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Why Should I Seek Wisdom? Proverbs 2

When children reach the teenage years there is a delicate balance that must be achieved between parents and teens. How much control and how much freedom should a parent exercise? Parents have to decide how much control they will have over their child and how much freedom and decision making the youth will be able to exercise.

We see in this passage that a young man is being instructed by his father and he tells him that he will encounter two major temptations; peer pressure and sexual seduction. Instead of clamping down freedom and ratcheting up control – the father tries to teach his son how to make wise decisions himself, and he instructs him on the benefits of making wise decisions. He tells him the truth about life (these are the dangers), and he gives his son the necessary tools to handle it when it comes.

Also, the father begins with the importance of knowing God. Many parents tell their children “don’t do this,” or “don’t do that” and they may even show in the Bible how these things are destructive, but they do not give an alternative to the desire to be popular, or have a girlfriend, or be in a bad relationship. The alternative is knowing God and finding joy in that relationship and way of life. The alternative given to us in Proverbs 2 is the most valuable pursuit there is, the most important thing in life – to know and love God at a deeper level.  

So let’s take a look: 

How One Receives Wisdom (vv. 1-5)

2:1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

We see first in v. 1 there is an “if” and again in v. 4, “if” and in v. 5 we see “then” – these are if/then statements that say if you do this, then these things will happen.[1] If we take in our father’s commandments, then we will understand “the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” Fear and knowledge therefore do not just happen, they have to be sought after and desired. They require effort and time.

The way that is described here is of a person seeking wisdom, by calling for it, digging for it, mining for it, so that it can be found or discovered – but all of these things require a person to diligently seek it out – it does not just pop into your mind and heart.

I love my children, but one of my children has a tendency to wander off away from groups – water parks, cub scout camp, church… and there have been several times when we realized that the child (who shall remain anonymous) there is a rush of panic and fear that rushes over you – and your whole focus is finding that child as quickly as you can. I know I treasure this child, because I seek after the child with all I have, my heart desires nothing else but to find this child.

I yell the child’s name “anonymous”, I look under stuff, I look in stuff, I really do want to find the child. This is how we are to seek God – we cry out to the Lord in prayer, we search His Word as though we really want to discover Him, and His commands for our lives – not in some kind of guilt trip, or so we can be self-righteous.

Mark 10:46-52 “And they came to Jericho. And as he [Jesus] was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the roadside. 47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 And many rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart. Get up; he is calling you.” 50 And throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 And Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” And the blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me recover my sight.” 52 And Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him on the way.”

When we seek after wisdom with all that we have, it is not just wisdom that one is given, but God Himself! We get to know God better, we relate to Him at a deeper level.

How the Lord Protects Us With Wisdom (vv. 6-8)

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 watching over the way of his saints.

In chapter Proverbs 1 wisdom calls out to us and here we see that we are to call out for wisdom. So, wisdom desires to be listened to, and the Lord is ready to give wisdom to any who seek it. He stores it up for when we seek Him; it can be found in great quantity. Wisdom is directly related to obedience where the believer chooses to obey and wisdom is then given from God and their paths are protected. The seeker of wisdom is described as upright, blameless, just, and faithful.

Wisdom in the life of a believer then becomes a shield that is given by God that protects the believer. When we are diligent and obedient, wisdom is given from God and our decision-making becomes one where wisdom is shown. So if we look at it from the opposite view, and reverse the teaching here – when we are disobedient, wisdom is not given in the life of a person, and then their decision making is one that lacks wisdom because it is not given by God, and the person’s path is not guarded, and they suffer harm.

One of the ways that God “watches over us” is to allow us to choose to follow Him, and then because we choose His ways, and obey His commands, then he gives us the ability to protect ourselves by our ability to make good and wise decisions.

It is like a father who teaches his child to wear a helmet when he rides his bike. Every time the child goes to ride his bike the father tells him, wear your helmet – then one day the son goes out, puts on his helmet and rides his bike without the father having to say anything – he then falls – how did the father protect his son? By giving him instruction and the son then listens and obeys, and the son is protected when he fell.

As our heavenly almighty father, He has the ability to make us walk in His ways, but He has decided to give us the freedom to choose. The Bible teaches us that those who become wise are those who seek the Lord, and obey His commands (holiness) – wisdom “skills in life” are given to them by God.

The best way to prepare our children for the world is to teach them to fall in love with God’s Word. To memorize it, to discuss it, read it, pray through it – and teach them to have a quiet time on their own. We lead by example – we love God and His Word, and they follow. We can have a quiet time with them, teaching of why we do this and how important it is, then have a quiet time at the same time but separately, and then them by themselves.

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Wisdom Protects Us From Evil Men (vv. 9-15) 

“9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; 10 for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, 12 delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, 13 who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, 14 who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil, 15 men whose paths are crooked, and who are devious in their ways.”

The seeker of wisdom is described to us as being on a path. While on this path he begins to understand how God sees righteousness, justice, and equity – and understand the “good path.” He will discover that living this is “pleasant to the soul.” He enjoys living a godly life, it brings him joy. He doesn’t have to, he gets to. It’s not a duty, or obligation but a privilege.

Wisdom given from God to the believer, and a love for God and this way of life becomes a guard against men who desire to seduce him into “ways of darkness” We see that not only do these men have perverted speech, are unrighteous, walk in ways of darkness, but that they “rejoice in doing evil.” They love being perverted, walking a crooked life path, and being devious. The danger is not what these evil men will do to the young man, but how they will draw him in to doing what they are doing, even to the point of thinking that it is pleasurable and having fun in this activity. The danger is that he will become what they are.

We all have a sin nature, that when we expose ourselves to certain things, stirs up things within us. These evil men use that sin nature to entice the young man into perverse activity. But when the young man has wisdom – he realizes this and rejoices instead in His God, and God’s ways – thus giving him the ability to not go down the crooked path.

Wisdom gives the young man the skill of saying, “no” and realizing that he does not want to live a life that way. The young man has a desire to serve God, rather than allow his sinful desire to control him, and lure him into wickedness.

Wisdom Protects Us From Evil Women (vv. 16-19)

16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words, 17 who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; 18 for her house sinks down to death, and her paths to the departed; 19 none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life
.

We see the young man, who is separated from his father, and as he is walking he comes across a woman. Wisdom will protect a young man from this “smooth” talking woman. Her smooth talk is for the purpose of getting the young man to commit adultery with her. She is not keeping the pledge that she gave to God (notice it’s not about her pledge to her husband).

Malachi 2:14 “But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the Lord was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.”

Another way to think of this is to engage in a relationship where the other person is willing to break a covenantal promise in order to get something she wants. The people that we choose to associate with will have a direct affect on us – wisdom tells us that being around this woman is dangerous.  

Proverbs 13:20 “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Desire is a theme that runs through this chapter – desire for God, desire to fit in, desire for an adulterous woman, etc.. Desire, when kept in check, and when a young man is righteous, holy, upright etc…is guarded and protected from the consequences of immoral and evil behavior because he does not engage in the activity.

But here the lust for this woman leads to a “sinking down to death,” keeping the desire in check, not engaging in activity or going to a place where this desire is aroused, has to be guided by wisdom. If not, it leads to destruction. The enticement to be with the peer group leads one to become like they are, here the desire and lust for this woman leads to the destruction of one’s life.

Wisdom’s End Result (vv. 20-22)

20 So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it, 22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Here again we see the young man joined with a group – but they are a good and righteous group who are on a good path. And if the young man is able to be guided by wisdom, says “no” to danger, then he will “inhabit the land” and “remain” there. In the Old Testament land often times represents the presence of God, or a relationship with God. When we are obedient we are in a place where we can know God and remain in that place of knowing Him at a deeper level.

But the wicked are “cut off” from knowing God, learning things about Him, and are even at a point where they are “rooted out of it.” Wisdom then, when sought after with all that we have, with our whole heart, and if we remain obedient to God’s commands, we will have the honor and privilege of knowing God.

_________________ 

Imagine you get on a plane and travel to deepest and most remotest part of a land where the people there do not speak your language and use crude instruments and tools, and have no knowledge of any other land than the surrounding country side where they grew up. Now you take that person and fly them to New York, and drop them off from a taxi to Times Square, you close the door, say “good bye” and drive off. How do you think they will do? Will they be successful? Will they even be able to live?

This is what life is like when we don’t seek God with all of our heart. Life makes no sense, it’s maddening, it’s confusing, and it seems to keep changing. There is no sense of direction and we wander from place to place, day to day, not knowing, and not understanding. Everything is foreign and we don’t understand very much at all.

But after a while, we kind-of figure some stuff out. We discover that we can dig through dumpsters to get food, and we can find clothing in the streets sometimes. But what if we were from New York, and spoke the language, and knew how to hail a cab, or had money to pay for it, because we had a job in one of those high sky scrapers. We had a home, and every sign we read told us where to go, how much, or we understood that dangers that lay ahead. Wisdom is like looking at the world as though we were from another land, and putting on glasses that allowed us to see and understand the world correctly.

The road to wisdom begins with understanding who God is, and what He is like. He is holy; we are not. He is all-powerful; we are not. He is all-knowing; we are not. He is all-loving; we are not. We have been cut off from Him, because of our sin. But in His love, he has made a way, for it all to make sense through a relationship with His Son Jesus Christ.

______________

[1] Paul Koptan, The New Application Commentary (Grand Rapids:Michigan; Zondervan) 97.

A Reaction to The Ashley Madison.com Leak: Genesis 3

 

imagesEd Stetzer in an article submitted to Christianity Today said, “Based on my conversations with leaders from several denominations in the U.S. and Canada, I estimate that at least 400 church leaders (pastors, elders, staff, deacons, etc.) will be resigning Sunday.”[1] That means that tomorrow (Sunday) across the country over 400 faith communities will be losing their pastors, key leaders, deacons, staff members, etc. because of the Ashley Madison leak of membership information. The truth is that 40 million men’s sin has come to light. As a man who himself sins, I do not judge nor point a finger. These men thought their sin would remain hidden, as we all do.

Ashley Madison is a website that advertised itself as a means for a man to have an affair. But as we will see it really made it easier for a man to have the fantasy of having an affair. Popular figures, NFL stars, and millions of other not-as-popular men’s names have been placed on the internet for the world to see. There have also been a string of suicides to this information leak where men were unable to deal with their sin being exposed.

In an article for Gizmodo.com Annalee Newitz wrote, “Overall, the picture is grim indeed. Out of 5.5 million female accounts, roughly zero percent had ever shown any kind of activity at all, after the day they were created.”[2] As the story develops it has become clear that the site was made up of 40 million people. 35 million were men who paid to have access to women’s accounts (who supposedly wanted to have an affair.) Of the less than 5 million all but around 3,000 were shown to be false accounts generated by ashleymadison.com. These were women’s accounts that were completely fake. So 35 million men were interacting with false accounts.

Newitz says, “The men’s accounts tell a story of lively engagement with the site, with over 20 million men hopefully looking at their inboxes, and over 10 million of them initiating chats. The women’s accounts show so little activity that they might as well not be there.”[3] There was no statistically mentionable activity by the women.

So what does this mean? It means that many men were paying for the fantasy of having an affair, but not many actually were having a “real” affair. They weren’t aware of it, but the fantasy alone was enough to drive them to keep checking their e-mail on the site and to sift through the fake accounts. Newitz goes on to says, “Either way, we’re left with data that suggests Ashley Madison is a site where tens of millions of men write mail, chat, and spend money for women who aren’t there.”[4]

How does this happen?

____________________________

Sin’s Transformation

Genesis 3:6

[6] “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

Independence

Eve observes the forbidden fruit and made up in her mind that it looked ok to eat. She believed the serpent’s lies that God was keeping something “good” from her. This is what has snagged us all. We say things like, “I don’t see anything wrong with this.” “It looks ok to me, in fact I believe that this will make me very happy.” “God is trying to keep this from me, because he doesn’t want me to have this.”

The fruit wasn’t rotten, “it was good to eat.” The fruit looked very appealing, it wasn’t gross. She knew that this experience would allow her to know something that God did not want her to know. God tries to keep certain experiences away from us not because He wants to keep some happiness from us, but instead He wants what’s best for us.

Adam instead of being the leader of the home, became the follower. Instead of correcting his wife and telling her the truth, he buys into the lie as well. He was right there the whole time. Satan had gone to the woman to disrupt the created order of what God had established. Adam became the woman (helper) and the woman became the man (leading).

Separation

Now when it is too late, they saw the folly of eating the forbidden fruit. They saw the happiness they had fallen from, and the misery they had fallen into. They saw a loving God provoked, his grace and favor forfeited, his likeness and image lost, dominion over the creatures gone.

They saw their natures corrupted and depraved, and felt the disorder in their own spirits of which they had never before been conscious. They saw a law in their members warring against the law of their minds, and captivating them both to sin and wrath. They saw as Balaam, when his eyes were opened (Num. 22:31), the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in hand.

Their eyes were opened but what they saw they did not want to see. They saw themselves separated from God. Isaiah 59:2 says “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”

Because God is holy and righteous, He will not continue in friendship with those who disobey His commands. He hates everything that is wrong and punishes all disobedience of His commands by death.Romans 6:23 says “…the wages of sin is death…” Because Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they were cut off from their friendship with God. Their relationship with God was dead.

They had taken sides with God’s great enemy, Satan, and they too, were now the enemies of God.

Imagine a green branch broken from a tree it would not die immediately, but in time separated from its life source it would die. The same thing happened to Adam and Eve. Death wasn’t evident in their bodies on the day they disobeyed God. But they had died to God.

That part of them which was made in God’s image, so they could know, love, and obey God, was immediately separated from God when they disobeyed His command. Their bodies would also eventually die, and they would go to a place of punishment which God prepared for Satan and the evil spirits.

Adam and Eve thought that they could cover their own sin. But God does not accept us based upon our outward appearance and behavior. Just as Adam and Eve tried to make themselves acceptable to God by putting on clothes, many people today think that they can make themselves acceptable to God by the outward appearance of respectability – becoming church members, being good parents, being law abiding citizens, holding membership in civic and charitable organizations.

I Sam. 17:7 says, “. . . man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Are you trying to cover your heart condition by trying to look a certain way on the outside?

Genesis 3:8

[8] “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.”

 God would come to the couple everyday at a certain time (in the cool of the day) and they would talk and learn. It was the couple’s responsibility to oversee the Garden and the animals, and they would seek advice and direction from God. “Walked with God” is a favorite expression in Genesis, depicting the righteous conduct of Israel’s hero’s, including Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. Adam and Eve had a perfect relationship with God until now.

Now they hid amongst some trees and were seeking to hide their sin from their creator. They were embarrassed to be in front of each other. Eve because she had led them into rebellion and Adam because he had followed her, he participated in the sin.

There were signs that they were now separated from God:

 First, their attitude toward their bodies changed immediately. Before they disobeyed God, they were naked but unembarrassed. Now they were separated from God, and their minds were no longer under God’s control. Their minds became evil, and their attitude toward their bodies changed. They were embarrassed by their naked bodies.

Secondly, they tried to provide for their own needs. Before they were separated from God, they looked to God to provide everything they needed. But now they tried to do things for themselves. They clothed themselves with fig leaves. They no longer trusted God to give them what they needed. They were trying to live independently of God.

 Sin has transformed the world. It brought a separation between the man and the woman but more importantly, it brought a separation between everyone and God. God could no longer come and walk with them because He cannot allow sin in his presence. Their relationship was broken.

But God has sent a Second Adam. This Adam corrected the mistake that the first Adam made. His name is Jesus Christ. I Cor. 15:45 says “So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being” ; the last Adam, a life giving spirit. Jesus came to fix what was destroyed at creation.

________________________

It is my hope that when the men who stand before their congregations tomorrow that the congregants will see that they have fallen for the same lie that all mankind have fallen into. It is my hope that the churches will handle their admissions with grace and mercy and an understanding that they are themselves sinners. I hope that the men who step down get the help that they need (in their marriages, in their personal lives, with their children) and that they will come to see another path for their lives. We serve a God who is never surprised, but always have a plan. The universal fall of man is not an excuse, for leaders are held to a higher standard (1 Tim. 3:1-13 and Tit. 1:5-9).

God can take our sin and in His omnipotent power take our mistakes and use them for His glory. If you are on the list, then admit it, step down, mourn the sin, seek to rebuild the relationships, but don’t give up. God is still with you, “for He will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5,6). We have all experienced the emptiness of sin and how it leaves us betrayed.

These men tried to fill an emptiness within them that God had designed to be found somewhere else. We have all done this (in other ways and forms). We should never excuse the sin, nor seek to run from it. It should be dealt with as Scripture commands, but at the same time our attitudes should not be the same as the men who rush to throw stones at the adulteress only to see Jesus writing something in the sand.

John 8:3-9

“The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.”

What did Jesus write in the sand?

Perhaps a website.

__________________________

[1] http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2015/august/my-pastor-is-on-ashley-madison-list.html

[2] http://gizmodo.com/almost-none-of-the-women-in-the-ashley-madison-database-1725558944

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

 

 

"Your greatest life messages and your most effective ministry will come out of your deepest hurts." Rick Warren

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