I want to control… it’s in my nature. I want things to go my way. Following Jesus does not work well if I am bent on being in control. We have our plans. We think our ways are the right ones. But ultimately what we want, when and how we want it must submit to the Lord. (Verses 2-3)
The way to peace, success, and the blessed life is summed up in this verse:
”Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.“ Proverbs 16:3 NIV
To commit is to give in trust or to put in the hands of the power of another. Our lives put into the hands and power of God as our Lord is the way to have our life established and secure.
May we seek to give Jesus ALL and follow Him alone!
“Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD…” Exodus 5:2
“Who is the Lord that I should obey Him?” This is the disposition of heart that many have. It springs from the truth Pharaoh spoke about himself, “I do not know the Lord.” Simply put… Pharaoh did not fear the Lord. Many in our time do not fear the Lord as well.
There is much said in Proverbs about the fear of the Lord. Today’s Proverb talks about why it is so important.
”Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, turning a person from the snares of death.“ Proverbs 14:26-27 NIV
The fear of the Lord is a “secure fortress… a refuge…a fountain of life.”
When we fear the Lord, we have a reverential awe of Him. This comes from a just view of Him. We see Him rightly. If we truly see Him for who He is, we will love Him. Then we will hate sin and aim for perfect obedience. We will not want anything to separate us from such a great and awesome God. (Websters 1828 Dictionary)
When we see God rightly, we know that we are secure in Him. He is our fortress. We know that our God is the place we can hide away and can experience His protection and provision because He is the greatest love. He is always working for our good!
As we shun evil or love God/Hate sin, we will know Him as the “fountain of life.” Because sin destroys and causes nothing but death, darkness, and destruction in our lives.
Pharaoh missed so much because he refused to know God for who He is and worship Him. We will miss so much as well if we refuse Him.
To Know God Is to Love God Is to Trust God Is to Obey God
May we come to a greater understanding of what it is to fear the Lord and to walk in His ways!
Many are seeking for a life of success. Our libraries are filled with self help books that give “The key to happiness, fulfillment, wealth, etc.” Google search after Google search will point you to the ways to happiness, peace of mind, prosperity, etc. But Proverbs 10 lays out THE TRUE KEY to what we are all looking for— a blessed life. That key is “righteousness”.
Righteousness is defined as having a holy heart, a heart set apart for a sacred use, God’s use. When our thoughts, our decisions, and our feelings are completely submitted to God, obedient to God and depending upon God, we experience a life of fulfillment, joy, and happiness. (Verses 6, 7, 16) We experience the blessed life!
The blessings of a righteous person are many: The righteous person is delivered from spiritual death. (Verse 2) They are spiritually fulfilled. (Verse 3) A righteous person’s mouth is a fountain of life. It is life giving. (Verse 11) It has the good fruit of wisdom (Verse 31). The prospect— hope or expectation — of the righteous is joy…” They are firmly planted not uprooted. They know what finds favor (Verse 32).
How do we experience this blessed life of righteousness? This righteousness that pours out blessing after blessing in our lives isn’t found in all the good works we may do. It is found in Jesus alone! He give His righteousness to us so we can live the blessed life. Our role is to receive what He has given and live His way— submitted to Him. This is the only place we can experience what so many are searching for the true life of blessings in His righteousness.
Folly calls out. She invites the simple and the ones who lack sense to come into her house. But who is she? Folly is sinful acts, living contrary to God’s laws. Solomon warns his son that her guests are “deep in the realm of the dead.” In other words, sin is always calling out to us and enticing us. When we follow after sin, we are foolish because sin ALWAYS ends in death, darkness, and destruction.
But there is a different path that leads to a life of abundance. It is Wisdom’s path of “the fear of the Lord.”
For years I looked at the phrase of “the fear of the Lord” in a negative light. But in truth it is the most positive way to live. To fear the Lord is to see God rightly— He is Holy, Just, All Powerful, All Knowing, Everywhere. He is also perfect Love. He loved us first so that we could love Him and He desires for us to be what He intended for us all along — His image bearers. Seeing Him as such leads us to desire to hate/ shun evil and to aim to obey Him perfectly.
When we come to God with desire to totally obey, totally submit, and totally depend on Him, He empowers us to live lives free of sin, free of folly.
We do not have to go down the path to folly’s house.
Our sinful natural inclination always believes it can sin and get away with it. We often know that we are doing wrong, but somehow we believe we can escape the consequences. A small sin we think we can manage and control, grows. It will grow to the point that we are under its tyrannical rule. How can I say this with such certainty? I have sinned… I have been held captive by sins that I thought I could easily say no to when I decided I had had enough. I’ve also believed that I would not suffer the consequences of my wrong choices. This is another lie. What we do in our lives, right or wrong, will bear fruit.
Solomon warned his son about this reality. He warned that sin, specifically, the sin of adultery, is enticing and the end of it is death.
”With persuasive words she led him astray; she seduced him with her smooth talk… little knowing it will cost him his life.” Proverbs 7:21, 23 NIV
”Her house is a highway to the grave, leading down to the chambers of death.“ Proverbs 7:27 NIV
What are we to do in order to walk free? We must know the truth that sets us free — the Word. We are to keep the Word (to practice; to do or perform; and to obey). We are to “store up”. “Guard them,” “Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.” (Proverbs 7:1-4)
We cannot afford to be.passive in our pursuit of God’s Word. The stakes are too high.
Sin seduces and entices then it destroys. God’s Word helps us to keep our way free of sin and it’s consequences. God’s Word is LIFE!
Danger!! Warning!! Do Not Enter!! These road signs are put up for a reason. They are for the good of the individual driver, the passengers in their car, and everyone they pass by as the traverse from point A to point B.
Today’s chapter is a spiritual warning sign that Solomon posted for his son. “Keep Away From the Adulterous Woman!!” His advise makes perfect sense. Unfaithfulness in marriage wreaks all kinds of havoc in the lives of people: bitterness, death, aimless wandering, loss of honor and dignity are some of the listed consequences of today’s chapter.
However, there is a form of adultery that is not between a husband and wife. It is when we, as followers and lovers of God, choose to love something or someone more than God Himself. It is when we abandon the path of following God and His ways to follow another. It is spiritual adultery. Unfaithfulness to God is a path of destruction. The words of this Proverb declare this warning to us!
”For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths. The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.“
Proverbs 5:21-23 NIV
God sees our hearts. Our “ways are in full view of the Lord.” He wants our complete devotion to Him. This is all because He loves us and wants what is best for us.
Anything less than living a life of faithfulness to God and obedience to His Word is a life of spiritual adultery, sin. Sin wraps us in chains. Sin leads us astray from the path of life. Sin brings death into our lives.
God is declaring to us “Danger!! Keep Away!!” He wants for us to live free from the captivity of sin. He wants us to have lives of abundance in Him!
Have you ever watched a sprinter in the Olympics? They are all in: eyes focused on the finish line, every muscle in their body working towards the goal at hand, every thought in their mind concentrating on the race. Today’s Proverb speaks of a pursuit similar to that:
”Then he taught me, and he said to me, “Take hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands, and you will live.“
Proverbs 4:4 NIV
God has laid out His path to victory for our lives— the pursuit of God Himself. He tells us to “take hold of His Words with all our hearts.” We are to be “all in” in our pursuit of Him!
The spiritual heart is where our thoughts, our feelings, and our decisions originate from. It is that heart that we are to focus like a lazer beam on taking hold of God’s Words. Every bit of our thoughts, feelings and our decisions are to be set upon His Word. Why? Because God is His Word and His Word is God (John 1:1). He is to be the focus of our life.
Verse 7 states “Get Wisdom (truth in practice- Jesus the Wisdom of God) Though it cost you all you have…” Jesus is worthy of our most focused pursuit! He is worth giving up our own plans, our own desires, our own ways in order to attain! Why? Because He is life itself! All the things we prize that are not of him are only “deep darkness” that “makes us stumble.” Verse 19.
We are to be like the Olympic runner I mentioned at first. Focusing all we are on the race towards attaining Him. It is the only way to have life that is full of joy, peace, and contentment. Because joy, peace and contentment are only found in Jesus, the Wisdom that the book of Proverbs speaks of pursing.
Proverbs is a book of Wisdom or applied truth. In scripture, wisdom is knowing God, seeing Him for who He is, loving Him, and obeying Him fully. Paul refers to Jesus as being the wisdom from God. (1 Corinthians 1:30) When we see Jesus for who He is, God, we love Him and desire to obey Him. We will experience Him as the one “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.“ (Colossians 2:3 NIV)
Today’s Proverb describes the benefits of wisdom: long life, riches and honor, pleasant ways, peace, the tree of life to all who take hold of her, a blessed life… Solomon admonished his son to “not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight…” Proverbs 3:21. This admonition applies to us today. We come to God in need of wisdom. We need to know how to apply the truth in our lives. We apply the truth when we receive it and act upon what it says. The most practical way we can experience wisdom in our lives is to see Jesus for who He is, accept Him into our lives, and act upon what He says.
We are told in Proverbs 3:13 that we are “Blessed” when we find wisdom. To be blessed is to be happy and prosperous. Simply put the way to true happiness and true prosperity is to seek God’s Wisdom from above, Jesus! He promises to be found by us when we seek Him with all our hearts. (Jeremiah 29:13)
Once we experience God’s Wisdom from above, we must not let Him out of our sight. Our focus must be Jesus! As Solomon told His son, wisdom and understanding are life to us. (Verse 21). We cannot truly live happy and fulfilled (i.e. blessed) lives unless Jesus is the center!
King Solomon was the most successful King of the Bible. He amassed wealth and had great wisdom. God gave these to him because he had a heart that desired wisdom above all. Proverbs is a book full of wisdom that Solomon wrote about. The principles within are principles of success.
Solomon begins his book of Proverbs with the key ingredient to a successful life, “the fear of the Lord.”
The fear of the Lord is defined as a reverential awe of God that springs from a just view and genuine love for Him. The fear of the Lord leads us to hate/ shun evil. It leads us to aim for perfect obedience of God. Solomon writes:
”The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.“
Proverbs 1:7 NIV
When we see God rightly, (He is all powerful, all knowing, always present. He is Holy. He is just…) we want to love Him and obey Him. When we see God rightly, we want to run from sin.
Proverbs 1 says “fools despise” this wisdom. They “hate knowledge” and they do not “choose to fear the Lord.” (Verse 1:29)
We have started a New Year. Newness always brings about hope for success. The recipe for success is spelled out clearly in Proverbs 1:
CHOOSE TO FEAR THE LORD. See God for who He is. Love Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. And Hate Sin —have nothing to do with it. Run from it! Repent of it! Ask God to set you free from it!
Success in the New Year will only come as you choose to Fear the Lord!
I’ve been an adult long enough that I forget at times what it was like to be a little child. I believe that’s why God gave me Grandkids. When they come to visit, their mom unbuckles then from their seat belt and helps them into the house. They may be hungry so I fix them Granny’s special, waffles. They know they need to listen and obey what we tell them. They ask for what they need and enjoy spending time being held and loved on. They don’t worry about who will be the next president or how much money their parents have in the bank. They know they will be taken care of.
In today’s chapter Jesus talks about little children. He said the Kingdom of God belongs to “such as these.” He goes on to say:
”Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”“ Luke 18:17 NIV
It is important that we are like a little child in relating to God. It is the only way we can receive the Kingdom of God. As a little child totally depends on his parents, we must totally depend on God. As a little child totally obeys his parents, we must totally obey God. As a little child totally submits himself to his parents, we must totally submit ourselves to God. When we do, we will live in security, free of the cares of this world. Because we know our Heavenly Father loves us!
Your Love 