Are you pursuing wisdom as you should? If you are, are you being as patient with God as you should? He gives out wisdom in his wise time.
Prayer: Lord, you give us the opportunity to do something and the desire to do it—so when it is accomplished we must admit it was all from you. Yet you require our utmost effort, and in that exertion we grow into the likeness of your son, Jesus. How brilliant you are, my God. Amen.
January 18
Thus you will walk in the ways of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it. (2:20–22)
BE RIGHTEOUS. When Proverbs speaks of the righteous and the wicked, we think it means the “moral” and the “immoral.” That is only partly right. The Hebrew words for righteous—tzedeq and mishpat—have a strongly social aspect. Bruce Waltke writes: “The righteous are willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage the community; the wicked are willing to disadvantage the community to advantage themselves.”22
The righteous say, “Much of what I have belongs to the people around me, because it all comes from God and he wants me to love my neighbor.” The wicked say, “I can do what I want with my things.” Go through Proverbs, reading “righteous” and “wicked” now with this fuller definition in mind, and it will become like a whole new book. It will move you toward living a truly righteous and just life—being not merely personally moral but also committed to social justice. It will also point you to the one who came “not . . . to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
In what ways are you disadvantaging yourself, in time and money, for the good of the community in which you live?
Prayer: Lord, I earned my money through the capacities and opportunities that all came from you. Help me to see my time, money, and social connections as given to me by you for the good of those around me. This will be hard, because my culture makes me think I’m poor and don’t owe anyone else. Don’t let me believe that. Amen.
January 19
My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them. If they say, “Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for innocent blood, let’s ambush some harmless soul . . .”—my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths. (1:10–11,15)
DON’T RELY ON PEDIGREE. Here parents warn their son not to take up a life of violence (1:8–19). Middle-class people will think such an alarm is unnecessary for their children. Certainly a mother on Chicago’s South Side might need to say this, but not us! Proverbs, however, knows that anyone has the potential to become cruel. When someone is revealed to be a shooter or bomber, the neighbors often say to interviewers, “But he came from such a good family.”
The Bible never assumes that family pedigree is any insurance against evil. Nor does it teach that only the poor are prone to violence. The well-off can also “grind the heads of the poor” through legal but ruthless economic practices (Amos 2:6–7). Your middle- and upper-class children “might be tempted to join a firm whose profits rest on exploitation of laborers, on destruction of the environment, or on success at the expense of justice and truth.”23 Don’t think that a life of wrongdoing can be avoided just because you come from “a good family.”
Are there any ways in which you may be participating in an arrangement that benefits you but is cruel to someone else?
Prayer: Lord, it is so self-serving to imagine that our friends and family could never do anything that bad. Yes they can, and so can I. Help me create a community that “exhorts one another daily,” lest we be “hardened by the deceptive nature of our own sin” (Hebrews 3:13).24 Amen.
January 20
Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square; on top of the wall she cries out, at the city gate she makes her speech. (1:20–21)
GET EXPERIENCE. Here Wisdom invites people to learn from her, but she does so not from the ivory tower but outside, in the public square and public places of the city. Wisdom is developed only in experience. No matter how hard they study, the graduates of medical school, law school, and business school will become truly wise in their fields only out in the open, that is, in real-life experience.
Proverbs is not an “inspirational” book with statements that immediately jump off the page at you. Wisdom cannot be conveyed by a series of TED talks or “executive briefings.” It is inaccessible to people too busy for its method. It comes through first with experience and then with deep, honest reflection on that experience. It emerges only as we ask searching questions: When did I last see this illustrated in my life or someone else’s? Where do I need to practice this? How would my life be different if I did? What wrong thinking and attitudes result when I forget this? Remember how often Jesus, our teacher, spoke in parables and answered questions with other questions, trying to get us to reflect, think, and grow in wisdom (Matthew 13:10; Luke 20:4; John 16:29).
What has happened to you recently that was significantly good or difficult? Have you reflected on it with others to learn wisdom from it?
Prayer: Lord God, I know far too much about the Bible that I have not prayed and obeyed into my life. Rescue and help me. Keep me from being just a hearer of your Word and not a doer of it. Don’t let me deceive myself (James 1:22). Amen.
January 21
“Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD.” (1:28–29)
DON’T DELAY. Because wisdom comes not through acquisition of knowledge but through long experience and reflection, it takes years to produce. What happens, then, if suddenly you come to a crisis that demands great discernment and self-control? If you haven’t learned the hard-won habits of wisdom—of resting in Christ when other comforts are removed, of discerning choices among the bad, the good, and the best—you cannot suddenly develop them overnight, any more than you can get ready for the Olympics overnight.
John Newton wrote, “The grace of God is as necessary to create a right temper . . . on the breaking of a china plate as on the death of an only son.”25 That is, only if we learn grace and wisdom in smaller daily disappointments will we be ready for the great ones. In the crisis, you will long for wisdom, but it will not answer. “There are points of no return; when the storm is upon us, it is too late to seek shelter. Moments of decision pass and are gone forever. Timing is all.”26
Are you devoting time to developing wisdom? Begin by assessing how much planned time you give to, first, Bible study and, second, personal accountability with Christian friends.
Prayer: Lord, I know you won’t give me more than I can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13). But I can fail to put on all the spiritual armor you give me (Ephesians 6:10–18) and thereby put myself in harm’s way. Give me the real thing, the hard-won wisdom. I’m ready to do what is necessary to receive it. Amen.
January 22
Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. (3:5)
IDENTIFY YOUR IDOLS. Proverbs chapter 3 lists six things that can serve as the marks of a wise person and at the same time are the means for growing in wisdom. The first is trust in the Lord. You can believe in God yet still trust something else for your real significance and happiness—which is therefore your real God. We hide how we do this from ourselves, and it is only when something goes wrong with, say, your career or your family, that you realize it is much more important to you than the Lord himself.
What does this have to do with wisdom? Everything. There are excessive emotions surrounding things you make the functional trust of your heart, whether it’s your career, wealth, spouse, children, or some romantic relationship. You will be inordinately shaken, anxious, angry, or despondent if anything threatens them. They cloud your judgment, distort your vision of yourself and the world. Idolatries of the heart l
ead to foolishness in the life. The ultimate remedy for idolatry is the gospel. We won’t need to justify ourselves by works—by success or romance or achievement—if we are freely justified by faith in Jesus (Romans 3:21–24).
What is the best candidate in your life for an alternate “god”?
Prayer: Lord, when the Israelites prayed to you for help you did not respond, but when they “put away their idols,” you began work in their lives (Judges 10:10–18). I too have run to you with my requests without the willingness to root out my deep, false gods. O Lord, “help me find my All in Thee” and in nothing else. Amen.
January 23
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (3:5–6)
SUBMIT TO HIS WORD. A second mark and means of wisdom is to submit to God in all your ways—every area of life—and not on your own understanding. Our culture tells us to submit everything to our understanding, to question everything including the Bible. But everyone must choose something to not question. Modern people don’t question their right and ability to question everything. So everyone is living by faith in some ultimate authority. Proverbs calls us to make it God’s Word, not our reason and intuition.
The Bible can guide you in all your ways, even when there is not a specific verse for every life situation. As you immerse yourself in the Bible’s story of a personal God who made us and saved us for a relationship with him, it makes every part of life—how you spend your money, relate to people, allocate your time, and see yourself—look different than if you didn’t believe the story. Then wisdom grows as you live daily life shaped by the biblical narrative and divine realities.
Are you seeking to understand the Bible’s main themes and “big picture” story rather than merely seeking inspiration from individual Bible verses?
Prayer: Lord, I want to not just study your Word like a book but to inwardly digest it, making it part of me. Let your Word “dwell richly” within me so I can have your wisdom to guide myself and my loved ones (Colossians 3:16). Do this for the sake of Jesus, the Word made flesh. Amen.
January 24
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. (3:7–8)
BE TEACHABLE. The third mark and means of wisdom is a willingness to take advice. Fools are wise in [their] own eyes. Some take no advice at all. Other fools listen to only one kind of advice. For example, teenagers tend to be very averse to the advice of older people but rely primarily on the counsel of their peers. Many of us listen only to people of our own race or class or political persuasion and not to others.
Wisdom is to see things through as many other eyes as possible, through the Word of God and through the eyes of your friends, of people from other races, classes, and political viewpoints, and of your critics. Wise women and men create a company of counselors around them—mentors and advisers and friends and people from whom they can get a “second opinion.” The gospel is the greatest resource for creating teachability. It shows us that we are sinners, yet its deep assurance of God’s unconditional love for us in Christ makes it possible to face our flaws without denial.
Is there a person or kind of person you should be listening to but have not made the effort to do so?
Prayer: Lord, I have a heart that does not love correction, and I live in a society that tells me to trust only my own, inmost feelings. All things inside and outside of me seem to conspire against my efforts to become a teachable student of your Word and of life. I seek a broken and contrite spirit. Amen.
January 25
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. (3:9–10)
BE GENEROUS. The fourth mark and means of wisdom is generosity. Inordinate love of money and confidence in its power blind us, and the best way to break money’s power over us is through giving lots of it away. The firstfruits of a crop were to be given to God and the poor even though it wasn’t certain how big the harvest would actually be.
A farmer told his pastor that one of his cows had unexpectedly given birth to two calves, “and when I sell them, I’ll give the proceeds I make on one of them to the church.” A few weeks later the man informed his pastor, “I’m sorry to say it, Reverend, but the Lord’s calf died.” For many of us, it’s always the Lord’s calf that dies. We don’t give to God in a planned, committed way. We wait to see if we have the money to do everything we want and then give to God only when there is excess. In contrast, though he was infinitely rich, Jesus gave not just the excess but all of his wealth and even his life to save us (2 Corinthians 8:9).27
Can you devise a plan in which you could increase the percentage of your income that you give away over the next three years?
Prayer: Father, help me to think out how I should practice the “firstfruits” principle with my wealth. Help me to give away deliberately, not impulsively. Let my giving be sacrificial, not a token. And let me do it gladly, not begrudgingly, remembering how Jesus gave not just his possessions but his own blood. Amen.
January 26
My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. (3:11–12)
LEARN FROM ADVERSITY. The fifth mark and means of wisdom has to do with adversity and trouble in life. Often a generous heart and life can lead to increasing financial prosperity (3:10). But verses 11–12 show this is by no means an absolute rule. The world is “riddled with evils, mysteries, and troubles beyond human grasping and fixing.”28 The mark of wisdom is to be ready for suffering. If you aren’t, you aren’t competent with regard to the realities of life. But suffering is also a discipline for growth in wisdom. It can drive you toward God into greater love and strength or away from him into hardness of heart.
Given that suffering is inevitable, and it’s going to make you either wiser or more foolish, what should you do? You should accept your troubles as means for spiritual growth and part of the plan of our loving heavenly Father. If you can do nothing else, you can always glorify God by having a trusting attitude toward him as you suffer, rather than becoming bitter. And the best way to do that is to look at God the Son suffering infinitely for you. That will help you trust him as you suffer.
Are you ready for adversity? Why or why not?
Prayer: Lord, when things are going wrong for me, the last things I want to do are to pray and to trust you. Yet I’ve come to see that if I just cling to you in prayer during the stormy times, I’m spiritually stronger, not weaker for it. Please remind me of what I am saying today when the next time comes! Amen.
January 27
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—when you already have it with you. (3:27–28)
DO JUSTICE. The sixth mark and means of wisdom in Proverbs chapter 3 is a concern for justice. The good that we must give to our neighbor means practical aid for an economic or physical need. It is striking that the text adds that this is not simply a matter of charity but is your neighbor’s due. To not care for them when they are in need is not merely a lack of charity; it is injustice.29 Put bluntly: If you have things your neighbor doesn’t have, share them, because he or she has a right to the part of the world over which God has made you a temporary steward.
John Calvin wrote, “We are not to consider what men merit of themselves, but to look upon the image of God . . . to which we owe all honor and love. . . . You will say, ‘He has deserved something far different of me.’ Yet what has the Lord deserved?”30 Verse 28 goes even further and tells us not to delay doing good. Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:27–36) defines our neighbor as anyone we encounter who is i
n need.
If you are involved with your needy neighbors, it will teach you wisdom. Are you?
Prayer: Father, I live in the most competitive society ever, and so I get fixated on what people “merit of themselves.” Let me remember that every human being, even the most flawed and broken, is of infinite value to you. Let me go beyond the platitudes to truly love my neighbors with my worldly goods. Amen.
January 28
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Cherish her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you. (4:7–8)
JUST GET IT. Proverbs chapter 4 is filled with the repeated exhortation “do not forsake” wisdom. The message is clear: Never, ever give up in your pursuit of wisdom. Do absolutely anything to get it, whatever it costs you. Why? Because it is more costly to not have it. You will make decisions that lead to one difficulty and disaster after another. So do whatever it takes.
Already we have seen some of what that entails: identification of your heart trusts, immersion in and obedience to the Word of God, friendships and openness to critique, patient learning in adversity, and personal involvement in real service to others, especially the most needy. These must be practiced reflectively through long experience, within a community of people seeking the same wisdom. They will lead to knowing God, knowing yourself, knowing the human heart and its ways, and knowing the times and seasons. And your decisions and choices will become wiser. We can paraphrase verse 7 like this: “Here’s how you get wisdom: Just get it!” Wisdom comes not to the most fortunate or intelligent but to those most determined to find it.
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