“Wisdom’s Cry” (Part 2 – The purpose of Proverbs)

Vida4U – Wisdom’s Cry (Part 2 – The purpose of Proverbs)

To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:

I copied the ending paragraph of the devotional prior to Easter to carry our topic forward.

Therefore “To receive” means all the virtues of “of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;…  knowledge and discretion”  become ours with the chief virtue being humility which allows us to receive and have reverence for the Lord. To ignore this is to reject the very hand that only seeks to help. Like a dad who extends out his hand to his son or daughter who is struggling, so God extends out his hand to us. The sad truth is that His hand is often rejected, why – “but fools despise wisdom and instruction.”  Pride in other words becomes the nemisis of humility as hatre is the nemisis of love.

“A wise man will hear and will increase”  verses “ but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” The verb to “hear” has with its meaning “to do.” We hear music but there is no action that requires follow up, this is not that. To correctly hear means that what is heard is acted upon. Obedience sucedes the hearing. “Increase” implies repeated action. The benefit of consistent obedience is that “increase” is multiplied. In context it is referring to learning. He or she will continually become wiser. Proverb teaches that wisdom is better than riches. That nothing you could attain to in the material world can compare to Godly wisdom. In the world there are people who are very intelligent, having high I.Q’s but they have no reverence for God. And though they are sought after for their professional knowledge, often their personal lives show the fallout of despising Godly wisdom. Godly wisdom is practical and useful, not only for one’s personal life but also in one’s field of expertise. I could not imagine doing my profession without the help of the Holy Spirit.

With nothing but good to be gained why then do “ fools despise wisdom and instruction.” I have often wondered why more people do not seek a relationship with the Lord. And why as believers we are not fully pressing into the Lord and taking God at His Word. With both believers and non believers these questions have always concerned me. The word to “despise” is a strong word. It means to hold in contempt. It indicates scorn or disrespect for someone or something. This ought not to be true of any believer. However I know as believers we struggle with valuing our time with God – making our devotions and prayer time top priority. “Despise” is not a word I would use to describe this, however I do believe it has to do with our preception of the Lord and our own heart. Are we truly grateful for our salvation? Have we really repented of our former life? The verses below describe the right attitudes as well as the wrong attitudes.