When we face troubles, when we feel trapped and don’t know where to turn, God has given us the gift of wisdom to help us along our way.

Have you ever completely ignored the advice of your parents, only to end up regretting it later on in life?
I broke my big toe while on a short term mission trip in Kenya when I was fifteen. When I went to the hospital to get a cast, they told me I would have to come the next day, but that was the day we were going out on a safari. Duct tape would have to suffice for the week until I got back home.

When I visited my doctor, they reiterated that I desperately needed a cast. They wrapped my foot and handed me a pair of crutches, which I had no intention of using. When my dad saw me carrying the crutches and walking on my cast, he told me that I would regret it. “What did he know?” I thought. I had been walking on my foot for a week without any problems. 

Well, it comes to find out that my dad and the doctors might have been onto something. To this day, I cannot bend my toe more than twenty degrees. I have severe tendonitis and if I stub my toe it sends shooting pain throughout my whole body that feels worse than when I broke it initially. A thirty something year old me has a lot I wish I could tell my teenage self. Can we all relate to that? 

Dear Future Generations

The first seven chapters of Proverbs is essentially a letter written from a father and mother to their teenage child. Deuteronomy 6 charges parents to diligently teach their children to love the LORD our God with all their heart, soul, and might and to write God’s Word on their heart. Proverbs is expanding on that command.

Not everyone was raised in a Christian home and even if they were, they may not have been taught from a purely biblical basis. Parents are fallible and sometimes legalism or double standards get mixed in. But for those who had even the slightest biblical instruction, we know the blessing of being trained up in the way we should go. 

Proverbs 3 provides two key biblical instructions: to remember the commandments of Scripture and to not lose perspective of the steadfast love and faithfulness of God. The first shapes the guidelines of obedience to a Holy God and the second reminds us to keep the gospel in perspective.

Let Your Heart Keep My Commandments

There is a temptation to push back on the instructions of our parents because we think we know better, but it is foolish to trust in our own reasoning and the advice of our peers over the ageless wisdom learned from years of experience by those who have gone before us. How much more difficult is it for us to trust in God when His ways are mysterious? 

Our obedience to God is evident in our trust in Him. How many of our heartaches have come from circumstances where we relied on our own understanding rather than put our faith in God? When we are going through difficult times, we ask the question, “Why is this happening to me?” We are trying to make sense of the disordered world around us because we want to know how to navigate our own ship. But faith requires trust in God, the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and wisdom is the only thing that leads to understanding. 

That is why money management is a great barometer of our faith. When we don’t have enough, we are stressed. When we have more than we need, we indulge. But joy that comes from money often leads to anxiety when our circumstances change and our expenses exceed our income. By giving to God out of the firstfruits, we are teaching our hearts to trust in the one who promised to provide for our every need. 

When we are disobedient to the commands of God, when we fail to trust Him in all of our ways, we can expect His discipline. I remember when my parents would punish me, they would tell me that it was going to hurt them more than it was going to hurt me. At that moment, this was hard for me to believe. It is, however, true of Jesus. He bore the weight of God’s wrath so that we could be forgiven, so when we are disciplined, it is not out of God’s anger, but His love calling us back to Himself. 

Let Not Steadfast Love and Faithfulness Forsake You

The word for ‘steadfast love’ in Hebrew is ‘hesed.’ It is hard to translate, but it is always associated with the covenantal promises of God. Combined with His faithfulness it is the very embodiment of the gospel in the Old Testament. 

We all have a tendency to assume the gospel. We have heard it so many times that when it is being repeated, we tune it out. It becomes like white noise and we don’t hear it anymore. But we notice when it is gone. During times of trouble or discipline we are prompted to rely on God in faith, but it is when we are comfortable in life that we tend to forget to acknowledge God. This is where we lose our way. We need to be intentional to hold the gospel before our eyes, in our ears, and on our minds. We cannot afford to allow our hearts to harden to the impact of the gospel. 

Notice how wisdom is associated with the heart. It is not enough to simply do the right things with wrong motives. Jesus taught as much in the Sermon on the Mount. Sin is first committed in the heart, therefore wisdom must take its root there. We must hide God’s Word in our hearts and wear the cross around our necks. 

The commands of God don’t capture our heart, they instruct it. Our best efforts will fall short and cause us to grow weary in doing good. We need motivation. In order to persevere, we must keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the very depiction of God’s love and faithfulness. 

What Money Cannot Buy

Notice, also, the benefits of obedience and faith: long life, respect, direction, health and prosperity. Wisdom is a treasure that money cannot buy. You can pay for an education, but you can’t buy wisdom. Money cannot purchase friendship, happiness, or peace. Wisdom is priceless and it is powerful. The LORD by wisdom brought the world into existence, and it is through wisdom that all creation is sustained. 

When we face troubles, when we feel trapped and don’t know where to turn, God has given us the gift of wisdom to help us along our way. We must seek it, treasure it, and persevere in it. A Proverb a day for the month of May is a great time to start. 

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