Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Pr 4:1-2 and following. Indeed, it is in his family that the child of Christian parents begins to acquire the rudiments of wisdom according to God. Disputing, despising, or abandoning (verse 2) the “good doctrine” heard at home are attitudes that cannot be blessed and the all too frequent starting point for lives lost for testimony (compare verse 10 with Exodus 20:12). “The father will make known to the sons your truth” (Isaiah 38:17-19). Christian teaching is the responsibility of the head of the family, who transmits to his children what he himself often received from his own parents (Ps 78:1-8). Solomon, the writer inspired by Proverbs, no doubt remembers the last words of his father David (verse 3; 1 Kings 2:1-4). Vs. 11 to 13 instruct us about walking, vs. 14 to 19 about the way. The path of the wicked is described to us so that we know how to avoid it and firmly engage on this path of the righteous which is like the resplendent light that is growing… until full daylight is established’. Wisdom is an area in which one progresses little by little (comp. Luke 2:41-52). What is not normal is a stop in this growth, due to a bad state of consciousness. May this verse 18 summarize the life of each one of us!
All the senses, all the vital organs of the believer must remain under the control of wisdom. God has made this wisdom available to you, dear Christian friend (James 1:5-8). Through it, you are responsible for watching your ear (verse 20), your eyes (verses 21, 25), your feet (verses 26, 27; see Ps 119:101), your thoughts, your lips (Pr 5. 2). And, above all, your heart, that motor center that governs the whole being (Pr 4. 23). If it is taken, it is made of you. How many have missed their lives, how many have shed bitter tears, for having allowed in the time of their youth to develop in them an affection that was not according to the Lord! If the lips are the exit door of the heart, the eyes are the main door of entry. So let’s make sure that our eyes look straight forward. Let them fixate on Jesus, the goal of the race of faith (Hb 12:1-3)! In this way no covetousness will be able to find complacent access to it.
In chapter 4, Wisdom is no longer communicated directly, but learned in the natural relationships established according to God’s government (see 1:8). It is the father who teaches (vs. 1-9). He has experience and good doctrine. The latter was transmitted to him by his parents and it is through the heart and submission that he appropriated it. It is reminiscent of 2 Tim 1:5. The father’s teaching is identical to that of Wisdom itself (3:1-2) and brings the same things as it (3:34-35; 4:9). It is necessary to begin by acquiring Wisdom, for this acquisition is the very beginning of Wisdom (v. 7). It is necessary that the soul covets it, puts the price on it, sells everything it has to acquire it. It is obtained by not turning away from the words of His mouth. Notice in passing the continual role that the Word plays in the guidance of a son of Wisdom. We find especially in these few verses what Wisdom gives to those who acquire it. It keeps, preserves, elevates, honors; she puts on her head a garland of grace; it makes the Lord lovable in the person of his own; it gives for the future a crown of glory.
From chapter 4:10 to the end of chapter 5, Proverbs especially maintains for us the ways of the sons of Wisdom. In the verses that have just occupied us the father says to his sons: “Let your heart remember my words, keep my commandments, and you will live” (v. 4). Here the years of life are multiplied by keeping these things (v. 10). Naturally, according to all the teachings in this book, we are talking about earthly blessings under God’s government. But it is not only a matter of knowing and acquiring what Wisdom teaches us, of adorning our minds with it, so to speak. The father teaches the way to his sons and it is for them to walk in it. Wisdom would be useless in this world if it did not lead us on a path of separation from evil and glorification of good according to God. Conducted in this way, the “steps are not embarrassed”. We will not be perplexed, not knowing which path to follow; we will not flinch, when it comes to running to reach the goal; but we must stand firm and not let go of it, for it is our life (v. 13), and even “a tree of life for those who grasp it” (3:18).
The way of Wisdom is the privilege of a man guided by Jehovah in a walk that flows from Him and corresponds to His thought, in the midst of a world plunged into evil. In all this passage, it is no longer a question of a “simple” son, that is, deprived of intelligence, but of a son who acquired it through the teaching of Wisdom. The Spirit presents us with two absolutely opposite paths in this world: the path of the righteous and that of the wicked. In fact, the world contains only these two categories of people. The wicked may have a character more or less accentuated by iniquity or perversity, but in the eyes of God he is nothing but a wicked, and this is what the Gospel highlights in particular. Christ, in his person, is the perfect expression of the righteous in the path of Wisdom.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
Acquire and keep wisdom:
- Doctrine, good, authentic
Dt 32.2 Let my instructions spread like rain, Let my word fall like dew, Like waves on the greenery, Like drops of water on the grass! Pr 4.2 For I give you good advice: Do not reject my teaching. 1 Tim 4:6 By exposing these things to the brethren, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished by the words of faith and the good doctrine that you have followed exactly. Tt 1:9 attached to the true word as it has been taught, in order to be able to exhort according to sound doctrine and refute opponents.
- Obedience to parents, commanded
Pr 1:8 Listen, my son, to the instruction of your father, and do not reject the teaching of your mother; Pr 6:20 My son, keep your father’s precepts, and do not reject your mother’s teaching. Eph 6:1 Children, obey your parents, according to the Lord, for this is right. Col 3:20 Children, obey your parents in all things, for this is pleasing in the Lord.
- Spiritual ornament, general references
Ps 45:14 Every resplendent woman is the daughter of the king in the interior of the palace; She wears a gold cloth garment. Pr 1:9 For it is a crown of grace for your head, and an adornment for your neck. 1 Pet 3:4 but the inner adornment hidden in the heart, the incorruptible purity of a gentle and peaceful spirit, which is of great value before God. Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descend from Heaven, from God, prepared like a bride who has adorned herself for her husband.
- Resisting temptation, the duty to
Pr 1:10 My son, if sinners want to seduce you, do not let you win. Pr 4:14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil men. Rom 6:13 Do not deliver your members to sin, as instruments of iniquity; but give yourselves to God, as being alive from the dead that you were, and offer your members to God as instruments of righteousness. Eph 6:13 Therefore, take up all the arms of God, so that you can resist in the bad day, and stand firm after overcoming everything.
From all of the above, we note that the vv. 18-19 present us with the contrast between the path of the righteous and the wicked. As was the way of Christ, that of the righteous is resplendent with light, only it will reach its perfection, “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”, only when the full day is established. There is progress in our knowledge and enjoyment until we have reached full light. As for the path of the wicked, let us beware: if we only set foot there we will be fatally dragged from fall to fall. One must not enter, otherwise one will walk there; it is not even necessary to pass through it, but to move away from it, to keep a distance, to turn away from it, to override it. No separation from evil can be too complete or too severe. This is the path of chapter 2:12-15. The exhortation to the son of Wisdom is becoming ever more pressing, because there is a gradation (see vs. 1 and 10). Here we must continually have before our eyes the words of Wisdom, but we must, above all, “keep them in the heart”, because they are life and health of our whole being. But, in addition (v. 23), we have to keep with great care our heart itself, because the external results of the life we possess have their source in the heart. When the heart is not carefully guarded, it comes out of it only evil, for (v. 24) we continually deal with evil within us, with a will of which language is the first and most dangerous instrument. We also need (v. 25) a simple eye as to the object we are pursuing, the righteousness of the gaze that fixes only this single object: Christ, Wisdom. God Himself having made known to us the path of Wisdom, we must walk there with righteousness, without deviating from it, neither on the right nor on the left, and we will thus be protected from evil in our conduct. The heart, the mouth, the eyes, the feet, will act in concert, to keep us on a path that will be in witness to the One who loves us. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow ” Warning against foreign women (Pr 5).
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.