God wants His people to have a full and satisying life. But how do we get it? Demands are made on us, with the pressures of the 21st century in terms of time and resources. We’re bombarded by the influences of the secular environment and at the same time there’s the insistent call of God as we seek to be disciples of Jesus. If we’re serious in our commitment to our Lord, as citizens of His Kingdom, we need to be continually refreshed with a healthy dose of what I’ve called:
KINGDOM WISDOM
I’ve called it Kingdom Wisdom because as Christians we’re different, or should be, from unbelievers. The Apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17). The verses we’ve read (Proverbs 3:1-12) are a beginners’ manual to Kingdom Wisdom. We need to absorb its wisdom. The qualities described will help us to take responsibility for our conduct and above all, to make a habit of examining everything in the light of God’s Word and to know the witness of the Holy Spirit within us.
As we look at the text we’ll find some wonderful assurance of God’s provision for the believer. Some of the statements promising “the good life” seem almost too good to be true! How can we tell if “a proverb” is “a promise as well as a proverb”? Something we can count on. It’s by comparing them with the rest of Scripture, in other words, to “handle accurately the word of truth” (2 Tim 2:15). If a proverb expresses a truth promised elsewhere in Scripture, we know it is a promise.
The passage is addressed by Solomon to an unnamed son. “My son,” he says. But let’s take it as if it we’re addressed to us personally - “My son (my daughter) do not forget my teaching.” Solomon begins first with:
KINGDOM RULES (verses 1 & 2)
”Keep my commands in your heart” he says. It follows from this that the young man had previously been instructed in godly living, but young people – no, let’s face it, all of us – often forget what we we’re taught only last week! Solomon speaks of “commands”, a word which reminds us of the foundation of all wisdom, “The Ten Commandments”, not as as been said, “The Ten Suggestions!” We’re to fix God’s Law, His “commands” as our rule of life, not only in our heads, but in our hearts, the centre of our being.
An old preacher is reported to have said, “We either keep the Ten Commandments or we illustrate them!” A true word! When they were given to Moses on Mount Siniai, they were written, not on sheets of paper or even rolls of leather so that we can bend them, but on tablets of stone so that we either keep or break them! The “commands” that Solomon mentions are for a purpose: “for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity”. What a wonderful statement –but what does it mean?
Is it a promise of unconditional long life and prosperity on Earth? Too many of my godly friends didn’t have their lives prolonged, being taken to glory at an early age. Certainly, following God’s commands doesn’t guarantee that you’ll live to get a congratulations card from the Queen! God alone is sovereign in the matter of our years on Earth. Perhaps the Amplified Version gives a better insight when it mentions “a life worth living” and the eternal security of the believer. Matthew Henry has an encouraging word for us who, shall we say, are of a certain age! He says that the reference to “many years” and “prosperity” mean that “Even the days of old age shall not be evil days.”
Solomon gives us further detail of Kingdom Wisdom as he discusses:
KINGDOM PRINCIPLES (verses 3 & 4)
The philosophy of the 21st century, what has been termed “post-modernism”, is “if it’s right for you, it’s all right; if it feels good, do it!” Solomon, however, at least at one point in his life, had revealed to him a higher wisdom. Regrettably his conduct in later life shows that it’s one thing to know about wisdom, but quite another to work it out consistently in daily life.
Hear Solomon’s wise words: “Let love and faithfulness never leave you …” “Love”, says the apostle Paul, is “the most excellent way” (1 Cor 12:30). It’s the love of God that enables us to be like Jesus. It will prevent us from keeping a record of alleged wrongs done to us, to think the best rather than the worst of people we find it hard to relate to. It’s letting God handle things in the pressure of life. Love is giving the benefit of the doubt. That’s how relationships are transformed. Love is forgiveness. Love is a heart of compassion. Love doesn’t keep a score. Love is about giving and helping. We need to experience and express this grace of love and commitment for one another.
The second aspect of Wisdom that Solomon refers to is “Faithfulness” - it’s essentially believing in God and acting as if we had implicit faith in Him. It’s not a “leap in the dark” - it’s a conscious response to a God who has revealed Himself. Hebrews 11 lists the ‘Heroes of Faith’ – men and women who, although fallible like us, took seriously the call of God on their lives. Abraham’s story illustrates that faithfulness to God is an activity. It’s something that has to be exercised in every day living. For this patriarch of the faithful, it meant trusting God for daily material needs as he moved from the security of a cultured civilization to being a nomad dweller. It meant being ready for what appeared to be humanly impossible when he was told to expect a son to be born to aged Sarah and being willing to sacrifice him at the command of God.
Of course, we won’t always get it right, but as it’s been said in relation to learning to ski, “If you’re not falling down, you’re not learning to ski!” I was once asked to write down the motto I could choose for my life: it was “Faithful to the end.” Pray God it will be true for me and for all of us.
The Kingdom Principles of “love and faithfulness” naturally leads on to:
KINGDOM DECISION-MAKING (verses 5 to 8)
Solomon’s advice is to “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” The implications of this is that we rely wholly on God for guidance. “Acknowledging God” means obeying God’s will as He’s revealed it. In the hard school of life God’s answer to our problems don’t come in the form of neatly pre-packaged solutions, like strips of shrink-wrapped capsules labelled for each anxiety we have, carrying a certificate of immunity from the hazards of life.
If I may give a personal illustration of this. Some years ago I found myself in a difficulty over employment. I was in my mid-forties, with family responsibilities. I had given in my notice to my employer because of an overwhelming sense of God’s leading in the matter, but didn’t have another position open to me. It was a difficult time of waiting, but I was encouraged by another Christian who told me confidently that "it was going to be exciting to see how God found a solution" - and it was! Perhaps I could have done without the waiting, but God’s timetables are not the same as ours! I heard a sermon on "God our sufficiency" which bolstered my faith and a couple of months later I was offered two secure jobs in the same week! If God leads you into a situation, you can be sure that he will see you through it. He never leaves anyone in the lurch. He guarantees to be with us as we negotiate the difficulties of life.
Solomon advises that “in all your ways acknowledge him (the Lord)” which infers that we openly recognise that He’s the real “boss”. God knows what life is all about. He’s bigger than all the problems we face. He’s with us, he’s committed to us. We can go through the darkness with confidence because He will see us through.
The verse ends “and he will make your paths straight.” This is a promise as well as a proverb, but it doesn’t guarantee that we will never make mistakes! When you navigate a journey from a road map it seems perfectly clear, but when actually on the road you come up to a complicated roundabout, it’s easy to mistake a turning and it’s necessary to go round again! Above all, says Solomon, “Don’t be wise in you own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.”
Solomon has advised us on Kingdom Wisdom - it’s Rules, Principles and Decision-Making. He then tackles the contentious area of money. I’ve called it:
KINGDOM ECONOMICS (verses 9 & 10)
“Honour the Lord with your wealth …” Perhaps the room of our life which we guard most for ourselves is our treasury. It’s sometimes said that tithing is legalistic but in fact our Lord’s and the Apostle Paul’s teaching shows it’s all of grace when we recall the words used in describing Christian giving: “sacrificially, joyfully, willingly, spontaneously, abundantly, secretly, humbly, regularly and trustfully” (Matt 6, 1 Cor 16 and 2 Cor 8 and 9). It’s all about placing our financial resources under the lordship of Christ. Many a Christian has testified to experiencing God’s care and provision in amazing ways if their motives have been God honouring.
Solomon appears to give an implied promise that giving to God will certainly result in wealth: “then your barns will be filled to overflowing …” This has been wrongly interpreted as “getting a leverage” over God to ensure wealth. But we can’t manipulate God. This is the curse of the “Prosperity Gospel”, the idea that monetary gain flows automatically from obedience to God’s commands - well, it doesn’t!
It’s true that the promise of material reward was a promise to the godly Israelite (Deut 28:1-14; Mal 3:10) but when we come to the New Covenant in Jesus, our Lord insists that Christians should expect hardship in our faith rather than material prosperity (2 Tim 3:12; Heb 12:1-11). Certainly, that was the experience of the Early Church and is the case in Muslim and Communist-dominated countries. Believers in Jesus live on this Earth, but their real citizenship is in heaven, and that’s where they will receive their ultimate reward.
We mustn’t think in terms of bargains and rights. Often, here in the favoured “West” if we “honour the Lord” and adopt a sensible life-style, God, in His grace will provide and often we’ll get more than we thought possible. Paul encouraged the believers in Philippi: “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus” (4:19) - but he doesn’t add "all your wants as well! It’s our "needs" He meets, not necessarily our "wants"!
Solomon, although blessed with a major portion of wisdom, knew his fallibility. Like all human beings, the result of the Fall of his first parents, was engrained in his humanity and he realised the recurrent need of:
KINGDOM DISCIPLINE (verses 11 & 12)
Kingdom Wisdom isn’t obtained without discipline, and this is the exacting price to those who wish to avoid the pitfalls of this passing world. “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke.” These words are quoted by the writer of Hebrews (12:5,6). He makes the point that we can’t call ourselves as truly members of God’s family if we don’t receive and accept our Heavenly Father’s discipline. It’s part of His work of sanctification to prepare us for Heaven.
The history of the nation of Israel is an illustration of God chastening of His people. His treatment of the Children of Israel in their wanderings in the wilderness on the way to Canaan and their nations’ conquest by the Assyrians and exile to Babylon, was Jehovah seeking to correct the waywardness of His people. The same principle applies to the New Testament church.
It’s God’s intention that Christians, as “children of God” (1 John 3:2) that we should be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom 8:29). While we are here on Earth, the Holy Spirit is working in us, seeking to impart His holiness in us and ridding us of sin, so that eventually we shall be “found spotless, blameless and at peace with him” (2 Peter 3:14). But until that day, we’re still work in progress!
The reason for this is that when we become Christians, born again, we don’t automatically attain perfection. In fact, quite the contrary, what the Bible calls “the old man” (Eph 4:22) remains. There are repeated instructions in the New Testament letters to “put off the old self … and to put on the new self, created by God in true righteousness and holiness” (23). All too often we’re slow to do this and so the Lord has to prompt us, and if we don’t respond, to prod us if we fail to learn the lesson voluntarily. It may well be painful! But how does He do it?
It’s often through the circumstances of life. The things that happen to us are not accidental if only we have eyes to see them. God may see fit to use losses of various kinds to teach us lessons which apparently we wouldn’t learn in any other way. There’s also the matter of health. It’s evident that some of the believers in Corinth were sick because the Lord had allowed illness and even early death, to come on them because they had acted unworthily in respect of the Lord’s Supper and were being disciplined (1 Cor 11:30).
Even the great Apostle Paul states that “to keep me from being conceited … there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me” (2 Cor 12:7). Of course, we can’t take as a general rule that illness is God’s chastisement or see other people’s misfortunes as God’s punishment on them. No! It’s our personal responsibility to inquire of the Lord as to the meaning of what befalls us, believing that it’s all allowed by a loving God “for our good” (Heb 12:10), as Solomon wrote, from “a father” to “the son he delights in.”
We’re indebted to Solomon for the Kingdom Wisdom he was inspired to write. Here we have God’s “Highway Code” for the Christian in our earthly pilgrimage to the celestial city. God’s Word must be our guide. The wisdom of this world will fail us, so our relationship must be with the source of all wisdom, God Himself. The Holy Spirit will lead us in to all truth if we allow Him to do so.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, we confess our fallability. Forgive our waywardness, our reluctance to learn. Help us to be made willing to accept and follow the kingdom Wisdom available to us in your Word.
