It All Begins With God

1 My son, if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasures,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
    he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 guarding the paths of justice
    and watching over the way of his saints.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
    and equity, every good path;
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 discretion will watch over you,
    understanding will guard you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
    from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
    to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who rejoice in doing evil
    and delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whose paths are crooked,
    and who are devious in their ways.

16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
    from the adulteress with her smooth words,
17 who forsakes the companion of her youth
    and forgets the covenant of her God;
18 for her house sinks down to death,
    and her paths to the departed;
19 none who go to her come back,
    nor do they regain the paths of life.

20 So you will walk in the way of the good
    and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land,
    and those with integrity will remain in it,
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
    and the treacherous will be rooted out of it. – Proverbs 2:1-22 ESV

If…then.

Proverbs 2 opens up with a father presenting his young son with a series of conditional statements. Each entails a hypothetical situation in which the father imagines his son choosing the right path over the wrong one.

…if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you…

…if…your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding…

…if you call out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding…

…if you seek it like silver…

…if you…search for it as for hidden treasures…

The father imagines five hypothetical, yet highly probable situations that optimistically portray his son as an enthusiastic seeker of wisdom. And he eagerly predicts the outcome of his son’s decision to choose the right path.

Then…you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.

But upon closer examination, it appears as if this conditional statement contradicts what was stated in Proverbs 1.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
    fools despise wisdom and instruction. – Proverbs 1:7 ESV

These two proverbs seem to present inexplicable conundrum, similar to the age-old question: Which came first, the chicken of the egg?. Is a healthy fear of the Lord the pathway to wisdom, or is it the other way around? And to the author of Proverbs 2, the answer would seem to be, “Yes!” It’s both. The fear of the Lord and wisdom are inseparable. They go hand in hand. You don’t get one without the other.

Notice what Proverbs 2:5 says: “…then you will understand the fear of the Lord.”

It is not that wisdom produces or results in a healthy fear of the Lord, but that it helps us to comprehend what it means to fear the Lord. The NET Bible translates verse 5 this way: “then you will understand how to fear the Lord.”

The relentless pursuit of godly wisdom and understanding will reveal the will of God and show us how to live in a way that is pleasing to God. In other words, godly wisdom produces godliness – a lifestyle that honors and glorifies our Heavenly Father.  Jesus describes the godly life this way: “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16 ESV). And the apostle Peter put it in practical terms for believers living in the less-than-friendly environment of Asia Minor:

Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. – 1 Peter 2:12 NLT

The fear of the Lord must show up in everyday life. It must be practical, tangible, and visible. And we learn how to model a proper reverence and awe for God through a relentless pursuit of godly wisdom and instruction. We are to treat God’s wisdom like a priceless treasure for which we search until we find it, and then risk our lives to protect and preserve.

And this pursuit of wisdom is not some shot-in-the-dark quest for the invisible and non-discoverable. It’s not like searching for hidden treasure without a map. No, the author tells us that “the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest” (Proverbs 2:6-7 NLT). He is the source of all wisdom and He makes it freely available to all who come to Him in humility and an honest assessment of our need for Him. 

The wisdom and insight needed to live the godly life comes from God Himself, and He reveals it through His written Word and with the enlightening power of His Holy Spirit. The apostle Peter provides us with a powerful reminder that God is the sole source of all that we need. 

May God give you more and more grace and peace as you grow in your knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. – 2 Peter 1:2-3 NLT

The power is ours. But its availability to us is enhanced by our increasing knowledge of God and His Son. That’s a description of increasing wisdom or insight. As our knowledge of the Father and the Son increases, our insight into their sovereign will improves and our godliness increases. In the prayer that He prayed in the garden on the night of his betrayal and arrest, Jesus described what it means to have eternal life.

“…this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” – John 17:3 ESV

Think about what Jesus is saying. Eternal life is not just some future state in which believers will live in unending community with God the Father and God the Son. It is an actually an unveiled and undiminished awareness of the Godhead. There is a day coming when God’s children will know Him intimately and perfectly. The apostle Paul describes it this way:

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. – 1 Corinthians 13:12 NLT

In the meantime, we can grow in our knowledge of God and His Son. We can increase in our understanding of who they are and what they expect of us. The author of Proverbs 2 assures us that “you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go” (Proverbs 2:9 NLT). He makes the confident assertion that “wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy” (Proverbs 2:10 NLT).

We will have the ability to make wise choices and avoid evil people. Wisdom will provide practical help in escaping the allure of immorality and promiscuity. And this kind of divine assistance is critical because life can be hard. Decisions have to be made. Difficulties must be dealt with. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do or how to respond. We are bombarded by bad advice and the well-meaning counsel of friends who are just as confused as we are. So, the author encourages us to "cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures" (Proverbs 2:4 NLT). It appears that he expects us to put a fair amount of effort into the process. He seems to believe that we must want insight and understanding bad enough that we would expend some energy in order to get them. Cry out! Ask! Search! Seek! How badly do we want these things? How hard are we willing to pursue them until we find them?

As we go through life we encounter our desperate need for insight, understanding, wisdom, and knowledge.This world can be a confusing place. We don't always know what to do. So the first step seems to be a recognition of our deficiencies. We have to come to an understanding of our lack of understanding. We are not the brightest bulbs in the box. But the sad truth seems to be that we don't usually reach this point of awareness until something difficult happens that leaves us at a loss. It is in those times of desperation that we tend to turn to God, and that is the key – we have to turn to the one and only source where help and hope can be found.

God alone can equip us with much-needed common sense, integrity, and the ability to understand what is just, right and fair. In other words, God gives us discernment, direction, discipline, and discretion. He provides us with all we need to live life on this planet wisely, safely, and righteously. Rather than live according to the standards of this world. we learn to live God's way. We learn to think like He thinks, love what He loves, hate what He hates, and view life from His perspective.

This life can be hard, but God has given us everything we need to not only survive, but to thrive. With His help, we can live our lives in 4-D, exhibiting discernment, direction, discipline and discretion. He will keep us on the right path. He will help us make wise decisions. He will protect us from the temptation of this world. He will give us the ability to see life from His perspective. But first we must come to the realization that we need what He has. We must desire His  understanding, knowledge, insight and wisdom more than anything else in the world. Then we must seek after it diligently, eagerly, and relentlessly.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

New English Translation (NET)NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.

An Inside Job.

Proverbs 2

“For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy.” – Proverbs 2:10 NLT

Imagine being able to make wise decisions without having to stop and think about it. Consider what it would be like to avoid wrong choices or costly moral mistakes, because you instinctively knew what to do and did it without hesitation. Take a minute to think what your life would be like if you always knew what was the right, just and fair thing to do. What if you always knew the right path to take in life? That is exactly what God offers those who learn to fear Him and who pursue an intimate relationship with Him. He promises to put His wisdom in their hearts, providing them with a capacity and capability to live wisely and godly in the midst of a fallen world. Rather than His wisdom being some outside commodity that we have to consult and search for every step along the way, He wants to make His wisdom resident within us. He wants to provide us with the capacity to choose wisely, act justly, behave righteously, think purely and live godly. And the more we fear Him and grow in our knowledge of Him, the more we will recognize the wisdom of God motivating and guiding our lives on a daily basis.

God is out to change our hearts, not just modify our behavior. Christianity is not some list of rules or standards for us to attempt to keep. It is about the Spirit of God coming to reside within the hearts of men, providing them with the power to live in a way that honors God and goes against their own sinful predispositions. As a result of the fall and the presence of our sin natures, all men lack wisdom within. They may have intelligence, but they are devoid of godly wisdom and lack the capacity to make wise decisions. But God offers to change all that. He has provided a way in which men can exchange their foolishness for wisdom. As a result of Jesus Christ's death on the cross, men can now receive the Spirit of God and the capacity to live lives that are pleasing to God. Not based on human effort, but on the very power of God living within the human heart. This is an inside job. God renews us from the inside out. He places within us the power to live wisely and righteously. He changes our desires. He alters our motivations. He refocuses our values and provides us with new incentives. He plants within us a desire for His will in place of our own. His Spirit opens up the Scriptures to us in ways we never understood before and gives us the capacity to live out the tenets of the faith in a strength we never had before. We find ourselves becoming wiser and wiser, capable of understanding what is right, just and fair. We instinctively know the right way to go, the right path to take. God's wisdom is resident within us, guiding and protecting us along the way. And the result is a joy and confidence we never had before. Our hearts have been changed and our lives will never be the same.

Father, thank You that You are out to change my heart, not just require me to alter my behavior. Help me to understand that it has to start from the inside and work its way out. I need Your wisdom to know how to act, what to say, how to behave. I need Your power to live the life You've called me to live. But I need my heart continually transformed so that I can love what You love and see life the way You see life. Amen.

The True Joy of Parenting.

Proverbs 23

"The father of godly children has cause for joy. What a pleasure to have children who are wise. So give your father and mother joy! May she who gave you birth be happy..” – Proverbs 23:24-25 NLT

Having been blessed with six wonderful children, Julie and I can say from experience that parenting is filled with all kinds of joy. We have experienced so much laughter and shared so many memories. And we continue to do so, even as they each grow older and move out from under our wings. Our children have made us laugh and smile. They have brought us so much happiness over the last 30-plus years that it seems that the time has literally flown by. But the older I get, the more I realize that the greatest joy any child can bring their parent is to turn out well. At the end of the day, when all is said and done, we want to see our children succeed in life. We want to see them as mature, healthy, whole adults. But as a parent who loves Christ, I know that the standard for success is not up to me. It has little to do with degree plans, career paths, car models or the neighborhood my child ends up living in. No, I know that the measure of success has much more to do with the heart, and it directly tied to their relationship with God. As a 57-year-old father of six, I am far less interested that my children make a lot of money, live in beautiful homes, or make six-figure incomes. While the world may say that is the measure of success, I have seen far too many individuals who have all that and more, live miserable, unhappy lives. They have achieved worldly success and missed out on what was truly important. Which is why Solomon says, "The father of godly children has cause for joy" (Proverbs 23:24a NLT). That man has a reason to rejoice. His children have turned out well. They have chosen to seek after and serve God. And as a result, they are wise. Solomon qualifies what a godly child looks like. "What a pleasure to have children who are wise" (Proverbs 23:24b NLT). You see, godliness and wisdom go hand in hand, because wisdom is a gift from God. Over in Proverbs 2, Solomon makes it clear, "For the Lord grants wisdom! From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest" (Proverbs 2:6-6 NLT). A wise child is one who has sought God. He has recognized that true wisdom is only available from one place, God. He has learned to make the pursuit of godly wisdom his highest priority. And he learned it from watching his own parents. He has grown up in a home where his parents sought the wisdom of God on a daily basis and lived it out in their daily lives. It was a full-time pastime for them. And it resulted in wisdom. Because as they sought the wisdom of God FROM God, He placed it directly into their hearts. "For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy" (Proverbs 2:10 NLT). God places His wisdom into our hearts and gives us the capacity to live wisely. We end up making wise, godly choices. We parent more wisely. We model marriage in front of our kids more wisely. We reveal a dependency on God that shows our children that this life is only lived in His strength and according to His terms, not ours.

As a parent, I long to see each of my children living wise, godly lives. While I want them to enjoy financial success, I know that it cannot bring them joy. No career will ever really fulfill them. No spouse will ever make them truly happy. If they lack the wisdom of God that allows them to see life through His eyes. So like Solomon, I plead with my children, "give me your heart. May your eyes take delight in following my ways" (Proverbs 23:26 NLT). But even as I type those words, I shudder, because it makes me realize how dangerous it is to invite your own children to follow YOUR ways. If they do as you do, will they end up wise? If they follow your example, will they become godly? Parenting is a great privilege and it carries tremendous responsibility. As the old saying goes, when it comes to raising children, "More is caught than taught." They are constantly watching us, evaluating us, and copying our behavior. My wife has a favorite saying she has used over the years, and it is usually directed at me when my behavior has been less than appropriate in front of our children. She simple says, "What parents do in moderation, children do to excess." In other words, those little acts of selfishness, indiscretion, inappropriateness, and ungodliness are lived out in the lives of our kids, but usually with a certain lack of discernment. They take it to the next level. They model our actions and end up living unwise, ungodly lives. So if I want to be the father of godly children, I must be a godly father. If I want to have wise children, I must pursue the wisdom of God and live it out in my home. Children are a blessing. Godly children are a joy. But they don't just happen. It takes a constant pursuit of and dependence upon God.

Father, I so want to see my children living wise and godly lives as adults. I want them completely reliant upon You for all that they do. I have made a lot of mistakes over the years. I have not always modeled godliness well. But thank You for Your grace and forgiveness. Help me to use the time I have left to model the life of wisdom and godliness well, because we are never really done parenting. Amen.

Priority One.

Proverbs 2

“Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.” – Proverbs 2:3-4 NLT

Over and over again, the Book of Proverbs personifies the wisdom of God as calling out to men and women, offering them all that they need to survive and thrive in this world. Wisdom, understanding, insight, knowledge, common sense, discernment – they're all available and there for the taking, but there is effort involved. You have to want them. You have to seek them. You have to search for them like hidden treasures. In other words, they have to have some inherent value to you. Otherwise, you will never make them a priority in your life. And sadly, many of us never cry out for insight from God because we really don't believe we need it. We don't ask for understanding from God because we seem to think we already have a good grasp on life. They're not a priority because they're not a necessity.

Solomon makes it clear that the wisdom, knowledge and understanding he is talking about are only available from God, and that access to them begins with a fear of God. The fear of God is simply an understanding that He is God and I am not. He is all-knowing and I am not. He is all-powerful and I am not. He is in control of all things and I am not. The fear of the Lord involves humility and dependency. We recognize our need for Him and humbly turn to Him for help, hope, and healing. Solomon says that if we cry out for insight, ask for understanding, and seek for them like hidden treasures, THEN we will understand what it means to fear the Lord. In other words, our recognition of our need for these things and our humble crying out for them are key to comprehending what it means to fear the Lord. We will grow in our knowledge of God as we grow in our dependence upon Him. When we drop our self-righteous, I-can-do-it-all-myself attitude and humbly turn to Him, He "grants wisdom. From his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest" (Proverbs 2:6-7 NLT).

But it begins with making Him our highest priority. We have to realize and recognize our need for Him. We have to begin to pursue Him more than anything or anyone else in this world. We must make Him our objective. Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are the benefits of knowing Him. Common sense is a byproduct of a growing knowledge of God. Discernment, direction, discipline and discretion are all outcomes of making God our highest priority.

Father, I want to make much of You. I want to learn to seek You for who You are, not just for what I get out of it. I benefit from a relationship with You, but that should not be my sole motivation. Help me make you my highest priority because You are worthy of my highest admiration, attention, and worship. Amen.