Things You Need to Know... from Proverbs
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The Book of Proverbs are the collected wise sayings of the people of Israel. Proverbs includes the Proverbs of Solomon, king of Israel, some of which were later written down by King Hezekiah’s men, a man named Agur who was the son of Jakeh and King Lemuel.
The purpose of Proverbs: to describe what wisdom looks like for the child of God. To remind the people of God that true wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord - both a reverence for the true Lord but also to fear his judgment when he is rejected and disobeyed. Proverbs also shows how to live the obedient life of faith in practical ways by describing everyday situations and various kinds of relationships.
The Book of Proverbs begins here:
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”
Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”
1 kings 4:29-30
29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, 30 so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.
He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.
Notice that Solomon asked the Lord, he prayed t the Lord - for wisdom.
He didn’t say I need to be more wise - he knew only the Lord could do this in him.
Matt Emerson - For most Christians today, the book of Proverbs is a lot like a Christian Advice column or a Christian Life Caoch. “What do I do in this situation, or with this emotion?” This isn’t wrong. Scripture is profitable for training in righteousness, after all (2 Tim. 3:16). - Matt Emerson
David Murray calls Proverbs the Old Testament’s Twitter. Hundreds of short and memorable statements on topics such as speech and moral purity and business and anger and hard work. It goes on and on.
More important - “
(1) Proverbs is part of the word of Christ through which Jesus reveals himself to needy sinners
All of Scripture must be seen as the Word of Christ
And so, when we read
Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding,
We need to understand that Jesus is the greater wisdom, the perfect wisdom, the eternal wisdom, the source of wisdom, the giver of wisdom.
If you become better at life, if you develop better people skills, better business skills, better moral and emotional skills from the book of Proverbs but you do not find Jesus and find in him the salvation of your soul, you will be like the one to whom Jesus said, what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul.
You will be like Peter in John 6:68. Jesus asked the disciples if they were going to walk away from him like others had done and Peter said, To whom would we go? You alone have the words of eternal life.
And so, in Proverbs we must see our need for a savior and we must allow Proverbs to reveal us the Savior who gives hope and wisdom to needy sinners.
(2) The inspiration of Proverbs, the Author of Proverbs and the Eternality of Christ...
The inspiration of Scripture, the Author of Scripture and the eternality of Christ...
God wrote a book, Jesus is eternal. We should expect to see a unity and an overlap within Scripture.
The teachings of Jesus and the teachings of Proverbs
In the Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5-7, His first public sermon, Jesus quotes from or alludes to Proverbs numerous times – someone counted seven times in the first thirty verses. And He ended that first sermon by calling people to be like the wise man who built his house on the rock.
In Proverbs we see the eternal wisdom of the Godhead:
We see the sovereignty of the Father
We see the wisdom of Jesus
We see the discernment of the Spirit
As in all of Scripture, especially the ministry of Jesus and the teaching of Proverbs, we see the collision of God’s eternal wisdom and sinful man’s free will...
(3) You must stop looking inward and start looking upward
1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments, 2 for length of days and years of life and peace they will add to you. 3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
This passage presents an impossible task - But we also see Jesus in this passage
Old Testament believers read their Bible to find out about the Savior, just as we do. What then did they find out about Him in the book of Proverbs? If they expected a Creator from Genesis; an Emancipator from Exodus; a Priest and a Sacrifice from Leviticus; a Guide from Numbers; a Covenanter from Deuteronomy; a Captain from Joshua; a Judge from Judges; a Redeemer from Ruth; a King from Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles; a Rebuilder from Ezra and Nehemiah; an Innocent Sufferer from Job; and a Worship Leader from Psalms, what did they expect from reading Proverbs?
They expected Mr. Wisdom. The book of Proverbs showed them their ignorance, error, and folly and made them cry out for the wisdom of God that’s portrayed in various ways in it.
I need to be this. I need to be that.
May we seek to develop a prayer list and not an improvement list? Lord, create in me a clean heart, create in me a desire for wisdom, a desire for discernment, the transforming power of the Spirit who makes us like Jesus
An appeal to read one chapter of Proverbs a day for a year… for your life...
Father, you have told us in the word what you desire, Jesus you have become for us our Savior, Spirit you are able to conform us to the image of Christ.