Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Spotify | TuneIn | RSS | More
Proverbs is:
- God’s education for children and in the first six verses He lays out His curriculum.
- Perfect for the TikTok generation because statements are short, precise, and pack valuable lessons with few words.
- Full of direct practical advice that has immediate application. You really don’t have to sort through much to get it. Why short? Because if Solomon wrote a 300 page dissertation on how wisdom is obtained, IF you even read it you’d forget half of it, or you’d get to the end and wonder what in the world he was talking about. Instead of a 300 page dissertation on how wisdom is obtained he writes a 10 word phrase that children can remember – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And he does this over and over again.
- Proverbs has a tragic backstory. Solomon wrote this down for his son who would be king. But the boy this was intended for never learned the lessons in Proverbs.
- Not on the job training or learning by experience. Some people take pride in learning from the school of hard knocks, but according to Proverbs that’s a fool’s way of learning what NOT to do because it takes too long and it costs too much. (Proverbs 22:3 A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. Proverbs 14:15 The prudent man looketh well to his going.)
- A book about educating children. There is not another book like it in the Bible that begins with the words of a father and ends with the words of a mother. God’s curriculum for children is superior to the world’s wisdom as is clearly seen in its benefits.
- A book of principles and precepts about life and death, righteousness and wickedness, wisdom and foolishness. A good way of understanding principles and precepts is this. I could say, “Seat belts save lives.” If you’re in a car wreck wearing a seatbelt you have a better chance of surviving. Do some people who wear a seatbelt die in car wrecks? Yes. Occasionally people wearing a seatbelt die. Occasionally people not wearing a seat belt get thrown from a car and survive. That doesn’t make the statement “seat belts save lives” false. But it shows sometimes there are other principles at work.
- A book about skillful living.
- A book that makes a distinction between two trinities. The first one is good; it’s the trinity of righteousness, wisdom, and life. The second is evil; it’s the trinity of wickedness, foolishness, and death.
Knowledge base
- To know wisdom and instruction
- In your education and your child’s education, you ought to emphasize what God emphasizes because the decisions in your life that determine what kind of life (and death) you have are moral decisions.
- If I have a child who can do quadratic equations, trinomials, etc… but cheats the people he works with, that child is not a success.
- God said wisdom is the principal thing. It’s the thing you can build on.
- Proverbs 1:2, Graduating from this book you will know wisdom and you’ll have the instruction manual of life.
- Wisdom is available. (James 1:5). Wisdom is FREE. Contrast wisdom with the world’s education which comes with a high price tag.
- Proverbs 2:6 – Wisdom comes from God. Where does wisdom come from?
- Proverbs 8:11 – Priceless. God puts the price of wisdom above all else.
- Proverbs 9:10 – Begins with the fear of the Lord
- Proverbs 10:21 – Preserves life
- Proverbs 14:8 – Understand his way
- Proverbs 29:15 – administered in chastening, corporeal punishment
Identifying understanding
- To perceive the words understanding is like recognizing something. Do you remember in school when you had to identify verbs and nouns? The Lord wants you to be able to identify understanding when you run into it.
- Understanding is to depart from evil (Job 28:28)
- Understanding is to obey God’s words (Psalm 111:10)
The LORD wants to put in your hands (To receive)
- You’ll learn in Proverbs the proper handling of complicated matters.
- Wisdom’s instruction manual.
- The instruction manual to do justice.
- The instruction manual and case law that explains good judgment and fairness.
Prevent trouble
- To give subtlety to the simple
- To give discretion to the young man
- Proverbs is intended to be preemptive because exposure to some things does not help you learn, it makes you want to sin.
- Christian parents have bought into the idea that their kids are exposed to the world so might as well get it over with. Be careful with that thought because experience in some cases weakens the conscience and breaks down boundaries. 1 Corinthians 6:18, 1 Timothy 6:11, 2 Timothy 2:22. Exposure does not always build strength.
- Exposure or Experience as an opposing force to strengthen – Secondly, opposition doesn’t work to your advantage to build strength unless you are already moving. Bringing in opposition to build strength in someone who is not moving in a direction just becomes a bad influence. In the weight room, my muscles don’t benefit from resistance unless I’m pushing in the opposite direction.
Someone wise is a student of wisdom (vs 5)
- Wisdom begets wisdom. (Jesus said wisdom is justified of her children.)
- Foolishness begets foolishness.
Full comprehension of the most valuable things
- To understand a proverb
- To understand the interpretation. Interpretation is critical. (“Descend 2400…” vs “descend to 400..” – The controller’s words “Descend Two Four Zero Zero” Descend to Four Zero Zero. (correct in the phraseologies of the time) was the origin of the current use of “Thousand” in the altitude call. In today’s words, it would have been “Descend to Two Thousand Four Hundred”.)
- To understand the words of the wise
- To understand their dark sayings
