Day 24 - November 17 - Proverbs 1:7

Your Name is WISDOM

Lord, you are the vine, I am the branch.

Remind me to look to you — instead of myself — for guidance today.

What things do you know that you contradict God on? Choose his way today.

 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1:7

 

At a conference not too long ago, an old friend of Billy Graham's said that all around the Graham household are Bibles. They are always open, he said, to the book of Proverbs, and whenever Billy walks by, he regularly stops and read a verse.

 

He calls it a snack.

 

Proverbs is full of hundreds of little snacks. Hundreds of bite size morsels that according to Proverbs itself are ...

• 1:2 for learning about wisdom and instruction,
• 1:2 for understanding words of insight,
• 1:3 for gaining instruction in wise dealing, righteousness, justice, and equity;
• 1:4 to teach shrewdness to the simple,
• 1:4 [to impart] knowledge and prudence to the young
• 1:5 to help ... the wise ... gain in learning
• 1:5 to help ... the discerning acquire skill [in] understand[ing] proverb[s], figure[s of speech], the words of the wise and their riddles.

Wisdom is good. It points along the well lit paths ... and keeps us out of a lot of trouble.

 

But Proverbs' greatest reminder is our verse for today (and 9:10 which reads like this): The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord.

 

With fear meaning, of course, honor and respect (rather than quaking in our boots), scripture tells us that human wisdom might sound helpful, but it won't ever lead us past the starting line unless we're following God. Indeed, read Ecclesiastes (also by Solomon) if you want to see what wisdom without faith eventually looks like -- lots of success but zero hope as life draws to its close.

 

In Christ's Love,

a guy who likes to snack on food,

maybe I'd weigh less if I snack on the word