knowledge

Proverbs 4

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Wiseheart.

“Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” – Proverbs 4:23 NLT

All this talk of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding could easily leave the impression that Solomon is obsessed with intelligence. It sounds like he is simply trying to encourage his son to get a good education, learn all that he can learn, and apply all that knowledge to living a good life. But Solomon is wise enough to know that there is more to this picture than mere intelligence or IQ. He is talking about a way of life that is based on much more than just book learning. All throughout the Proverbs Solomon contrasts two ways of life, to lifestyles. One is marked by wickedness and foolishness. The other is marked by wisdom and righteousness. But the difference isn’t just about one person knowing more than the other. It is the fact that one knows God better than the other. At the end of the day, this is a heart issue. When Solomon pleads his son, and all young people, to “get wisdom” and “don’t turn your back on wisdom,” he is really telling them to pursue God, because He is the source of all wisdom.

In this Proverb, Solomon refers to “the way” multiple times. He describes life as a journey and we have choices regarding which path we will take as we live our lives. He says, “Don’t do as the wicked do, and don’t follow the path of evildoers. Don’t even think about it; don’t go that way. Turn away and keep moving” (Proverbs 4:14-15 NLT). He compares the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked. One ends in light, the other in darkness. But then Solomon provides us with the key. He says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life” (Proverbs 14:23 NLT). It is our heart that will determine whether we go the way of the righteous or the way of the wicked. It is our heart that will determine whether we seek God’s way or the world’s. So we need wise hearts, not brave hearts. We need heart knowledge, not head knowledge. God wants to renew our hearts and change the way we think, act, speak, and live. Without heart change, all efforts to live wisely will be short-lived and end up in nothing more than behavior modification. When Solomon says, “Avoid all perverse talk; stay away from corrupt speech” (Proverbs 4:24 NLT), he knows he is asking the impossible unless our hearts are changed by God. We will gravitate toward perverse talk and corrupt speech without wise hearts. And only God can give us wise hearts. Only God gives us the ability to make wise choices. Solomon closes his Proverb with these words: “Look straight ahead, and fix your eyes on what lies before you. Mark out a straight path for your feet; stay on the safe path. Don’t get sidetracked; keep your feet from following evil” (Proverbs 4:25-27 NLT). Without a wise heart, that is impossible. God gives us the capacity to know right from wrong, good from evil. He equips us with not only the knowledge to make good choices, but the ability to do so. He changes our hearts. Head knowledge is not enough. Heart knowledge is what we need. Wise hearts and brave souls – men and women living life according to God’s terms and in the power of God’s Spirit.

Father, give us wise hearts. Change us from the inside out. Don’t let us be satisfied with head knowledge. I don’t want to just know about You, I want to really know You so that I might live in a way that pleases You. Amen

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

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

1 Kings 20

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God Over All.

“Then a certain prophet came to see King Ahab of Israel and told him, ‘This is what the Lord says: Do you see all these enemy forces? Today I will hand them all over to you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.'” ­– 1 Kings 20:13 NLT

“Then you will know that I am the Lord.” That is a familiar phrase in the Old Testament. You find it used repeatedly by God going all the way back to the time of the Exodus. God wants all men to know that He alone is God. So He reveals Himself in nature. He even places an awareness of His existence in the hearts of men. Paul reminds us over in his letter to the Romans: “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God” (Romans 1:18-20 NLT). Yet, even though they are without excuse, God continues to reveal Himself to men. He reveals His power and His presence. In the case of Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, God intervened in a time of great need and attempted to reveal Himself by providing victory over the Arameans. Despite the wickedness of Ahab and his wife Jezebel, and their history of leading the people of Israel to rebel against God and worship Baal, God would mercifully intervene and provide them with a miraculous victory over superior forces. TWICE.

After the first victory, the Arameans determined that the Israelites had won simply because their “gods” were gods of the hills. They had made the mistake of fighting on the home turf of Israel’s gods. So if they took the battle to the plains, all would go well. So they came back in even greater numbers. In fact, the passage tells us “the Israelite army looked like two little flocks of goats in comparison to the vast Aramean forces that filled the countryside (1 Kings 20:27 NLT). But that’s just the kind of situation in which God likes to reveal Himself. Israel was out-manned. They were the underdogs. But God told them, “The Arameans have said, ‘The Lord is a god of the hills and not of the plains.’ So I will defeat this vast army for you. Then you will know that I am the Lord” (1 Kings 20:28 NLT). God was going to provide a second unlikely and unexpected victory against superior forces. So that through experience, the people of Israel would know that God is the one and only God. The Hebrew word for “know” is yada. It carries the idea to know by experience. It goes beyond academic understanding of the facts and includes an awareness that comes from actual experience. God is not content that we know about Him. He wants us to know Him through actual experience in our lives. He wants to reveal Himself in power in our lives. God is constantly intervening and acting on our behalf. He gives us victories, great and small. He constantly guides and protects us. He provides for us. He proves Himself to us. But too often we fail to see Him. We neglect to experience and know Him.

But the greatest revelation of God came in the form of His Son. John reminds us, “God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. But his only Son, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart; he has told us about him.” (John 1:17-18 NLT). Jesus Himself reveals to us the power, love and mercy of God. He was God in human flesh. He made the invisible – visible and knowable. He revealed God’s love and mercy. He demonstrated God’s power and plan for rescuing mankind from the affects of sin. God has revealed Himself in His Word. We see Him on every page. He gives us glimpses into His character. He shows us His unflinching holiness and unfailing love. He demonstrates His power in and over the lives of men. He gives victories and brings defeat. He lifts up and tears down. He delivers and destroys. He rescues, restores, redeems and reconciles. All so that men might know Him. Know Him as God over all. He is the God of the hills and the plains. He is the God of the Israelites and the Arameans. He is the God of the faithful and the faithless. He is God whether anyone wants to acknowledge Him as God. Ahab and Jezebel had spent their lives promoting a god other than God. They had seen their god’s prophets destroyed by Elijah, the prophet of God. They had seen their god fail in a showdown with the one true God. Now they had seen God give them victory over their enemies. But they still did not know Him as God. They still refused to acknowledge Him as God. To acknowledge means “to admit to be real or true; recognize the existence, truth, or fact of.” Even though they had seen God work, they refused to admit that God was truly God. They refused to recognize Him as God of their lives. They stubbornly refused to admit that He was God over all.

Father, You are God over all. Yet I sometimes fail to acknowledge that in my own life. I try to keep control over certain areas of my life. I want to be god. I want to make my own decisions. I want to run my life. And I also fail to recognize and appreciate your involvement in and around my life. You are so active, revealing Your power and presence on a daily and regular basis. But I sometimes fail to see You. And when I do see You, I can so easily take it for granted or try to take credit for it myself. Father, I want to know You experientially and acknowledge You regularly. You are God of the hills and the plains. You are God over all. Amen

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