The Book of Proverbs starts with a letter from a wise father his son, and that letter is then followed by many practical instructions. It takes a huge amount of courage to read those, as it exposes all the ways people need guidance, wisdom, and discipline at the same time.
You may be thinking, why do you need discipline? Well, keep in mind that you and I are fools. The word of God tells us that everyone lacks true wisdom. Proverbs open by calling those people who think they are wise enough to also listen and improve their learning.
Correction or learning isn’t a bad thing. Instead, it is evidence of the love of God. If God did not discipline us, we would be killed by our foolishness by wandering into actions and thought patterns we think are right, but that actually results in death. People’s foolishness will ruin us if we’re left to ourselves. God wishes to guide us because he genuinely cares for us. We are certainly on the journey of death without the loving discipline of God.
What Everyone Can Learn about the Proverbs
In Proverbs 23:23, people are told to get wisdom, and Proverbs is one of the ideal places to learn and observe that wisdom. God provided us the book to teach us to efficiently walk in wisdom—that is, how to regulate and perform our lives. It helps us adapt our lives to the standards and characters of God.
Like all Scriptures, the Proverbs are from God. They present us a little of the compassion of God—that he truly cares enough about us to provide us with such thorough instructions for practicing and obtaining wisdom. Also, he doesn’t like us to live foolishly.
Throughout the book, God shows general truths about how everyone can perform themselves in aspects of life such as work, finances, relationships, and how we speak to other people. Those truths are then shrinking into small units through short parables, mottos, short comparisons, and figures of speech.
It teaches us principles
Proverbs do all the functions of Scripture stated in 2 Timothy 3:16. In Proverbs, God teaches people principles that will bring them contentment and peace, chides us for the things they have done in sin, presents us how to fix our way of life, and trains us how to live rightly. The book was also provided to improve our trust in God.
Solomon, who is the author of most of the Proverbs, remarks on their purpose in the first six verses of the book, and in verse seven, shows us the underlying foundation for wisdom.
The passages in Proverbs 9:10 and Proverbs 8:12 to 14 show how understanding, knowledge, and wisdom are bound together and how all are based on the fear of God. On top of that, the wisdom shared in Proverbs is considered godly wisdom, which has three features: the fear of the Lord, skill, and spirituality.
Keep in mind that fearing the Lord indicates having a deeper reverence and respect for God and His word, along with reverence and respect that lead to obedience. That attitude is discovered in people who are humble and can’t be found by a mocker or bought by a fool.
On top of that, Godly wisdom is spiritual at the same time. It enters into people’s hearts from God. The Holy Spirit who leaned on Christ was the Spirit of understanding and wisdom, the Spirit of might and counsel, the Spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.
It’s worth mentioning as well that Paul prayed over the Christians in Colossians that they’d understand God’s will, and it would provide you spiritual understanding and wisdom.
Wisdom is considered a skill
The capability to use and apply knowledge effectively. Did you know that wisdom is working knowledge? It’s made evident by what it achieves. According to Jesus, wisdom is presented to be right by its outcomes, and wisdom is demonstrated to be right by the lives of people who follow it.
Remember that wisdom could spoil or waste away if it’s not utilized. God questioned the people of Edom about the decay of wisdom there. In fact, he spoke against the Tyre city because she had corrupted her wisdom, in Ezekial 28:17.
In our current hostile world, wisdom offers us the capability to conquer difficulties. It will guarantee success in your undertakings. Further, wisdom could even improve the way you look. To have wisdom is to fear the Lord, to get spiritual understanding from him, to practice in a holy way the abilities and knowledge you have, and to keep growing on all those aspects, so that your life is continuously being conformed to the standards and characters of God.
Through studying, reading, and living out the Proverbs, you can move closer to that goal. If you’re interested in picking up a copy of the Book of Proverbs, this is a great site to do so: https://www.alabasterco.com/products/book-of-proverbs
