Proverbs 3:21-35

That wisdom is the true foundation and meaning of the universe.

He is urging us to take it to heart and to make it our own as outsiders who put our hope in him.

That is the third thing the sage is urging upon us, in verses 21–26, where he changes his style to direct address:

My son, do not lose sight of these—keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck… for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught. (Proverbs 3:21, 22, 26)

This paragraph is about personal safety.

As we grow in wisdom, God protects us from the land mines that sin has hidden here in his world.

The Lord himself is with us.

That’s how verse 26 can be translated.

When we read, “the Lord will be your confidence,” it means he will be our companion.

The alternative translation of the Hebrew is, “The Lord will be at your side.”

When the Apostle Paul was suffering, the Lord was at his side: “At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me” (2 Timothy 4:16, 17).

The longer you and I live, the more stories we have to tell of the Lord standing at our side strengthening us.

We are not trusting wisdom as an impersonal cosmic force; we are trusting the living Christ to stay close moment by moment, because he has promised, “I will be at your side.”

Now in verses 27–35 Solomon explains what wisdom creates here in God’s magnificent world, which has been hijacked by stupidity and death.

But the risen Jesus is pouring out his Spirit to create a new culture of life, called the church.

Wisdom: A Culture of Life amid a Culture of Death

Solomon made three points in the first section, and now he makes three points in the second section about a new culture of life: help your needy neighbor, protect your innocent neighbor, avoid your violent neighbor....Let’s break it down.

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go and come again, tomorrow I will give it”—when you have it with you. (Proverbs 3:27, 28)

First, in a culture of life people help each other as much as they can. We cannot do the impossible.

We cannot give what we do not have.

But when it is in our power to do it, when we have it with us, wisdom says, “Give it away.”

The grace of Jesus taught the Apostle Paul to say, “I am a debtor” (Romans 1:14, nkjv).

He did not see himself as a demander but a debtor. Nobody owed him a hearing.

He won a hearing by loving people the way God loved him—graciously.

Let me show you how radical this is.

Verse 27 says, “Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due.”

But also note the alternative translation in the esv margin: “Do not withhold good from its owners.”

If you have good you can do for somebody, then legally you own it, but morally they own it.

The state has no right to force you to be generous.

And no one can walk into your house and start helping themselves to your things and say, “The Bible says I own it.”

But what the Bible says to you is, “You shall not withhold.”

We sin against each other not only by the bad things we do but also by the beautiful things we withhold.

Withheld love is a life-depleting sin. It is a sin to tell ourselves, “I’m not doing anybody any harm.”

The question is, what good are you withholding?

Jesus withheld no good thing from you.

Okay, now we know how to build a culture of life, by his power.

A culture of life is where people love each other openly and eagerly with the love of Jesus.

All around us are opportunities to breathe life into more people.

We cannot do everything.

But we can do something, for his sake.

If we have the ability, they have the ownership.

And we owe it today, not tomorrow.

Second, in a culture of life people protect each other.

Solomon makes that positive point with his negative prohibitions:

Do not plan evil against your neighbor, who dwells trustingly beside you. Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm. (Proverbs 3:29, 30)

Trust is the glue that holds community together.

What do a husband and wife, for example, most need from each other? Trust.

The Lord calls us to trust him unreservedly (v. 5), because trust is the platform on which a real relationship can happen.

We all know what it is like to trust someone, and then he or she turns against us.

That is painful, because trust is so profound.

What then does wisdom say to us here?

Negatively, do not be a faultfinding, critical person, ready to pounce on some well-meaning individual with a “Gotcha!”

That is a culture of death.

But Heaven has come down to us through Christ.

He defended us when we deserved the opposite.

So, let’s stick up for our innocent neighbors.

That is wisdom, creating a culture of safety in a world of attack.

Third, in a culture of life the wise keep their distance from the violent:

Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence. (Proverbs 3:31, 32)

The way things are now, violent people succeed, and we are tempted to envy them.

It starts early, with the bully on the playground who is also in the popular crowd.

People fear and envy the violent.

So the violent run the world.

God says in verse 32, “That’s an abomination.” In other words, it turns God’s stomach.

But God loves to defend those whom no one else defends.

He is involved in this world.

He is not standing aloof.

He is no bystander or spectator.

Whatever abuse you suffer, no one can take this from you: “The upright are in his confidence” (v. 32).

Being close to Christ is better than being on top of the world.

He has all authority in Heaven and on earth.

If they drive you out, the Lord will take you in.

“Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble he gives favor” (v. 34).

Humble yourself and trust him with all your heart.

The Septuagint translates verse 34 in a way you might be familiar with: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (quoted in James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5).

We can and will do that, depending on how we understand verse 35, the final verse in the passage: “The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace.”

Your everything depends on how you read that verse.

Who are “the wise”?

Who are the “fools”?

Who really are the winners and losers in this world?

Whose stock is rising, whose stock is falling?

How you answer that question reveals everything about you, because how you answer that question reveals how you see the cross of Jesus.

From one point of view, the cross is for losers and failures and weaklings and outsiders.

From the opposite point of view, the cross represents everything to be trusted, admired, embraced.

What about you?

How do you feel about that man hanging on the cross, that man betrayed, excluded, humiliated by this brilliant world?

How you feel about that crucified man reveals who you are at your deepest core, whether wise or foolish, because in fact his stock is rising now and forever in resurrection power.

Here is the future: the wise in Christ will inherit the honor of Christ.

Why not become a part of that?

[1]Raymond C. Ortlund Jr., Preaching the Word: Proverbs—Wisdom That Works, ed. R. Kent Hughes (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012), 76–80.