Proverbs 1

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7 (NKJV)

The challenge to writing devotionals for the Book of Proverbs is that the wisdom in the Proverbs is so plain.  So, why explain the obvious?  We need a commentary because rich contextual ideas are hiding in plain sight in the Proverbs.  Not hidden because God wants us to be unwise or uninformed but rather because we are not as wise or informed as we may think!  God assumes we are obediently reading the Bible and discussing it all day, every day (Deuteronomy 6:6-7).  If we are, then Proverbs will be like parables, and we’ll see both the simple lesson, as well as the deeper meaning.  Otherwise, we just walk away with some good sayings.  The Proverbs begin with a message akin to the beginning of the Psalms: you either receive God’s Word or reject it.  “Sort of” believing it is the same as rejecting it.  The consequences may not be as immediate as flat-out rejection, but they are as inevitable!

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.  He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.  The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.” Psalm 1:1-4 (NKJV)

If the Bible is discussed everywhere, all day, its wisdom should be commonplace.

“Wisdom calls aloud outside; she raises her voice in the open squares.  She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words: ‘How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity?  For scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge.  Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you.  Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.” Proverbs 1:20-27 (NKJV) (Matthew 23:37; Acts 2:17; Joel 2:28; Isaiah 44:3)

God answers the call of repentance before the call for deliverance.  (Jeremiah 29:13)

“Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.  Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, they would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke.  Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies.  For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.” Proverbs 1:28-33 (NKJV)