Prayer
Heavenly Father, I give you thanks for the new day before us. I praise you for your steadfast mercies on this new day. I praise and thank you for your marvellous word. In the reading of your word this morning, O Lord, please feed my soul. Unite my heart to fear your name. Lead me in the way everlasting, please quicken my heart and strengthen me for the challenges to come in the day ahead. Merciful God, I am weak, but you are strong. Please lead me not into temptation this day, but deliver me from the evil one. Please give me a greater measure of wisdom that I may live wisely before you. And may your kingdom come, may Christ reign in my heart, and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Reading
Proverbs 1:1
The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:
To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
to receive instruction in wise dealing,
in righteousness, justice, and equity;
to give prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth—
Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Meditation
“The proverbs of Solomon…” (Prov 1:1a).
The very first question we need to consider is simply this: What is a proverb? In verse 1 the book begins with the following words: “The Proverbs of Solomon…” What, then, is a Proverb? Well to start with in this series of devotions, we’re going to walk through the main characteristics of a proverb. Firstly, a proverb is a short saying. For example, in Proverbs 10:1 we read: “A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother.” Here we find a short, self-contained unit of thought – this is a proverb. Secondly, proverbs are also memorable sayings. In Proverbs 11:22 we read: “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.” That is very vivid and striking imagery! Here’s another one: “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly” (Prov 26:11).
Be ye doers of the word…
Given that the proverbs are both short and memorable, it would seem clear that they are especially intended for memorisation. So, let’s set ourselves the goal to memorise the proverbs. Perhaps that sounds like an intimidating challenge, and yet in Psalm 119:11 we read: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” God wants us to store his word in our hearts, and I’m convinced that he wants us to prioritise the psalms and the proverbs in this task of scriptural memorisation. And why do I say that? I say that because both of these collections were designed for that purpose. On the one hand, the psalms are designed to be sung, and songs are, among other things, easily to be memorised. Colossians 3:16 says that we ought to go about our business in life “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” This thankfulness arises in the heart as we sing from the heart. Proverbs, though not designed for musical accompaniment, are also by nature designed to be memorised – for they are short, self-contained, memorable sayings. So then, the challenge for us is there: let us seek to memorise the proverbs.
Now having laid that challenge and application out, we ought then to ask: How? Without an answer to that question, most likely we will fail. How then might we go about memorising the proverbs? Let me lay out a few possibilities. To begin with, you might set yourselves to carry just a single proverb with you at a rate of one-per-day. You might write it out on paper, or have it accessible on your phone. Across the course of the day, bring it out momentarily multiple times.
But let me add a tool here to help further. We could memorise the book by sheer rote memorisation, but there is another tool that we might use to help us. Let me take a moment to explain the idea of a mind palace. A mind palace is an extremely powerful mental tool enabling us to access the power of our memories to a more significant degree than we typically do. Now, maybe you’ve never heard of a mind palace before, so let me explain how they work. We begin with visualising a location in our mind – perhaps a real location or you can begin creating one (e.g. a palace, thus “mind palace”). This place becomes a mental space to start storing visual pictures and ideas.
For example, if you wanted to memorise a shopping list, you could picture your own house mentally. As you enter the front door, eggs spill out – eggs upon eggs! You are waist deep in eggs! As you wade through the mess, you enter your living room and there is a loaf of bread as tall as the ceiling standing there. In the next room you find a great vat of orange juice which you have to swim through, and in the next room the children are having a tomato fight – and there is tomato splattered all over the walls! Now, close your eyes and see if you can recall the shopping list. It’s much easier than trying to simply memorise a written list of words!
This method can be applied to anything you need to memorise, you only need a visual clue in your mind to recall the object you are seeking to memorise. The more vivid the picture, the more memorable. Those trained in this method are able to achieve astounding feats of memorisation – memorising e.g. the order of an entire deck of cards with relative ease. Imagination is a powerful gift from God, and it is one of the tools that he has given us to hide his word in our hearts. Resolve to begin this quest! Hide the proverbs in your heart. One-by-one, day-by-day, for the getting of wisdom. The Lord, the perfect man, had the word of God hidden in his heart, ready for use in time of need. Spiritual maturity is by definition an act of imaging – imaging the mind and heart of God. As fallen people redeemed by God’s grace, that image must be reformed within our hearts. This cannot be done unless our hearts are constantly reformed by the word of God carried within. The path to maturity is a path of constant saturation in God’s word, and the memorisation of that word is a great and necessary help towards growing in godliness.
Without wisdom, we are destined to remain in the category of what Solomon calls “the simple” (1:4). Without diligence, we are destined to remain lacking in wisdom: “if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures…” (Prov 2:4). As we seek to give our diligent attention to the getting of wisdom in this series of studies, I would like to invite you to a difficult but monumental undertaking. It is one that will change our lives. We have considered above the importance of memorising the proverbs. I would like to invite you to that call one step further and ask you to consider taking on the challenge of memorising the book of proverbs. I don’t know how this idea may have been received in times past, but I feel as though such a thing would be counted preposterous by the majority of people today. But is it truly so preposterous? We have the tools before us to accomplish it if we are diligent, and the benefit of actually accomplishing it is scarcely imaginable. So… do you want to be exceptional in godliness and wisdom? Here is a pathway… SDG.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
Almighty God, God of all wisdom. Wisdom is yours, and it is marvellous to think that – not only are you capable of reciting the entire Book of Proverbs – but that the book itself are but notes and learning that flow naturally out of your very person. You are wisdom, and the writings of this book are but reflections of the workings of your mind. O Lord, look down upon we who are simple, be merciful to us we pray, and give us wisdom. Lord, may you so work in us as to give us a settled and resolute will to diligently get wisdom. By your Holy Spirit’s help, Lord, may you imbue wisdom into our very being, as it exists in your Spirit. O Lord, we are poor, we are spiritual beggars, and yet we come to this treasure trove of the riches of wisdom, and we ask O Lord: please make us rich. Not in carnal wealth, but in spiritual wealth. Through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray, Amen.
Wisdom Wednesdays: Proverbs are for memorising (WW#2/Prov 1:1).