Month: July 2012

Proverbs 3

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A Different Path.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.” – Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT

The Proverbs are full of comparisons, juxtapositions, and contrasts. There is wisdom and foolishness, wickedness and righteousness, and the God-follower and the self-worshiper. These sayings of Solomon paint a vivid picture that contrasts the life of the man who seeks after God and the man who turns his back on God, setting himself up as the master of his own fate and the captain of his soul. Solomon writes from the perspective of a father appealing to his child, begging his son to make attaining wisdom and understanding his highest priority. But in doing so, Solomon is not suggesting that his son pursue academic knowledge. He is not encouraging the pursuit of human reason or head-knowledge. He is spurring on his son to pursue God – the sole source of all wisdom, knowledge, reason, and common sense. Getting to know God is the goal, not gaining wisdom for wisdom’s sake. Solomon tells his son, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5 NLT). How easy it is for each of us to trust in anything and everything, but God. Rather than trust God, we turn to our own limited understanding and attempt to explain the complexities of life and solve the difficulties that come with living life on this planet. If we lack joy, we attempt to find it through means made possible through this world. If we feel unloved, we seek satisfaction and significance through such avenues as the pursuit of pleasure or promiscuity. We seek – but we tend to seek in the wrong places.

But Solomon told his son, “Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take” (Proverbs 3:6 NLT). He reminds his son that wisdom brings joy, is profitable, valuable, precious, and is the key to long life. But it only comes from one source – God. Wisdom, true wisdom, flows from God. It is available nowhere else but from God. Our ability to live life on this planet well is dependent upon the wisdom and understanding that God alone provides. But it comes from a relationship, not just a book. I learn wisdom from watching and coming to know God, not just by reading about Him. Wisdom is part of who God is. It is His very character. Wisdom, understanding and knowledge do not exist apart from God. What the world offers is a cheap substitute. At their core, wisdom and understanding are spiritual resources, not academic or cerebral. They flow from a right relationship with God. Solomon tells us, “Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline” (Proverbs 1:7 NLT). The fool wants nothing to do with God. He desires wisdom and understanding, but doesn’t want the relationship with God necessary to have them. He does not want the loving discipline that also comes from God that are required to truly learn wisdom and understanding. But those who long to have a relationship with God will find that wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are the byproducts of their pursuit of God.

Father, don’t let me make wisdom and understanding the focus of my pursuit. Help me keep You as my sole desire. Those things will come as I grow in my knowledge of and love for You. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Proverbs 2

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Living Life In 4D.

“Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.” – Proverbs 2:5 NLT

Life can be hard. Decisions have to be made. Difficulties must be dealt with. Sometimes it is 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 what are we to do? Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, 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 would appear that Solomon expected us to put in 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 in our lives 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 source. Solomon makes it clear that insight and understanding are only available from one source and that is God. When we cry out, ask, search and seek from Him, we are told that we will “understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2:5 NLT). It is God who grants wisdom, knowledge and understanding. He 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 thrive. We can live wise lives, marked by 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 regularly.

Father, there is no reason we should struggle in this world with a lack of discernment, direction, discipline and discretion. You provide all four and have made them readily available to us through Your Word, Your Spirit and Your Body. Give us a growing desire to know what You know, to understand life as You understand it, and to live according to Your wise standards. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org