The Rewards of Wisdom
Book of Proverbs Chapter 3
We know that the Book of Proverbs is a collection and compilation of true, divinely inspired, wise sayings, and they are unquestionably Scripture.
2Ti 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
We should know that many of these Proverbs existed as a teaching tool long before King Solomon
Num 21:27 Wherefore they that speak in proverbs say, Come into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and prepared:
1Sa 24:13 As saith the proverb of the ancients, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked: but mine hand shall not be upon thee.
We should understand that all genuine truth, regardless of its human origin or proclaimer, has God as its ultimate source.
Ecc 12:10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
Ecc 12:11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
We should understand that if God can speak through a donkey, He can cause some truths to come from a pagan human being, if He chooses.
2Pe 2:15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
2Pe 2:16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
God still loves all His created beings but insists that they become believers. Who's to say He did not put words of wisdom in their mouths?
It was the Holy Spirit who decided which proverbs would be included in the Scriptures, just as every other Word, Passage, and Book.
There are many other proverbs in this world, but the Holy Spirit decided these were important to the believer.
Most scholars have said it was Solomon who assembled this Book of Proverbs as directed by the Holy Spirit.
Solomon wrote: Pro 1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Pro 1:6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
We have this verse of prophecy: Pro 1:23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
God also says this to all unbelievers: Pro 1:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
Pro 1:27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Pro 1:28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
Pro 1:29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
If we seek true wisdom, then we will also find the Lord! Pro 2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
Pro 2:9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
Pro 2:22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
It is very hard to view these three chapters as one lesson, but this is the way of our lessons.
*****Chapter 3 Verse 1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
Pro 3:2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
We should clearly understand that God does not desire our compliance with all the Word of God, but God requires us to submit to all the Word of God.
Obedience without submission is compliance.
We must submit all the Word of God because we know it is the truth.
God is not some tyrant trying to force His ways upon us.
Just to be compliant because someone says so, shows we still have a rebellious spirit.
These are so-called believers who, though the outward action is present, rebellion is still in their hearts, and their prayer life will never amount to anything fruitful.
Chastisement may drive the child of God to compliance, but it takes love to drive the child of God to submission without rebellion.
The Lord Jesus Christ is treated as the Son of God as a member of the Holy Trinity. Not three Gods but the three persons in the One God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
As adopted into the family of God, He is our Heavenly Father. This is why He speaks to us as His dear children!
If the God of all creation sees us as His dear children, then why in the world would we rebel against Him?
We talk a lot about the Ten Commandments, and we know that the Jews were given 613 commandments in all, but the truth is that all the Word of God is commandments written to us in love.
Our Heavenly Father will never force us to recognize Him as our Father, but it is the wise thing to do.
The Laws of the Father are the same laws of the Son.
Joh 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Joh 14:22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Joh 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
Joh 14:24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
Joh 14:25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
Our life span upon this earth is really not very long. As I grow older, I feel the call of my Heavenly home, but as I have reached the age to see my Great Grand Children and the things going on in this world, I know they need me as long as the Lord leaves me here. I think most of us feel the same way.
To be honest, we have not left such a great world for our grandchildren and certainly not our great-grandchildren.
I am already experiencing verse two and have been at peace for a while now. I'm certain I'll end up in New Heaven and am prepared to go whenever the time comes.
This is why submitting to the Lord is far better than trying to keep up with a bunch of laws.
My God, my Heavenly Father has promised mercy because of His great love, and mercy means I will never see His wrath upon me.
Mercy means I will not receive the punishment for my sin that I deserve but will receive the "Grace" of God instead.
*****Pro 3:3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Pro 3:4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Listen as our Heavenly Father teaches us.
"Mercy without truth is like a great rain in a desert place that is not a blessing because there are no plants that need its nourishment".
When we receive the mercy of God, it means we are not getting what we deserve, eternity in Hell, which is a real place.
For those who believe in Heaven but doubt a place called Hell means they have rejected the truth. Both places are mentioned in the Word of God.
Our Heavenly Father exhorts each of us to grab hold of His mercy and His truth and never let go.
That mercy and that truth came to us in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Truth means things we can rely on, and we can rely on the truth of the Gospel!
God has proven He loves us as He has made a way for us to miss out on His wrath.
Our obedience to His Word proves we love Him!
The obedience of the Christian is the outward behavior of each Christian's inner devotion to our Heavenly Father.
The terms binding and loosing to the Jew mean permitting or forbidding or declaring anything to be forbidden or permitted.
What are the benefits of being obedient to the Word of God?
We will find favor and understanding with our Heavenly Father.
The favor of God is God's "Grace," which means His good will, His acceptance, and the many benefits that come from these things.
When we devote ourselves to the Lord, we will remain true and faithful to Him.
Love and faithfulness are to be worn like precious jewels in a necklace.
To the Jew, the throat is the life of every person. Mercy and truth are tied to the throat, so mercy and truth are to become a part of our every breath.
We bind them to our neck and then we write them in our heart!
This means that we know that the Word of God is to become a major part of our lives.
Heb 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
Heb 10:17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Even as a child of twelve, our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated these rewards in His life.
Luk 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
We can do none of these things until we have submitted ourselves to God!
God wants to see our love for Him with His own eyes!
God wants us to demonstrate our love for Him by being obedient to Him!
1Jn 5:3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1Jn 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
Without this faith in Him, we can never please our Heavenly Father.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
*****Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Today, most people trust in their own understanding, even though most of that understanding comes from media sources that have forgotten the truth and have allowed politics to dictate their beliefs, much of which comes from hatred.
Just look at Microsoft News, and ninety percent of it is distorted news who do everything it can to go against our duly elected President.
People do not get to learn on their own understanding because all we get is a distorted worldview.
The truth of the Word of God is so easily seen as it teaches us how to live in a mind at peace with this world, because we are no longer a part of this world.
When we acknowledge our Heavenly Father, He knows it.
When we love our Heavenly Father, He knows it.
When we trust our Heavenly Father, He knows it.
When we accept the truth of the Lord Jesus Christ, He starts a building program in the New Heaven.
This applies to every minute of our lives, at home, at work, at church, and in everything we do.
The enemies of Israel came against King Asa and Asa called upon the Lord: 2Ch 14:11 And Asa cried unto the LORD his God, and said, LORD, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O LORD, thou art our God; let not man prevail against thee.
Every day we go out to battle in this world, we need to say, "Help us, O Lord our God, for we rest upon thee and in thy name, we go out into this lost and dying world with the Gospel".
We can do this if we are devoted to Him and His Word!
Our path is the same path that our Lord Jesus walked.
Our understanding will be darkened by our sinful nature if we depend upon our own understanding.
Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
We can walk in the darkness, or we can walk in the Light of Life.
Jhn_8:12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
*****Pro 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Pro 3:8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Self-confidence can be a good thing, but when we put our own confidence above the truth of the Word of God, then we will fail.
Any wisdom against the wisdom of God is wrong, and it is sin.
Isa 5:21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
We should always seek the direction of God in everything we do!
We are also able to see that our moral condition and our physical self are closely linked together!
Godliness is profitable for all things.
1Ti 4:8 For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.
When we have a reverent fear of the Lord, it builds our relationship with Him, and we can see His promise, we will live healthier lives here on earth and in eternal life when we reach His home in New Heaven.
Godliness means we hate evil and the evil ways of man.
To be self-sufficient is to be arrogant and self-righteous.
If we wish to conquer the challenges of this life, we have to cry out to the Lord God for His help and His wisdom.
Pro 2:5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
Every command that God gives us is for our well-being in every dimension of this life we live now.
Sin will rob us of time we can spend with our families and enjoy this life as we prepare for that eternal life.
That word naval actually means the neural chord we were attached to when we were in the womb of our mothers.
If we belong to the Lord God, our Creator, our naval chord is now attached to Jehovah God and He will moisten the marrow of our bones.
Psa 63:5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips:
We can say all these things and do all these things, but there is a way we can prove to the Lord, we love Him.
We can bless Him as He has blessed us.
It's called self-sacrificing.
*****Pro 3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
Pro 3:10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
This means more than just tithing, which we are all called to do.
Our first fruits are to be presented to the Lord in gratitude and thankfulness to Jehovah.
Our first fruits are to be the best we have.
Trusting the Lord with all our hearts includes our wealth and our substance.
Fearing the Lord extends to His commands about finances and material things.
These things honor God because they show our submission to Him.
When we give our best instead of our leftovers, it glorifies our Creator.
Many leftovers of our meals go out to feed animals, so we do not have to wonder how God feels when we try to give Him our leftovers.
Our first fruit must be a token of our gratitude to the Lord for the blessings that He has already given to us.
When we are willing to give God the best that we have, which includes our time, it is really just a trial of our faith.
Ask Abraham how he felt when God told him to give up his son?
God says to prove Him: Mal 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
Mal 3:11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the LORD of hosts.
Mal 3:12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, saith the LORD of hosts.
Can I say I have received a gift from God that was not special, and a thing I needed?
God will do for us what only He can do!
2Co 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:
2Co 9:9 (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever.
We could say that giving to the Lord is our supreme act of faith.
We must also know that we are only human, and humans are made from dirt, and we will fall under Satan's temptation on occasion.
We cannot make excuses but own up to our failures and ask or sometimes beg for forgiveness.
*****Pro 3:11 My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:
Pro 3:12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
None of us likes any sort of punishment.
No child of God can love pain or loss.
None of us looks forward to the knife of the surgeon.
We must completely understand that God not only rewards His children and prefers to do so, but He is also a loving Father who will discipline us. It is called chastisement.
As long as we remain in this sack of flesh that we wear, we will make mistakes, and we will need discipline.
If we are or were parents, we understand this clearly.
If we are being disciplined by the Lord, we must understand it is because He loves us.
None of us enjoys discipline, but we are to submit obediently to God's hand of discipline.
As we travel that narrow path to Heaven, we will need His guidance, and we already know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the door to the entrance into the glory world.
He is not the doorway but the door.
Jehovah God never gets angry with His children; He corrects us!
Job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
Job 5:18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.
As God is our Heavenly Father, we are part of His family, so it is discipline of a family and not like as school or prison.
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
We can understand the word "bastard" as those born of the world and have Satan as their father.
2Co 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
We show our trust in the Lord by just believing what He says.
Rom 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
*****Pro 3:13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
Pro 3:14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
Pro 3:15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
Pro 3:16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
Pro 3:17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
Pro 3:18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
We should know that just like precious metals and precious jewels, wisdom is to be found.
We must diligently seek God's wisdom!
We can see that God's wisdom will bring happiness.
Happiness is the result of being in God's favor!
God's wisdom has much more value than silver. Silver is used to make musical instruments in Heaven.
God's wisdom is much more valuable than gold. Gold is nothing but paving material in Heaven.
God's wisdom is much more valuable than jewels. Jewels are used as wall decorations in Heaven.
Out of everything we might ever desire, wisdom will make us richer than any money ever will!
Instead of seeking some magic potion for long life, the only potion that will work is the wisdom of God.
God's wisdom can bring honor.
God's wisdom can bring happiness and peace to our lives.
God's wisdom is truly the tree of life here on earth and will lead us to our new home in the New Heaven.
Wisdom is truly the source of life!
Wisdom brings happiness to God's people.
Amen
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