Prescribing Proverbs – RX Nine – August 9th

PRESCRIBING PROVERBS
August 9th, 2021

A Proverb a day keeps Untruth away

Proverbs 1:1-6, ‘These are the wise sayings of Solomon, David’s son, Israel’s king—written down so we’ll know how to live well and right, to understand what life means and where it’s going; a manual for living, for learning what’s right and just and fair; to teach the inexperienced the ropes and give our young people a grasp on reality. There’s something here also for seasoned men and women, still a thing or two for the experienced to learn—fresh wisdom to probe and penetrate, the rhymes and reasons of wise men and women.’ (MSG)

Prescription (RX) Nine: Wise Men Still Seek Him

Proverbs 9:9-12, ‘Give instruction to a wise man, he will be wiser still; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. For by me your days will be multiplied, and years of life will be added to you. If you are wise, you are wise for yourself, and if you scoff, you will bear it alone.”’ (NKJV)

I don’t think that is a phrase that should just be reserved for Christmas and the wisemen that sought the birth of Jesus. Truly, wise men still seek the Lord with all their heart. And the reward, the treasure of that quest, is eternal, life-giving and life-sustaining.
Much of life is about learning, right? From the moment we are born, we are forever learning. Even at moments old, a newborn is learning the world and environment around him; she is learning to feed. Babies are intensely learning with every breath they take as they suddenly have to remember to breathe, to wake up to eat, who to count on. They are figuring out how to roll over and eventually crawl so someday they can walk. They are learning what foods they like and what they spit out, what sounds and sights become familiar to them and are acceptable and what might send trepidation or unease in them.

Babies become toddlers and the learning increases in a different manner. They have hopefully by then decided their surroundings and know people; new objects and decisions being offered to them aren’t as foreign. But everyone who comes into contact with them are consistently showing items to them and asking how many and what color and what is it and who are you. Every moment of their existence at this point is a learning curve. And it doesn’t end. You’ve learned how to walk and run, climb and pick yourself up when you fall, but now someone wants you to run after rolling objects, and it’s okay to throw that round thing but you mustn’t throw that thing or you will be in trouble. Now you need to learn when and where to use inside and outside voices. The lessons are endless.

You know how to read and write and now you must learn how to excel; how to care for people’s feelings and how to guard your heart. We are taught about ‘bad’ people and ‘bad’ words, Jesus and who to let be in control of us and who not. Even decisions are a part of learning, and sometimes we learn some decisions painfully too late. We learn our choices choose us and we learn to get over some things and some things we never learn to get past.
The truth is we are learning right up until the time our lives are over. In fact, I hope I never stop learning and unlearning things I learned wrongly the first time. That’s where wisdom comes into play. Some of our learning came from folly and poor choices and bad examples but it isn’t necessarily timeless; we can relearn, learn new lessons and use our knowledge to challenge ourselves with understanding that guides us to wisdom. All of life is leading somewhere, and what matters is choosing the right path to journey on even if we, for a period, traveled down a road that wasn’t safe or good or leading toward a happy ending. We can always begin again at the crossroad and choose a different course, compelling us to a new destination.

I encourage you to do your own study of Proverbs as well as follow along with me! How it works: take a Proverb a day (there are 31, so perfect for the month of August) and read the chapter that corresponds with the day. Then stop on a verse that grips your attention. Focus on the verse(s) for the day as it is highly possible the Holy Spirit is speaking to you through what He helped you unearth. It’s almost like a Treasure Hunt! I will share with you this month Golden Nuggets the Holy Spirit leads me to, and I would love to have you share with me what He reveals to you in your mining excavation also!