Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4 To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
We spent the past couple of days looking at issues facing our country and our world. We could spend much time addressing the corruption and foolishness that dominates our country and the world. We will continue to do that, but we also need to be reminded of the importance of God’s Wisdom.
The book of Proverbs is one of the sixty-six books of the Bible. All Scripture is written by the inspiration of God. God is the Author of all Scripture. God blessed king Solomon with wisdom like no other man. Solomon wrote most of the book of Proverbs. Solomon wrote of things that he may have believed at the beginning of his time as king. We know that Solomon did not listen to God’s wisdom in a very important area of life. His first wife was a foreigner. It was common for a king to marry the daughter of an important foreign family. They did this with the assumption that this would help secure peace. It was not that likely that a foreign leader would attack a nation where his daughter and her family could be hurt or killed. God had already instructed the nation of Israel that their king was to marry someone from among that nation.
God is not against foreigners, nor should we be. The issue was a matter of spiritual purity. Marrying someone who does not know the true God is never a good thing.
Solomon not only married a foreigner, but he chose to demonstrate a severe lack of discipline in allowing lust to define him. He married seven hundred women and had another three hundred concubines, which were lesser wives. The Bible tells us that Solomon’s many wives turned his heart away from God.
We have noted before that a wife has great influence over her husband. In a godly marriage, the husband is the head of the home. He needs to understand that Jesus Christ needs to be the head of the husband. The husband needs to set the order for the home. The godly wife will be submissive to both Jesus Christ and her husband. She will not seek to undermine her husband, but she can have a moderating effect on him.
In the opening verse of the book of Proverbs, we are told that these are the proverbs of Solomon. He was the son of David, one of the greatest kings Israel ever had. Solomon was the third official king of Israel.
In verse 2 we see the importance of knowing wisdom and instruction. To know is to perceive. It is to have wisdom and instruction engrained in the heart. No person is born with this wisdom and instruction. To those who have been reading these devotionals, you will know that we tend to act with a lack of wisdom and instruction.
When you purchase an item that needs assembling, too often the purchaser ignores the instructions, and chooses to try to assemble the item through guess work. In the end you might end up with extra parts, or the item does not function as it should.
Wisdom comes from God. God is wisdom. We see His wisdom in Genesis 1&2. He not only had the blueprint for Creation, but He put together a world and a universe that functioned perfectly. At the end of Creation week God declared all that He had made as “very good”. Throughout the Bible God continued to demonstrate His wisdom.
Nothing that has happened is a surprise to God. He showed man how to be redeemed after he sinned. He continues to show us that. The problem is that most people never come to receive His instructions.
Solomon further stated that there is a need to perceive the words of understanding. Those words are God’s words. To perceive is to distinguish truth from lies. Adam chose not to act with wisdom when he listened to his wife and took of the forbidden fruit. He chose to act as a fool and reject God’s clear command to him.
In verse 3 we see that we need to receive the instruction of wisdom. The Bible is the book of wisdom. Many people have read the Bible through the years. There are hundreds of denominations that were started by people who read some of the Bible, but they refused to receive the instruction of wisdom. Thus they have their quirks and false doctrines. Most people who choose to pursue some form of organized religion choose not to receive the instruction of wisdom. They choose to receive the lies of others.
Not only is the instruction of wisdom necessary, but also justice, and judgment, and equity. All of these qualities are important. Without them we cannot function properly. As we have already noted, Solomon wrote this, but he did not follow through on it. As he began his rule as the king of Israel, he acted with amazing justice when faced with two women who each had a child, but one of the boys was dead and the other was alive. Both of the women claimed the live boy to be theirs’ and they both denied that the dead child was theirs. King Solomon did not take long to come up with a viable solution to this problem. There was no long drawn out legal battle. There was no need for a DNA test. He called for a sword. He ordered that the live baby be divided in half and half be given to each mother and that would solve the problem. Of course, this would reveal who the real mother was quite quickly and it did just that. That was wisdom, justice, judgment and equity.
In our country of Canada, our leaders lack all four of these qualities. Many citizens also lack them. Most people in Canada do not believe in the true God and thus they have no way of acquiring these necessary qualities.
In verse 4 we are reminded that the qualities mentioned above will give subtilty to the simple. Subtilty is discretion. The simple is the person who is naive or open-minded. As mentioned too many people are willing to try to find the good in the multiplicity of religions. The ecumenical movement is all about this. It is made up of simple-minded people.
A person with true wisdom will know that it is impossible to be on the right track when following any one of the many denominational religions in our world. God does not speak with a forked tongue. He speaks plainly and clearly. The confusion comes when we reject His wisdom, instruction, justice, judgment, and equity.
Solomon further stated that the young man needs knowledge and discretion. If the young man lacks this, he will not have it to govern him in his decisions regarding employment, marriage, family, recreation, or anything else. That is why our country is in the mess it is in.
I know that as a young man, I lacked these necessary qualities. God was gracious to me. He saved me at the age of twenty. He guarded me in spite of my ignorance and gave me a godly wife. I have been a slow learner, but God has been merciful and gracious.
I do not write these things because I have arrived. I do not write them because I know so much. I write them, because God has saved me and shown me things as I have submitted to His wisdom and instruction. There are a few others in this generation who have also submitted to His wisdom and instruction. There is a need for many others to submit to this as well.
Don’t take my word for it. Read God’s Word systematically. Don’t pick and choose what you will accept and what you will ignore. Get a real Bible, a King James Bible for the English speaking world, and read it. Attend a true, local church and receive instruction from a godly pastor. Feed on God’s Word and you will find agreement with much that is written in these devotionals.
Pastor Bartel