The Promises Of Wisdom

The Promises of Wisdom

Proverbs 2:1-22

We live in a day when popular opinion says that “promises are made to be broken.” We continue to make promises, but they are broken every day. The reason that this has come about is because we are fallible human beings, sin has corrupted us at our core, and this fact leads us down Broken Promises Blvd. on a regular basis. Let me give you some examples.

We stand before God, our family and friends, and make a promise to the love of our life—“I promise to love you for the rest of my life. I promise to be faithful to you. I promise to honor you, cherish you, in sickness and in health, in the best of times and during the worst days of our marriage. I promise…” Even though we make that promise in good faith, we are willing to break our promise when the “worst of times” become worse than we had anticipated, or for some, if a better deal comes along. Broken marriages are so common today that you might be led to believe that grooms and brides are standing at the altar with their fingers crossed behind their backs.

Broken promises are not confined to wedding vows, we see broken promises and we break our promises, most every day. Those of us who have made a commitment to serve Jesus as Lord and Master of our lives have promised that we will seek His will over our will. Yet, we break our promise repeatedly as we seek what we want instead of what He wills for our lives. George Bush’s father, who served as President of our country, was canned because he broke a promise not to raise taxes. Business people enter into agreements; they hire lawyers who charge exorbitant fees to draw up legal documents to make sure that the promises are kept, only later to find themselves in court fighting over broken promises. Young people promise their parents that they will come home at an agreed upon time, but then they break their promise by showing up late. At the beginning of each semester students make a promise to their teachers and professors that they will not cheat on tests or plagiarize on their term papers. Promises are made and yet every semester students are reprimanded or even lose their opportunity to gain an education because of broken promises. Dads and moms promise their kids that they will do “this” or “that,” but then they fail to deliver on their promise. We promise to show up at appointments on time, but we don’t. We promise to pay our bills, yet we default on our commitments. We promise to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and then we commit perjury. We promise to try harder, but when the cat’s away we still play. We promise and promise and promise, but we still excel at breaking our promises. How do you explain this troubling phenomenon? The explanation is quite simple really. Jeremiah 17:9 says, 9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”

The Apostle Paul reinforces the same message as he wrote to the folks in the church at Rome and said,

10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; 11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. 12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” 13 “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.” “The poison of vipers is on their lips.” 14“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 ruin and misery mark their ways, 17 and the way of peace they do not know.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans 3:10-18 NIV)

You might think that with such wide spread corruption, with all of the broken promises scattered at our feet, we would just stop making promises, but you would be so wrong! Promises continue to be made every day. Promises are still cherished by those who long for a promise fulfilled. There is something within us that wants to believe that a promise can be kept. I’ve come today to tell you some good news—there is One who makes promises and never breaks them! He has kept every single promise that He has ever made and He’s still in the business of making promises to people like you and me today. As a matter of fact, in our study for today we are going to learn some of the promises that God has made that can absolutely revolutionize our lives. Let’s begin. Turn with me to Proverbs 2 as we dig deep into God’s Word.