Proverbs and Wisdom: Learning to Cope
Proverbs is a fabulous book of the Bible that is like a completely untapped mine. It is bursting with great wisdom from the past more relevant today than people realize. Proverbs is a book of proverbial wisdom. By that I mean that it is a collection of many different wisdom sayings from the sages of the past; accumulated knowledge for life. The name we associate and traditionally associated with the book is Solomon. There are many other collections of sayings in the book as well as the book itself claims.
But the purpose of all wisdom sayings is quite simple. This wisdom is divinely inspired understanding and insight into life itself that seeks to helps you cope with and succeed in life. A more practical purpose could hardly be imagined. Let’s read the first few verses again.
1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of
2 for attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence (shrewdness – almost craftiness) to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young-
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance-
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools [a] despise wisdom and discipline.
8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
In what are perhaps the most famous words in the book of Proverbs, chapter 3, we read
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight. [a]
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
Lady Wisdom’s Call
This book is trying to get the reader to take their moral/spiritual life more seriously specifically so that they will be successful. Being a success – in its truer sense – means more than just getting ahead financially. Real successful living depends upon spiritual wisdom, honesty, self-control, diligence, self-restraint, and appropriate attitudes about money. This is a basic theme of the book of Proverbs.
It all starts with “the fear of the Lord” which gives a whole different perspective in life and motivates all the right attitudes. A little later in chapter one, Wisdom is depicted as a woman, standing in the streets, calling on people to pay attention, to wake up, and to start living life with greater wisdom.
20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street,
she raises her voice in the public squares;
21 at the head of the noisy streets [b] she cries out,
in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:
22 "How long will you simple ones [c] love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
Wisdom also has a counterpart – Lady Folly – who is also in the streets trying to ensnare the young into her foolish and morally deviant ways. The book of Wisdom is asking us, “Which one of these great callings are you going to follow? Are you going to simply pursue lust and money, or wisdom and virtue? Both are calling on you this moment.”
Key Words and Concepts
There are three designations of people in the book in terms of their moral lives.
Some key words for wisdom are
Why would the Bible describe call us to “shrewdness.” We think of shrewdness as “wily, deceptive, self-serving, scheming, and manipulative.” This got translated into the almost always negative Greek panourgia – which means something like “ready to do anything.” Paul uses the word in Eph. 4:14 as a very bad thing – something that Christ is to save us from!! The word, like shrewd, has connotations that can go both ways, but mostly negative.
But Proverbs claims there is a shrewd element to wisdom. Wisdom claims that this life is really the best, even though it is challenging. Wisdom says, “If you really love yourself, you will be wise. If you want to be a success, you will be wise. If you are shrewdly concerned for your own self-preservation, you will be wise.” There is a shrewd element to wisdom in the book of Proverbs. In many ways, we have lost the language of wisdom. When was the last time you used the word “prudence”?
Where Wisdom Begins
The writers of Proverbs repeatedly remind us that wisdom begins with the “fear of the Lord.” You’ve probably heard people say, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” We had better talk about this for a minute since it is considered to be important by the writers. This is another one of those concepts that we have largely lost in our day-and-age. Again, I think there is really something here to recover.
I was talking to a young man several says ago who said, “My mother was taught to fear the Lord. She taught me the same. I want my children to be taught to love the Lord.” I can understand this and appreciate it. But I do think that we all need to fear the Lord. Often people say, “What we need is not so much to fear the Lord, but to hold the Lord in great awe and respect. It is more a matter of honoring the Lord than actually fearing the Lord.”
I have a real profound truth for you. I know exactly what it means to fear the Lord. It means to fear the Lord. It means that God is a great big God and that he sometimes is ticked off at what we do. We live in a world that God created. God created not just natural laws (like gravity) but moral laws (like charity). According to God’s moral laws, when we act outside the bounds of God’s will, we are going up against God’s holy will. Just like a ship being thrown by the wind into a reef of rocks, the ship will always loose.
When we ignore God’s moral laws, we actually tick God off. There are things that you do that tick God off. That make God angry. That put you out of favor and relationship with God. You ought to care. If you could foresee the day of judgment, you would be frightened. You don’t want to tick God off. Be afraid. That healthy fear of God is a great motivator to moral living.
The Morality and Practicality of Wisdom
You might want to say, “What kind of moral motivation is that? Shouldn’t we want to do good because it is right – whether we are punished or not? Isn’t fear of God basically fear of punishment? Isn’t that an inferior motivation? Shouldn’t we want to do what is right out of love for neighbor instead of fear of God?” I think the answer is “yes, of course. But that is not where wisdom begins. Hopefully it is where wisdom ends. But wisdom begins with shrewdly considering your own welfare.” Not a good idea to tick God off. God is the judge and can make you suffer. On the other hand, wisdom can lead you to deeper motivations and concerns. But wisdom begins with shrewdness – self-preservation. Why does wisdom begin there? Because that is where we are. Now as always, God begins with where we are. Our fundamental motivations are self-centered, self-preservation, self-interest. Start there with your quest for wisdom. Don’t end there but start there.
How practical is this notion of “The Fear of the Lord.” It sounds, at first blush, like simply out-dated language that has no application in our day and age. But I think if we go a little deeper, we discover that the idea of the fear of the Lord still has modern practicality. It is simply saying, “Do you care what God thinks? Do you realized that you live your life ultimately before God as the chief spectator – and God’s opinion of you is what counts? While God loves you and wants the best for you, God has created a world with moral laws that can destroy you if you do not take care. By fearing God, you are concerned to navigate through life so that you are saved from destruction. The Fear of God motivates a quest for wisdom that guides us through the moral and spiritual challenges of life.” I think that has modern application and playing power. It may not motivate everyone, but it motivates me.
A Parent’s Admonition
A key verse for me here is 1:8.
Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
Proverbs speaks of the parental role of training a child in moral virtue. Proverbs is essentially a collection of wisdom sayings to be used for parents to train their children. What comes to my mind when I read this is that we don’t do this very well anymore. How many parents and grandparents see a central part of their calling to train their children in wisdom and righteous living. There is a huge temptation to simply approach parenting as, “Getting the youngsters up and out the door without killing themselves or others.” Too many parents have completely abdicated their calling to moral training.
I see this all the time. It seems that moral instruction is considered something of the past. We are raising a generation of kids, many of whom grow up in church, who have absolutely no sense of sexual chastity and who plagiarize their way through college. Plagiarism is absolutely out of control in colleges. It is amazing to me how parents have often given up on any clear sexual proprietary expectations for their children. Do you kids know that plagiarism is wrong? I believe that a parent’s chief duty to their children is to provide them with moral training. The book of Proverbs is a good place to start.
Closing Thoughts . . .
Do you fear God? Does the idea of offending God’s holiness speak to you? While it isn’t the highest motivation, it is an effective motivation. I challenge you to decide today that you will fear God’s justice more than you do. Decide today to train your children in moral virtue. That is the function of this very book. Read the Proverbs to your children. We are not doing a very good job with this. Parents, this is a calling to you. Raise God-Fearing children who will know that God hates plagiarism.