Now, for the awaited location of the “gold mine of wisdom” in the Bible.

In the introductory post to this series, we discussed King Solomon. God said he would give Solomon whatever he wished for. Instead of a great name, power, or riches, Solomon asked to receive wisdom. Well, the Lord gave him wisdom in abundance, along with all that he did not ask for; a great name, power, and riches. Solomon grew in knowledge of the Lord and received wisdom surpassing all men who have ever existed. During his lifetime Solomon spoke over 3000 proverbs. That would be one per day for over 8 years - that, my friends is a truckload of wisdom. Some of them have withstood the test of time to be included in the Book of Proverbs, combined with other wisdom given by God to his people. I personally believe that God saved all the crucial ones, anyway!

The Book of Proverbs

The book of proverbs is outstanding for newer believers. There is little symbolism, in comparison to the prophetic books like Revelation. Most of the lessons God is teaching us is cut-and-dry. The Book of Proverbs is practical, practical, practical! I love reading through them because in nearly every line I read about something I have encountered in my life. I’m not talking about it occuring “way back when,” either. Often the situation occurred that very day.

This doesn’t mean that the book of Proverbs is an easy read, though. One simple little proverb can tear up our whole framework of thinking! There are so many things that I do that I never realized not only angered the Lord, but paved the way for my destruction. Ties between seemingly unrelated things are made in the Book of Proverbs and our eyes are opened up to how God views the things we do each day.

“Is the whole book doom and gloom?”

Hardly! We were meant to enjoy the book of Proverbs. While it helps us to identify behaviors in our life that bring us to ruin, but it also identifies the life that comes from obeying God’s teachings.

Below are two things to consider when we sit down and pray to begin our time with God in the Book of Proverbs:

1. ask the Lord to shine the light in our hearts to reveal anything and everything in us that offends him. This is a scary thing to ask, and it isn’t always pleasant. God is just to forgive us so long as we repent of these things that God shows us.
2. God will change our hearts to want to do right if we ask. Seriously! It does not happen overnight, because our flesh and mind will put up a serious fight to retain all the things that we are familiar with. Believe though, that God is true to his word.

So the second part of our reading will be one Proverb per day during the “30 days to Wisdom”. To recap, that is:

• 1 Chapter of the Gospel of John per day - to learn the character of God
• 1 Proverb per day - to receive God’s instruction

We will then discuss each of them in an open forum. Feel free to share any comments about understandings of either the specific text, or just how you feel the Lord speaking to you about your life.

I will share some of my experiences, as well. It helps to have someone showing that we all share struggles. When I first became a Christian, I was somewhat isolated from other believers. I came to church, heard the message, then went home. I always thought that the life God intended for me was “somewhere out there”, and that when I became a perfect person like the rest of those in church, maybe I would find it.

How silly that was of me. That was “destination”, not “journey” thinking. We are sanctified by God once and for all when we are forgiven for our sins - Once, that’s it. However, we are justified (that is, conformed to the image of Christ) on a daily basis as we let go of our old sinful life. It’s already gone, we just imagine it is there; much like amputees that still “feel” their missing limb.

In Closing…

Have faith my friends - we are embarking on a great journey this Monday. I hope you join us the entire way. I have 3 simple requests of you.

1. Tell a friend about the series
2. Go to church this weekend - find a church where the Lord is alive and working in the lives of the people. If you don’t know of one, pray that God will lead you to one. It took my wife and I two tries before we found the one. It may have taken just one if we were listening, but oh well.
3. Get off the computer and go enjoy some fresh air : )

I’ll see you Monday. Have a blessed weekend!

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