The Usefulness of Proverbs
Proverbs 1; I die daily devotional.
3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity;
We’ve embarked on a journey at the instruction of Wisdom, a journey to understand the meaning of behavior through personality. Jesus is the insight to our structure in reference to yesterday’s devo—is our structure ready? Structure represents the idea of a Seed (a Person is a Seed), and the answer—to whether we’re ready for the day of Christ—is dependent on the nature of hope that reflects the personality of the Seed (or how a person behaves in relation to the gospel).
INSTRUCTION
The fact of the matter is … Jesus is Lord and the Son of God, meaning that the literal human flesh of Jesus is the Word of God; what makes that a very impossible concept to accept is the idea of invisible words spoken to become visibly alive in the fleshly nature of Christ—tangible! Imagine Wisdom instructing us to grab a fruit, or to compare the condition of fresh and old bread; take for instance, an avocado.
Say we go to the marketplace, and our mission is to find 3 avocados in 3 different conditions:
- “Too ripe!”
- “Ripe!”
- “An…d—Ready!”
But before we act on impulse to the instruction, why is it that it’s important we listen to this instinct that guides us to the desire of our taste buds? Why do I want an avocado so ripe it’s not ready to eat yet? Well, of course, to not only satisfy my desire for the—ready to eat—fruit of today, but to have it at the ready tomorrow and next week.
However, what happens when we doubt our belief to find avocados at the marketplace; what if we’re wrong about our plan today, and it’s all a waste of time?
John 20:24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
Well then are we not like the apostle Thomas who also doubted the testimony of his fellow apostles that spoke invisible words testifying to their experience of Jesus resurrected from the dead? We become so skeptical to the ad claiming “avocados for sell” at the marketplace that we decide not to go, and what’s worse, the danger of delusion; we say to ourselves and family that “avocados don’t even exist”, all because of our pride and lust [demand] for knowledge; we must know, and have, the truth in our own way and on our own terms, expecting of God to hear our instruction as though we’ve created Him.
John 20:26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then He *said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
Thankfully, no matter how far depraved we might be in our unbelief, For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him—Jesus is the Word of God available to us where we are. So that we might be convinced of the truth, and live. Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; reach here your hand and put it into My side; do not be unbelieving, but believing.
John 20:28 Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
Jesus is our “too ripe, ripe, and ready” fruit that is everlasting, and our instruction is to trust the Word that He is! Because He is in fact, The Word of God in our bibles, that we can set our mind to see—like that of seeing His hands—and use our hands to put into His side—like that of opening your bibles—to not be unbelieving, but believing. We are given the knowledge to understand the instruction of believing in Jesus Christ as our visible salvation through faith, the nature of our hope because we hope in the Word of God that Jesus Christ lives as the Son of God who makes our structure into a seed capable of producing life when it dies.
RECOURSE
Proverbs 1 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naïve, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction. The Enticement of Sinners 8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching; 9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause; 12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; 13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil; 14 Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse,” 15 My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, 16 For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood. 17 Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird; 18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. 19 So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors. Wisdom Warns 20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; 21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: 22 “How long, O naïve ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? 23 “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 24 “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30 “They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices. 32 “For the waywardness of the naïve will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. 33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”
Matthew Henry (P1-V2) Commentary
3. To order our conversation aright in every things, v. 3. This book will give, that we may receive, the instruction of wisdom, that knowledge which will guide our practice in justice, judgment, and equity (v. 3), which will dispose us to render to all their due, to God the things that are God’s, in all the exercises of religion, and to all men what is due to them, according to the obligations which by relation, office, contract, or upon any other account, we lie under to them. Note, Those are truly wise, and none but those, who are universally conscientious; and the design of the scripture is to teach us that wisdom, justice in the duties of the first table, judgment in those of the second table, and equity (that is sincerity) in both; so some distinguish them.
OUTLINE
-Structure (seed)
-Soul (personality)
-Word of God (Jesus)
-Instruction (believe)
"NOT WITH INK" 