Straightforward

Greetings everyone. We’re going to pick up the Bible Study through the book of Proverbs that we started previously. We’ll start with chapter 2. Before we get into chapter 2 of the book of Proverbs, I’d like to turn to a few other scriptures for a little bit of background.

First, I wanted to turn to II Peter 2:22 just to verify and underline the fact that Proverbs is a very, very important book in the Bible and is inspired of God, and so I just thought it would be good to read in II Peter 2:22. Here we read a verse in the Bible from Proverbs in the New Testament.

It says here in II Peter 2:22:

22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

So here the apostle Peter quotes the book of Proverbs way over here in the New Testament. The quotation from the book of Proverbs that he quoted is in Proverbs 26:11 which says:

11 As a dog returns to his vomit, so a fool returns to his folly.

So Proverbs is certainly inspired Scripture of God and ties in directly with New Testament Scripture—in fact, is quoted in New Testament Scripture. So this book is certainly part of God’s word. It’s canonized. It is Scripture that we are to study, to understand, to follow and to live by. And we are emphasizing in this Bible Study living by it in practical Christian terms.

I want to turn to another verse to once again underline the importance of God’s word.

II Timothy 3:16:

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God—

All scripture, Old and New Testament.

16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man—

The woman, the child, the servant

17 —of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

So what we’re doing as we go through this overview Bible Study of the book of Proverbs, is we are emphasizing practical Christian living as outlined in the book of Proverbs. And here we see in II Timothy 3:16 that all scripture is given for instruction in righteousness.

Now let’s notice Matthew chapter 4. This is just to lay a little bit of background regarding the importance of this book. Matthew 4:4—these are the very words of Jesus Christ. And He says here in Matthew 4:4:

4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

“Every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” So therefore we are certainly taking very good instruction from Almighty God when we go through the book of Proverbs. His instructions regarding the inspiration of scripture, His instructions regarding living by every word that proceeds out of His mouth, His instruction regarding practical Christian living—all apply to this book, as well as other instructions that we will see as we go through this book.

So I just wanted to take a little time to tie in Old and New Testament verses from this book and also tie in instructions in God’s word regarding scripture and how it’s inspired, and how the book of Proverbs is a part of that scripture.

So now let’s turn back to Proverbs 2:1. As we have already seen, there are themes that start to develop in this tremendous book. One of the most important themes is the one about wisdom and also the fear of God. As we go through this study of this book of Proverbs, you will see that the fear of God and wisdom are inseparable. Where you find the fear of God, you find wisdom. Where you find godly wisdom, you find the fear of God.

And the fear of God, as the Bible talks about the fear of God, it’s really talking about standing in awe of God, reverencing God. So as we stand in awe of the Great God and of His unlimited love and power, we then begin to develop godly wisdom—wisdom that comes from God.

Now we’ll turn to a few other scriptures on this subject of wisdom as we start through this chapter. But just notice themes that are developing—(1) wisdom and (2) the fear of God—and how they were inseparable. They go together.

Now, Proverbs 2:1.

1 My son —

Even though it says my son, it also applies to women, men, all races. God loves all of us. We’re all His children, male, female, all races. We’re equal in His sight. So these instructions apply to every human being that will read and listen and respond to this direction from God.

1 My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you—

or treasure them, is a better translation.

2 So that you incline your ear unto wisdom—

godly wisdom.

2 —and apply your heart to understanding;

3 Yea, if you cry after knowledge—

or discernment

3 —and lift up your voice for understanding;

4 If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures;

5 Then shall you understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

In other words, we cannot be casual about seeking wisdom and knowledge and understanding. We have to be wholehearted. We have to search for it. We have to want it. We have to be passionate about it. We have to cry out to God for it. And if we do, He will give it to us if we ask for it and we’re sincere in asking for it and we’re seeking it like we might seek treasure. Because wisdom and God’s commandments, and understanding and knowledge from Him, it is like treasure. In fact, it’s even more valuable than treasure.

Let’s just go to a couple of scriptures over here in the book of James regarding this subject of wisdom. It says over here in the book of James—James 1:5—it says in James 1:5:

5 If any of you lack wisdom—

And who among us does not lack wisdom? We all need more wisdom.

5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him.

6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

So we need to ask God for wisdom every single day. And if we do that in faith, God says He will give us wisdom from Him. Not worldly wisdom, not man’s wisdom, but wisdom from Him. And there is a difference between wisdom from God and wisdom from others.

Notice here in James 3:15, talking about wisdom, and talking about man’s wisdom and knowledge and so on, that can come from Satan himself, it says here in James 3:15:

15 This wisdom descends not from above—

the wisdom that is talked about in the preceding verses

15 —but is earthly, sensual,—

demonic or

15 —devilish.

16 For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.

And so that’s not true, godly wisdom.

17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle—

willing to yield or

17 —and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.

That’s the kind of wisdom we want. That’s the kind of wisdom that comes from God and that’s the kind of wisdom that is a real treasure and is the kind of wisdom that is in connection with the fear of God, and the kind of wisdom that the book of Proverbs is talking about.

So now let’s turn back to Proverbs 2:4 once again:

4 If you seek—

this wisdom

4 If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures—

I mean, you are really serious about it. You really want this. You want this wisdom that guides your decisions, that guides your choices, that guides the direction that you go in your life, that helps you work your way through the minefield that is out there in terms of the world and the ways of this world and the virtues and values that are so polluted in this world.

This wisdom from God will be like a compass that guides you through that minefield and keeps you on the path of righteousness.

5 Then shall you understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom—

We ask Him, He gives it.

6 For the Lord gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes—

true

6 —knowledge and—

true

6 —understanding.

7 He lays up sound wisdom for the righteous:—

He stores it up.

7 —he is a buckler—

a shield.

7 —to them that walk uprightly.

8 He keeps the paths—

he guards the paths

8 —of judgment, and preserves the way of his saints.

Not those that rebel and go their own way, and get wrapped up in their own selfish pursuits and gratification. But those who serve God, those who want to do what He says, those who want to yield to Him, those who want to think like He thinks, those who want to follow where He leads. He preserves their way through wisdom.

9 Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

We will learn how to choose good paths, make good decisions, be around the right kind of people, work in the right places, refrain from wrong action, engage in right action. Our thinking will get better and the blessings and the peace of mind, and the happiness and the joy that come with that will come.

Why? Because we’re walking down good paths, guided there by God through this gift that He gives us of wisdom as we stand in awe of Him.

10 When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul;

11 Discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you

And you know, anybody of any age can have a measure of wisdom. Even children can be taught the truth of God, and the example set by the parents of following the truth of God, and those children will begin making better choices, smarter choices, wiser choices.

Choices based on good understanding that will keep them out of trouble, deliver them from wrong influence. They won’t go in the wrong direction and end up in the wrong place. But rather they will go the path that their parents are going in, the right path that will take them in the right direction and see to it that they end up in the right place, a place of happiness and health and productivity and godliness.

12 To deliver you—

regarding wisdom

12 To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks froward things;

or perverse things

13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

Which lead to misery and lead to heartache and lead to pain and suffering and death, breaking of the commandments, embracing the works of the flesh, taking up what the world has to offer in terms of wrong types of conduct and wrong types of values.

Why? Because wisdom is not being used. Wisdom is not being applied to knowledge and therefore right knowledge is not being applied to the path that we live our live—if we choose to disregard God and His way and His word, and if we choose to ignore the wisdom and the knowledge and the understanding that is available to us from God. And this book of Proverbs is a virtual gold mine of these principles and standards and values and ethics that human beings who really want to be happy—human beings who want to have their lives restored, their marriages restored, their families restored, human beings who want to live life the way God designed it to be lived—if they choose those things, and they choose God’s way, and they cry out after wisdom and knowledge and understanding, and they yield to God and follow where that path leads, then they will be delivered from the way of the evil man and from the man that speaks perverse things.

13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

and pain and suffering, and sin and death

14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;

And this rejoicing to do evil shows up in music, shows up in movies, shows up in books, shows up on television, shows up on the computer, and it’s something we want to repent of and get away from and not engage in because it leads to heartache and pain and suffering and death and failure.

15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:

or devious and deceptive in their paths

16 To deliver you from the strange woman,—

from the immoral woman

16 —even from the—

seductress or the

16 —stranger which flatters with her words;

17 Who forsakes the guide—

the companion, the father, the mother, the husband, even God, and guidelines from those examples set by those people, she forsakes that

17 —the guide of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.

18 For her house inclines—

or leads to, or sinks down

18 —unto death, and her paths unto the dead.

19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

So when wisdom goes out the door, or when wisdom wasn’t there in the first place in our thinking and in our lives, we can be led astray. We can be tempted, we can be deceived by wicked people, by evil people. We can be led into the paths of immorality, of adultery, of fornication, of all manner of sexual vices, and this can come in the form of filthy magazines and filthy books, and filthy things on the computer and on the television and in the movies. Or it can come in terms of individuals such as prostitution or even wrong kinds of relationships and wrong kinds of interaction between men and women, and between married people, and between married and unmarried, etc.

And it takes all forms of actually, literally breaking the seventh commandment of sexual immorality. When that starts, it’s a dead end path. And there’s a pit at the end of it, and pain and misery and suffering is the result of it.

So when we follow God, and when we follow His word, and when we cry out for wisdom, we will stop that trend before it even gets started. And our choices, and our companions, and our days and decisions will be good choices, good days, good decisions, good companions, and we’ll steer clear of the pitfall and the cesspool and the wrong choices that will lead us to misery and suffering and even death.

And so we need to make sure that we study these verses here. We need to make sure that we are careful about the instructions here. We need to be alert, and when we sense that we’re beginning to develop a friendship or a relationship or a companionship with someone who is going to pull us down, whether it’s a man or a woman, we need to ask God to give us the wisdom, the discernment, the perception, the understanding to see. And therefore, when we see this, cry out to Him to give us strength and help to move away, to back off, to turn and go the right way instead of turning and going the wrong way because the result is predictable.

While there might be some kind of physical thrill and excitement and pleasure temporarily coming from this sin, the end result is going to be pain and suffering and horror, and could be in the form of horrible diseases, shattered family ties, loss of job. It’s just miserable and that’s what this passage is saying here.

Very wise proverbs telling us: Don’t forsake the guide of your youth. Don’t forget what God says. Don’t ignore the wisdom in God’s word. Don’t be taken in by people like this. But rather steer clear of them, flee from it, and turn around and go the opposite direction.

19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.

It’s hard to get back where we belong when we go this way.

20 That you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

So see, we see choices here as we go through chapter 2 of the book of Proverbs. We see choices regarding wisdom and knowledge and understanding, or evil and rebellion and sin. We see the results of these choices.

Wisdom, knowledge, and understanding leads to peace, leads to happiness, leads to success, leads to the good things in life and the good people in life. Choices that are made without following God’s word, without asking God for wisdom, without seeking proper knowledge, without seeking good understanding will lead us in the path that connects us up with evil people, that connects us up with evil situations and circumstances, that pull us into relationships and pull us into situations that begin to snowball in the wrong direction. Before you know it, we are trapped in a situation or in a circumstance, or in a relationship that is going to pull us down, down, down, and finally out.

So we must never get caught in that downward spiral. We must never get caught in that cycle. We must never get caught in that kind of trap because of the lack of wisdom, because of the lack of understanding, because of the lack of knowledge. And if we find ourselves caught in that kind of thing, we need to cry out to God to deliver us. We need to cry out to God to help us. It says that He will. It says right here, Proverbs 2:10:

10 When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul;

11 Discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you:

12 To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks froward things;

Now the best thing is never to get caught in that circumstance and to ask God to guide you around it and away from it, and use wisdom in choices and decisions so that you will be guided around it and away from it.

But let’s suppose you find yourself caught up in such a situation and such a dire strait. You can cry out to God and you can ask Him to intervene. You can ask Him to help you. You can ask Him to begin to give you wisdom and knowledge and discretion, and then follow up on that knowledge, and as you do, it tells us right here in Proverbs 2:10:

10 When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul;

11 Discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you:

12 To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks froward things;

and then verse 20

20 That you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.

22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

So let’s think about what God says in this book of Proverbs. And let’s think about the importance of the fear of God and the wisdom of God, and the connection between the two. And let’s keep those things in mind as we continue through this Bible Study of the book of Proverbs. We’ll pick it up next time with chapter 3 of the book of Proverbs. Look forward to going through this with you then.

This is Charles Bryce with the Enduring Church of God.