Proverbs
4
Verse 4:5 is the best advice on can receive:
Whatever it takes to gain
Wisdom, do it.
To gain understanding, do
it! Never forget this!
Never stray from what I am
telling you.
Wisdom and understanding today I fear is lost in the youth.
They base everything on technology and believe their grasp of it leads to
wisdom. Sure being a good “gamer” may eventually make for a good F-18 pilot,
but knowing what to do outside the “box” comes from experience and with that
wisdom. Unfortunately, that does not come from your X-Box! Today’s “wisdom” is
gained from weed or other enlightening drugs and it is worthless. Christians
today feel they gain “wisdom” from the Holy Spirit, which often is their own
desires overriding God’s will.
We shy away from reading the book of wisdom, or the Bible,
because it’s a daunting task. I suggest either get the guide I have been using
for the last few reads or start with the Gospels, the rest of the NT, Psalms,
Proverbs, finish the OT, Genesis, and finish out to Job. Sorry an awful book to
end on, but that’s how I first read the Bible. I drifted too much into details,
the key is gain wisdom from God and not your free will, since that will deceive
you often. The best place to start is the Word!!
Verses 4:11 & 12 give us hope:
11 I have
pointed you in the way of wisdom;
I have steered you down the path to integrity.
12 So get going. And as you go, know
this: with integrity you will overcome all obstacles;
even if you run, you will not stumble.
I will take this into reality and say you will stumble from
time to time, but the key is surrounding yourself with people of integrity to
ensure when you do stumble they can pick you up! Evil will always be there to
trip you up. The man who wrote these words, Solomon, stumbled in his later
years and destroyed the nation of Israel. So don’t think YOUR integrity will
“overcome all obstacles” in life without God’s help and the help of good
council.
Verse 4:16 talks about this:
For evildoers are so
twisted they cannot sleep unless they have caused harm;
they’ll lie awake all night until they figure
out a way to cause someone to stumble.
Often these evildoers focus their energy on the wise so they
can point to their fall as hypocrisy as a whole across those of faith. That is
why the great teachers of our time are often attacked with affairs or money,
because a public fail is easy to exploit. One thing , don’t think that since
you are not in the public eye you will not be exploited. No evil knows no
boundaries and all of faith are at risk.
are very u���O