Proverbs 2

“When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things, from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness; who rejoice in doing evil, and delight in the perversity of the wicked; whose ways are crooked, and who are devious in their paths; to deliver you from the immoral woman, from the seductress who flatters with her words, who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.  For her house leads down to death, and her paths to the dead; none who go to her return, nor do they regain the paths of life - so you may walk in the way of goodness, and keep to the paths of righteousness.  For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the earth, and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.” Proverbs 2:10-22 (NKJV)

Anyone familiar with the story of Solomon’s life scratches their head when reading today’s proverb.  That’s because God gave Solomon the wisdom to discern His Word rightly, yet Solomon lacked the moral integrity to apply it to his own life, at least long term.  In that sense, Solomon reminds me of those doctors and nurses who stand outside the hospital smoking cigarettes!  It’s not like they are unaware of the cancerous life-shortening effects of smoking.  They probably tell their emphysema patients, “Smoking will kill you  .”They just choose to ignore the facts for themselves.  How could Solomon preach so rightly yet live so wrongly?

“But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites - from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, ‘You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you.  Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods.’ Solomon clung to these in love.  And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.  For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.  And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.” 1 Kings 11:1-8 (NKJV)

It is not enough to simply know God’s Word.  We must also obey and apply it!  We must practice what we preach.  When the preaching of God’s Word is matched with our practice of it, not only will we share it with others, but it will be Spirit-filled and change the values of the people who both hear our message and observe our lifestyles.  The problem with the church at large is not the absence of good preaching.  It is that people have no value for it.  We must model our faith. (Luke 11:28; Matthew 23:3; Luke 6:46; Ezra 7:10; Psalm 1:1-3; Judges 2:10; 1 Samuel 3:1)