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Re: The Proverbs: Practicality in Everyday Life [message #6155 is a reply to message #6154]

Tue, 27 October 2009 04:50

james
Messages: 2137
Registered: April 2008
Location: Birmingham, AL

Senior Member

I've always been amazed by the wisdom God gave one man, Solomon, and how he passed that on to others. Many places he addresses younger men by saying "my son", then instructing them in the ways of wisdom. In I Kings 3, Solomon asked God for an understanding heart to judge the children of Israel and to discern between good and bad; verse 9. And because Solomon didn't ask for riches or a long life, God blessed him with both wisdom and riches and a long life. verse 12 "Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days."

The answers to almost all, if not all, ethical and practical day to day decisions we face today can be found in Proverbs. Plus instruction on how to keep our additude right before God.
Such a wealth of learning, from simple statements that draw a parallel between watching how ants prepare for winter, and the wisdom of people doing the same thing. How about the wise observation that a merry heart doeth good like a medicine? What about the joy that comes when we finally receive something that has been deferred, he describes it as 'a tree of life' in chapter 13 verse 12. How about the warning against the cunning ways of 'the strange woman' in chapters 5,6,7.

This has been my prayer for many years, to walk in the wisdom and understanding of not only Proverbs, but the entire Word of God. I don't think it came to Solomon overnight, but that The Lord revealed it to him as was needed. He says over in Ecclesiastes chapter 1 verse 17 that he gave his heart to know wisdom and knowledge, but he also said that with much wisdom and knowledge come much grief and sorrow, verse 18.

But we're so blessed, in that what it took him a lifetime to experience and learn, we have made available to us now. But there's a huge difference between reading something, regardless of how wise it is, and learning to apply it to everyday situations. It's like learning to live by faith, there's head faith when we first read about or learn something God is teaching us about faith; then there's faith in our hearts when we KNOW by living and walking in it and seeing the manifestations. But God is faithful, if we'll be faithful to hunger and thirst and seek His wisdom with our whole hearts.

[Updated on: Wed, 25 November 2009 03:39]

“But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,”

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