SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/1/2013 8:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Wisdom’s
Call to True Wealth PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Proverbs
8:1-36
Messages of the
verses: We will see how far we can
get in this section of the book of Proverbs, and if it is not finished today we
will continue to work on it tomorrow.
Remember that I follow the pattern that is found in Warren Wiersbe’s
“Be” book series and in his second chapter on the book of Proverbs we will
cover chapters 1:7-33, 8 and 9. We covered
the first six verses of chapter on in the introduction to the book of Proverbs.
Introduction (8:1-5):
1 Does not wisdom call, And understanding lift up her voice? 2 On top of
the heights beside the way, Where the paths meet, she takes her stand; 3 Beside
the gates, at the opening to the city, At the entrance of the doors, she cries
out: 4 “To you, O men, I call, And my voice is to the sons of men. 5 “O naive
ones, understand prudence; And, O fools, understand wisdom.”
Dr. Wiersbe entitled this chapter in his commentary on
Proverbs “Is Anybody Listening,” and so we will once again find out from the 8th
chapter of Proverbs if anyone listening to wisdom. We saw in the last SD that wisdom was God’s
call to salvation, and not many were listening to the call. We find wisdom again in the crowded places of
the city where she again calls out so everyone may hear. We saw in Proverbs 1:22 that the scorners
laughed at her message and so she does not call them again, but continues to
call the simple and the fools as seen in 8:5.
Here are some verses that go well with these from
Proverbs 8:1-5: “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count
slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all
to come to repentance (2Peter 3:9).” We
see wisdom coming back to the city to once again give her message to those
there showing the patience of God. Two
verses in Hebrews show that God does stop the call if people don’t listen: “7 He again fixes a certain day,
"Today," saying through David after so long a time just as has been
said before, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR
HEARTS." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of
another day after that (Heb. 4:7-8).” “See
to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape
when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who
turn away from Him who warns from heaven (Heb. 12:25).”
“You can trust my
words” (vv. 6-9): “6 “Listen, for I
will speak noble
things; And the opening of my lips will reveal right things. 7 “For my mouth will utter truth; And wickedness is
an abomination to my lips. 8 “All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness; There is
nothing crooked or perverted in them. 9 “They are all straightforward to him who understands, And right to those who find
knowledge.”
We are going to look at five adjectives that are used in
these verses in order to help us better understand the character of the message
that wisdom is declaring.
The first word is found in verse six and is translated
“noble” in the NASB, and “excellent” in the NKJV and “worthy things” in the
NIV. The following is from the
Hebrew/English dictionary found on my Online Bible Program: “1) leader, ruler, captain, prince 1a) ruler,
prince; 1b) prince-overseer; 1c) ruler (in other capacities); 1d) princely
things.” Dr. Wiersbe concludes “Since
God’s message is the Word of the King, it is indeed noble and princely.”
“Right” is found in verses 6 and 9 and here is the
definition of it: “1) evenness, uprightness, straightness, equity; 1a)
evenness, level, smoothness; 1b) uprightness, equity; 1c) rightly (as adv).”
Next we look at “true” found in verse seven, for God’s
Word is always true.
“Righteous” is seen in verse eight. Dr. Wiersbe writes “Folly uses deceptive and
‘crooked’ words to achieve her purposes, language that George Orwell called
‘newspeak’ in his novel Nineteen
Eighty-Four and that we would today call ‘double-speak.’” We can know for certain that whatever is in
the Word of God is true “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are
true; they are righteous altogether (Psalm 19:9).”
The words that wisdom are plainly spoken, they are clear
and open so that there is no confusion in them, and yet there are those who
reject them, but not the fault of the Words.
“12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit
who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13
which things we also speak, not
in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining
spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. 14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the
Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them,
because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual
appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS
KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of
Christ (1Cor. 2:12-16).”
Mark Twain is credited with saying, “It isn’t what I
don’t understand about the Bible that worries me, but what I do
understand.”
“You can receive true wealth” (vv. 10-21): “10 “Take my instruction and not silver, And
knowledge rather than choicest
gold. 11 “For wisdom is better than jewels; And all desirable things cannot compare with her. 12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And I find knowledge and discretion.
13 “The fear of the LORD
is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate. 14
“Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine. 15 “By me
kings reign, And rulers decree justice. 16 “By me princes rule, and nobles, All
who judge rightly. 17 “I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek
me will find me. 18 “Riches
and honor are with me, Enduring wealth and righteousness. 19 “My fruit is better than
gold, even pure gold, And my yield better than choicest silver. 20 “I walk in
the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice, 21 To endow
those who love me with wealth, That I may fill their treasuries.”
There is a difference between riches and enrichment. Wisdom does not promise to put money in your
bank account, but she is urging us to see those rewards that are eternal rather
than gold, silver, precious stones. In
writing to the Corinthian believers Paul speaks of eternal rewards that
believers can earn on how they serve the Lord, “11 For no man can lay a
foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if
any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
straw, 13 each man’s work will become evident; for the day will
show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the
quality of each man’s work. 14 If any man’s work which he has built on
it remains, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work is burned up, he
will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire (1Cor.
3:11-15).” We see in this passage that
when a person builds upon the foundation which is Jesus Christ they can earn
eternal rewards that will not burn up, but if a person is not relying upon the
Holy Spirit to guide him into the works that God desires for him to do for him
then his works will be of wood, hay, or straw and they will burn up, but he
will not burn up as seen in verse 15.
This section of Proverbs is an Old Testament version of
Matthew 6:33 which says “But seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” Some of the Israelites during the OT times
thought that riches meant that they were being blessed by God, that wealth was
a sign of God’s blessing, while poverty was a sign of not being blessed by
God. Even the disciples of Jesus were
astounded by the remarks that Jesus told the rich young ruler and asked the
Lord who could be saved to which He replied "With people this is
impossible, but with God all things are possible.” The health and wealth gospel is very popular in
our culture today, but it is just as wrong today as it was when Jesus spoke to
the rich young ruler. In this section of
Proverbs we see what true riches truly are. We see from verse 12 these riches
that wisdom can give us, gifts that are eternal, “12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And I find knowledge and discretion.” Dr Wiersbe points out other gifts that wisdom
can give, “the fear of the Lord, humility, godly speech, wise counsel,
understanding, guidance on life’s path, strength for the journey, and ‘durable
riches.’ A life that’s enriched by God
may be poor in this world’s goods, but it is rich in the things that matter
most. It’s good to enjoy the things that money can buy,
provided you don’t lose the things that money can’t buy. What Wisdom has to offer can’t
be purchased anywhere, not matter how rich you are.
“How
do we secure this satisfying and enduring wealth? Hear the Word of God (v.6), receive
instruction (v.10), love truth and wisdom (vv. 17, 21), and seek God and His
wisdom daily (v.17). Many of God’s
people have discovered how important it is to start each day with the Lord,
meditate on His Word, praying and worshiping Him.”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The riches of the
world lure many people into trying to receive their happiness from those riches
the world has to offer. People often
want things that they don’t have even though they probably know that those
things will not make them happy. As we
look back to when sin first entered this wonderful world that God created we
see that Satan’s temptation offered to Eve was to get something that she did
not have, but really did not need. Both
she and her husband fell to the temptation of knowing good and evil in order to
be like God, and we are all paying the price for that mistake now. Make no mistake about it we would have done
the same thing, for we do the same things today as we seek to get riches that
will not last, trading them for riches that will last.
My Steps of Faith for Today: “But seek first the kingdom of God and His
righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 121:1-3
1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains, for where
shall my help come? 2 My help comes from
the LORD who made heaven and earth. 3 He
will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.
1/1/2013 10:48 AM
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