Prayer
Almighty God, there is much to do in life, and I am vastly unequipped to do it. I do not have the wisdom I need, and I have demonstrated that countless times every day. In the midst of the turmoils of this life, I pray that you would meet with me and give me the wisdom that I need. Please Lord, my need is great. Please keep me from the evils that will assail me, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from the evil one. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Reading
Proverbs 1:6
“...to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles”
Meditation
We’ve seen that proverbs are short memorable sayings, and that they are also righteous and true sayings, but now we add another observation: proverbs are mysterious sayings. In the first place, Solomon himself highlights this in his introduction: “to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles” (1:6). Perhaps you’ve experienced this for yourself, you’ve read a proverb and been puzzled as to what you ought to make of it and how to benefit from it. The reason for this is because, by nature, proverbs are mysterious. They often do not yield immediate and easy understanding. Put differently, they are designed to get you thinking. Every proverb is an invitation to prayerfully (2:3) ponder and reflect, and in so doing we will gain more and more application and meaning from them, and our hearts will increasingly be shaped by wisdom.
The natural application of this mysterious nature of the proverbs is that we must set ourselves to think and think again on them – many times over. Only in doing this will they yield deeper and deeper layers of wisdom to us. We’ve already talked about the importance of memorising the proverbs, from there – with the proverbs hidden in our hearts – what is then needed is the mindfulness and awareness to recall them at various points during our day. As we go for our morning walk we might focus our attention on the proverb of the day, consider new and fresh ways in which it’s directives might apply to us. Of course – we must pray and ask the Holy Spirit to give us such insight! As you wash in the shower, drive in the car – recall the proverbs. Speak them out loud, engage in a conversation with your heart (out loud where possible) as to what they might mean and how they might shape our lives in fresh ways.
In summary, we now have all the basic elements of what a proverb is before us: they are short, memorable, righteous, true, and mysterious. Let us try, then, for a definition: proverbs are mysterious wisdom sayings designed to impart wisdom to the hearer through meditation and memorisation. And so as we ponder and memorise the proverbs, we see that this is a means that God uses to truly change us – to make us wise as his Spirit works within us. And what is wisdom? Wisdom is the real-life ability to apply God’s law. It’s the ability or skill of living well by living in accordance with God’s design. It is to live life in the fear of God. SDG.
Be ye doers of the word…
In light of what we’ve learned, the question is laid before us again: Do you want to be wise? Do you want to be a mature man of God? God’s appointed pathway to wisdom and maturity is clear: he would have us give ourselves to the prayerful memorisation of and meditation upon this book of proverbs especially. My hope and prayer is that this set of volumes provides a help to you in doing that. You may also like to take up other readings and sermon series on the Book of Proverbs. Matthew Henry’s commentary will be helpful, as will that of Charles Bridges. Paul Washer has provided numerous meditations available on sermon audio on the first four chapters (at time of writing). All of these will be a good help for pursuing our goal.
Prayer of Confession & Consecration
O Lord I pray, as I commit myself to the consistent memorisation and meditation upon the Book of Proverbs, may you work through my poor, impoverished efforts and give to me a measure of the gift of wisdom that you gave to Solomon so long ago. May it be an immense measure, and such as would glorify your name. I pray for the members and children of our church, that you would increase among us a hunger for wisdom, and also the fruit of growing wisdom. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
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