be anxious about? nothing. God is in complete control and I trust him. So I can say comfortably, shalom y’all.

I am going to take a different approach. Instead of trying to teach the whole chapter. I am going to teach the thing I want you most to hear from the chapter. I will give a big picture overview of the chapter but I am not going to teach every verse.

So what is the main point of this passage?

Main Idea: True peace in life is only found in wisdom that comes from the Lord.

Meat

The structure of these first 8 verses go something like this: Solomon gives wise counsel and then gives an incentive for listening to that counsel.

If you do this thing, generally these will be the results. So we are going to look at each of these couplets and break them down.

Counsel 1: Focus on the Word

Proverbs 3:1 ESV

1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,

E: Again we see the fatherly tine, reflecting God’s care for us.

Forget all the noise, don’t listen to the world. Listen to your father who loves you and cares for you.

Keep, guard, watch over…not merely obey. but really give your full attention to these.

I: distracted driving is dangerous. If you are not watching the road in full focus, it could be deadly.

Speed ft/sDistance in 3 seconds

30 mph~44 ft/s≈ 132 feet

40 mph~59 ft/s≈ 176 feet

50 mph~73 ft/s≈ 220 feet

60 mph~88 ft/s≈ 264 feet

70 mph~103ft/s roughly 308 feet

Taking our eyes off the Word can have devastating effect in our lives.

Incentive 1: True peace comes from the Lord.

Proverbs 3:2 ESV

2 for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you.

E: Wisdom is the natural fruit of keeping the Word.

Wisdom brings peace. Because true wisdom is not rooted in my knowledge or ability but in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

But what is peace? what does that look like? I think about peace kind of like an “I made it” attitude, like a level of comfort.

What is your “I made it” goal? Is it a career? a family? to make it to college? a championship in sports?

When these earthly things are taken away (because they can easily be taken away), what is your peace?

When your family betrays you or college suddenly is not an option or you are too injured or not good enough to play sports.

That’s why the Father here says trust in me and guard my word in your heart because I do not fail. You may lose family, jobs, career plans, or loved ones but you will never lose me.

Peace and joy are almost interchangeable. They root us in Christ so we can withstand the blindsides life throws at us.

Counsel 2: Live in love and faith.

Proverbs 3:3 ESV

3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

E: How would people in your life describe you?

Now sure there is an element of we don’t live to please people but I think if people would call you a mean, gossipping, jerk then you may need to evaluate your character.

God is a God of steadfast love and faithfulness as we see in Exodus 34:6

Exodus 34:6 ESV

6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,

lean into that love and faithfulness and let it shape who we are.

God is the center of our faith not us. So we should conform to his ways not the other way around.

we should be characterized by steadfast love and faithfulness (that’s what bind them around your neck and write them on your heart are trying to communicate).

Incentive 2: Living in love and faith leads to peace among the people.

Proverbs 3:4 ESV

4 So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.

E: This is not the prosperity gospel. These are not material promises but heart condition promises.

This also does not negate anything Jesus said about the world hating Christians because we follow Christ. Why? because if the world hates us, it is because we are living for Christ not because we are not loving and faithful people.

The idea here with these two incentives is that we will be at peace in our hearts personally (v. 2) and relationally (v. 4).

Counsel 3: Wholehearted trust is the best option.

Proverbs 3:5 ESV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

E: “all of your heart” How do you know if you are trusting in God with all of your heart? Ray Ortlund gives us three diagnostic questions, I am going to use two because one of them I was unsure about:

Do you let Bible overrule your thinking?

Sub question: what do you do when the Bible contradicts what you want to be true?

If you trust the Lord your will let the Bible challenge your most cherished thoughts and feelings.

When was the last time you took a risk to obey Christ?

When was the last time your life looked obviously different from the life of someone who does not trust Jesus at all?

Incentive 3: You will have a peaceful path to walk.

Proverbs 3:6 ESV

6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

E: he will make your path’s straight means that he will work out all things for your good.

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

This does not mean that you will be free from pain or struggle, but it does mean that you can peacefully walk your path because you know that God is working all things out for your good.

Counsel 4: Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.

Proverbs 3:7 ESV

7 Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

Fear the Lord, we are 3 chapters in and this has been mentioned in all 3 chapters. I think this is a pretty important heart condition to note.

Fear of the Lord leads us to humility, love, faithfulness, to turning away from evil, and to a focus on the Word.

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Don’t be a fool.

I think part of the reason we don’t properly fear the Lord is because we see God too small. He is the creator, sustainer, and Lord of all. Go read Job and tell me how God looks after that. Go read Exodus, Go read Leviticus. Just read and tell me how big God is and how small we are. The reason we have such a hard time fearing the Lord is because we have that reversed. We are big and He is small, but in reality, we are small and he is so much bigger than we can imagine.

Incentive 4: Fear of the Lord brings a peace to your soul.

Proverbs 3:8 ESV

8 It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones.

E: When you are fully at peace with the Lord then physical ailments don’t bother you quite as much.

I don’t think it’s fair to say that the incentive is good health because there are many faithful christian’s who are riddled with cancer or degenerative disease or some other thing

But I do think that what this incentive is saying is that you will be at peace with whatever your health brings. Good or bad. A healthy fear of the Lord will remind us that God is in control of all things and much like in the last incentive, he is working all things to the good of those who love him.

The rest of the chapter goes on to illustrate some more blessings of wisdom and I encourage you to read through those. But I think these first 8 verses set the foundation for the rest of those blessings and encouragements. because as we said at the beginning:

True peace in life is only found in wisdom that comes from the Lord.

We know that wisdom is only found in a true and genuine pursuit of Jesus Christ.