Posted by Jeff Short on July 9, 2016 · 1 Comment
It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
– Proverbs 3:8
Following the three previous directions will render benefits. Health has the thought of healing and marrow of moistening, thus strengthening the bones. The navel and the bones point to strengthening the body within and thereby working out. It’s a picture of how wisdom works. It gets within us and works out at our lips, hands, and feet. Also, in general terms, wisdom is a healthier way of life than the way of folly.
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 8, 2016 · 1 Comment
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
– Proverbs 3:7
Solomon gives three directions to walking in wisdom. Being wise in your own eyes is to be resistant to correction and instruction (Proverbs 9:7-8; 13:1; 15:12; 26:12). It is a mark of a fool and of pride. So, first, Solomon teaches we must be humble to receive wisdom. We must confess we lack wisdom and seek it. Positively, he says to fear the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7) and brings us to life (Proverbs 14:27). Lastly, he admonishes to turn back from working mischief. He counters our natural bent on all three points. Our natural inclinations are to think ourselves wise, not regard the Lord, and to go after evil. Walking in wisdom is counter to all three.
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 7, 2016 · 1 Comment
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
– Proverbs 3:6
Acknowledge means to know or be aware of but also has a relational aspect to it that conveys fellowship. We are to acknowledge the Lord from verse 5 and do so in all of our ways. If we are to have fellowship with God in all our ways, then we must be walking in wisdom and not leaning on our own understanding. We must be in agreement with him in our ways. When we do this, he directs our paths. To direct is to make plain and the intention is that the Lord will make plain the way we should go. When we trust in the Lord, lean not on our own understanding, and acknowledge him in all our ways, then he makes the way plain before us. Making straight, or making plain, the way is contrasted with the crooked and perverse ways of the wicked also presented in Proverbs.
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 6, 2016 · 1 Comment
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
– Proverbs 3:5
Trust and lean both point to being fully supported. It indicates a full reliance and not just a little help or aid. Our full reliance and full confidence is to be in the Lord and his wisdom. Solomon warns that we have a natural inclination and tendency (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25), but we are to abandon that for the heavenly wisdom. Paul speaks similarly that the natural mind has a bent and needs to be renewed (Ephesians 4:23; Colossians 3:10; Romans 12:2).
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 5, 2016 · 1 Comment
So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
– Proverbs 3:4
Solomon gives the result of binding mercy and truth about your neck and writing them on your heart or mind. Favor is grace and understanding is discretion, some say success. This verse reinforces that mercy and truth have to do with personal relations. The qualities of wisdom make a man well received in general. The sight of God and man teaches that no one needs to advertise they have wisdom. It will be apparent to others. Solomon elsewhere reminds us that the wise don’t always find lasting favor (Ecclesiastes 9:15).
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 4, 2016 · 1 Comment
Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
– Proverbs 3:3
Mercy and truth are often paired together and expressed of God’s faithfulness to his promises. In a sense the terms have to do with relation to man. Here they stand for uprightness in relation to our fellow man. Mercy is a selfless love and faithfulness. It is sometimes translated as steadfast love. Truth is opposed to falsehood and hypocrisy. It is for what is right. These are expressive of the integrity brought to one’s life by wisdom.
Solomon exhorts to not let them forsake or fail. In order to this, he commands them bound about your neck and written upon the table of your heart. The intent is not a literal writing or binding of the words on one’s body, but that they become a part of you through wisdom. Let them enter through wisdom and ever be a part of your character.
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 3, 2016 · 1 Comment
For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
– Proverbs 3:2
These are blessings of wisdom. This is a general truism. It doesn’t guarantee that every individual who is wise lives a long life on the earth. Solomon reminds in Ecclesiastes that advantage and prosperity are not always to the wise (Ecclesiastes 9:11). However, this is the general trend of wisdom. One who walks in wisdom generally avoids the pitfalls of folly that end life early for those who walk that way. Beside this, the days, whatever number, of the wise are generally in peace, which points to safety and a contented happiness. The one who dwells in wisdom is generally at peace with neighbors and family and not dwelling in a continual state of agitation and strife.
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Posted by Jeff Short on July 2, 2016 · 1 Comment
Chapter 3 exhorts us in the study of truth. Unquestionably, God gives wisdom and is the source of it, but that is not a shortcut. Study is not excluded because we ask wisdom from God. He has given us means of obtaining wisdom and we are to seek wisdom through those. This chapter teaches us some of the practical means of obtaining wisdom and some of the practical effects of wisdom. We learn here that walking in wisdom is walking with God. The chapter ends with the contrasted destinies of the righteous and the wicked.
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
– Proverbs 3:1
Verses 1-10 urge a full and joyful commitment to wisdom so that we do not lean on our own understanding but trust fully in the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6). The latter verses of this section illustrate the evidence of such a commitment to wisdom and the fruit produced by it. It gives us the picture of a happy and quiet life.
Verse 1 continues the fatherly directions to his son. He admonishes his son to “forget not” and to “keep”. The word for forget means to mislay something. It has the idea of losing something through lack of attention and care. The word for keep means to guard and to watch so as to preserve. In a sense the words are opposites of one another. Solomon tells his son to commit to this and be deliberate about guarding it so you don’t lose it.
The son is to guard the “law” and “commandments” of his father. The word for law means a teaching or instruction. It commonly refers to the law given to Moses or even the Pentateuch as a whole. Here it is the law of the father, or the wisdom he teaches through inspiration of the Spirit that applies the law to the individual. Commandments are commands and, taken with law, encompasses the whole of divine instruction. This brings us back to the Word of God and that there is no obtaining and keeping of wisdom apart from God’s Word.
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Proverbs 3:8
Posted by Jeff Short on July 9, 2016 · 1 Comment
It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Following the three previous directions will render benefits. Health has the thought of healing and marrow of moistening, thus strengthening the bones. The navel and the bones point to strengthening the body within and thereby working out. It’s a picture of how wisdom works. It gets within us and works out at our lips, hands, and feet. Also, in general terms, wisdom is a healthier way of life than the way of folly.– Proverbs 3:8
Listen to the Proverbs sermon series
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