Week 8

11/8/09

Trust God/Trust Wisdom

Proverbs 3:1-35

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones.  Proverbs 3:5-8

Five admonitions – vs. 1-10

  1. My son, do not forget my teaching (vs.1-2).
  2. Let love and faithfulness never leave you (vs.3-4).
  3. Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding (vs.5-6).
  4. Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord, shun evil (vs.7-8).
  5. Honor the LORD with your wealth (vs.9-10).

This first instruction of chapter 3 sets its sights on the heart and its relation to God.

Blessings of Wisdom – vs. 11-20

  1. My son . . . Blessed is the man the LORD disciplines because he disciplines those he loves as a father disciplines his child. (vs.11-12).
  2. Blessed is the man who finds wisdom . . . all her paths are shalom/peace . . . she is a tree of life (vs.13-18).
  3. Blessed is the one whose God is the LORD for he is the Creator (vs.19-20).

This second instruction focuses on the LORD as being trustworthy and able to preserve his child from danger.

Admonition & Five Prohibitions

  1. My son practice sound judgment and discernment and do not fear, the LORD will be your confidence (vs.21-26).
  2. Do not withhold good from those who deserve it (vs.27).
  3. Do not say to your neighbor come back tomorrow and I will give you what you need, when you have it with you (vs.28).
  4. Do not plot harm against your neighbor (vs.29).
  5. Do not accuse a man for no reason (vs.30).
  6. Do not envy a violent man (vs.31-35).

The third instruction is to trust God and love your neighbor as yourself, to live upright lives, dong what is right, just and fair (1:3b).

Bruce Waltke summarizes Proverbs teaching on righteousness in a proverb of his own:

The wicked advantage themselves by disadvantaging others, but the righteous disadvantage themselves to advantage others.

Proverbs 1-9 presents the reader with two paths. The path of folly, calls the simple and the fool to pursue their fantasies of self-determination and self-sufficiency—the path of idolatry that leads to destruction.

The path of wisdom is the path of peace. It is the way of the LORD. Through wisdom, the Lord protects his people from the real danger of self-destruction and preserves them for eschatological shalom.

The Promise of a Good Life – A Life Well Lived.

Proverbs 10-31 – The Wisdom of the Wise

After the introduction of chapters 1-9, where the fear of the LORD is established as the foundation of wisdom, Solomon addresses the “practical” aspects of wisdom. He brings the wisdom of the Lord to bear on the life of the people.

  1. Words (10:11)
  2. Work (10: 4-5)
  3. Wealth (10:2,15)
  4. Relationships – parent/child, friendship, marriage.