The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

Proverbs 2; I die daily devotional.

¹³ From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness;

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THOSE WHO LEAVE

From those who leave the paths of uprightness… that sounds like someone experiencing apostasy. I think our commentator, Matthew Henry, would agree, but what is apostasy?

Heb 6:4-6 — For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

As having been a faithful disciple to the cross of Christ by these devotionals … imagine seeing yesterday’s devotional only to find a completely different post today; a post that communicates an issue of the heart. It could be that I just outright denounce my faith here and now, and what you see is content that reveals dark desires of my heart. It could also be that I’m going through a phase, where—I’m very angry and say things I don’t actually mean … or drowning in emotions so that they might confuse the fruit of my words to indicate a need; what fruit am I communicating if my narrative is off, literature out of whack, and something is just not adding up? There could be an experience of apostasy as whatever event/s mean to shake up my faith. Wisdom will deliver us from this, if this happens to be you, keep the faith. We’ll get through it together.

WAYS OF DARKNESS

I find it easy to quit this faith if my heart were to twist the truth of God’s wisdom for my own pleasure. To walk in the way of darkness is always a temptation, or, at least, it feels that way while in this flesh of my body that demands all sorts of maintenance. While our bodies demand maintenance, emotions are rampant, and the mind is vulnerable. There is so much to experience when I think about the way of the world, but being disciplined by this wisdom will deliver us!

• What road are you on in life?
• What fruit to you produce (good or bad)
• What kind of tree are you? (find the scripture)
• What is your way of darkness?

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RECOURCE

[BP]

Proverbs 2 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
¹ My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, ² Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; ³ For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; ⁴ If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; ⁵ Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. ⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come  knowledge and understanding. ⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, ⁸ Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. ⁹ Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. ¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; ¹¹ Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, ¹² To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; ¹³ From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; ¹⁴ Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; ¹⁵ Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; ¹⁶ To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; ¹⁷ That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God; ¹⁸ For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead; ¹⁹ None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. ²⁰ So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. ²¹ For the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; ²² But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.

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COMMENTARY

Matthew Henry (P2-V13) Commentary
[2.] They are themselves apostates from that which is good, and such are commonly the most malicious and dangerous enemies religion has, witness Julian (v. 13): They leave the paths of uprightness, which they were trained up in and had set out in, shake off the influences of their education, and break off the thread of their hopeful beginnings, to walk in the ways of darkness, in those wicked ways which hate the light, in which men are led blindfold by ignorance and error, and which lead men into utter darkness. The ways of sin are ways of darkness, uncomfortable and unsafe; what fools are those that leave the plain, pleasant, lightsome paths of uprightness, to walk in those ways! Ps. 82:5; 1 Jn. 2:11.