In this digital age, there are numerous tidbits of information available at our fingertips with the help of various search engines. Our very vocabulary has evolved the search engine name Google into a verb. “Just google it!” someone may respond when we are perplexed about information. But is online searching the source of accurate and authentic information? Where does knowledge begin? Just having data does not guarantee we will skillfully form and maintain relationships. We need a reliable source to transform and equip us to navigate this life well. The Bible gives clear and well-founded truths upon which we can build our lives.
Do you want to grow in wisdom and improve your relationships?
Then Proverbs is an excellent place to search for ideas for living a wise life.
Of the three poetic books gathered in the Old Testament, Job, Psalms, and Proverbs, Proverbs addresses various types of people and particularly highlights the wise, the fool, and the simple. Living a wise life is significantly valuable for the person who chooses this path and benefits those around them. Contrarily, the fool and the simple leave an aftermath of disruption or even chaos that brings difficulty for every life they touch, especially for themselves!
Let’s go on a journey of discovery together and uncover some of these ancient and correct sayings. To be wise means to embrace God’s covenant for a life set apart for Him and to live out that commitment in ordinary, everyday situations.
The majority of the 31 chapters of Proverbs were written by the wisest person who ever lived, King Solomon – Israel’s 3rd king – and contains the insights we need.
If you read 1 chapter per day, then you’ll improve in your relationships each month as you continually refer to this daily instruction!
The purpose of the whole book is summarized in chapter one, found in verses 2 to 4:
“To know wisdom and instruction,
to understand words of insight,
to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;
to give prudence (cautiousness) to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the youth.”
~ Proverbs 1:2-4
This statement is a signboard that depicts the focus of the whole book of Proverbs.
It’s quite a good list of assurance for wisdom and instruction. It excites me to know that by committing to memory some of these scribed words and applying them to my life, I can find success and meaning in my daily interactions with others.
These are truths not to be missed.
As I read chapter one, I must ask myself four questions:
1. Am I teachable?
2. Do I value wisdom, instruction, insight?
3. Am I increasing in knowledge and discretion?
4. What guides me in my daily decisions?
As I considered the answers to these questions and meditated on the whole chapter, I recorded these insights:
1. I must gain insights that arise from those more mature than myself.
2. I must rely upon God for wisdom in my daily relationships:
Whom I should invest in and Whom I should avoid.
3. Wisdom is calling; Am I yielding?
I have found some of my best learning comes when I read aloud to myself. So take the time now to read chapter one out loud to yourself. What is God saying to you about your own life? Is there perhaps one or two ideas you can glean to enable you to grow in wisdom?
May God lead you into the beginning of knowledge that is faithful and true and equip you to mature increasingly in your relationships and live a wise life.
Blessings!
Gleanings From Heaven's Gate 