True Wisdom

The Bible reading plan I currently use has me read the entire New Testament and Psalms twice a year, and the remainder of the Old Testament once a year. In order to do that it always has me in four parts of the Bible at the same time. Right now I am reading from Leviticus, Psalms, Proverbs and 1 Thessalonians.

Proverbs are considered wisdom literature, and it's easy to see why. Much of the book is made up of short sayings that could just about stand on their own as guidance for how a person should, or shouldn’t, live. I'll admit that there are many times I read from Proverbs and that while I can see the idea of wisdom in them, at the same time I have a harder time connecting those wise sayings with the greater story line of the Bible. Many times, but not all of the time.

Proverbs 23:15-16 says:

"My son, if your heart is wise,
    my heart too will be glad.
My inmost being will exult
    when your lips speak what is right."

Here is some running commentary on those two verses. There is someone dear to the author of Proverbs, and the author will be glad should this someone's heart become wise. Going farther the author speaks of the joy that he will feel when this someone speaks what is right.

This is all well and good, so much so that our basic response could be "duh!" I'm in the process of raising sons again right now and I can easily see how some wisdom in their hearts would bring gladness to my own. But pushing the meaning of the proverb a bit farther, it would need to be a particular kind of wisdom.

In Romans 10:9 Paul writes:

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

Living hundreds of years before Jesus, and not even knowing the name, I believe that he is who the author of Proverbs is ultimately pointing towards. What would be the truest form of wisdom in the human heart? It would be faith in God through the person and work of Jesus. It would be loving Jesus as both Savior and Lord.

It is a great blessing for Robin and I to raise the three children we still have living with us in a Christian home. We treasure the time we spend with them each day as a family in reading the Bible and praying together. And in the separate prayer time that Robin and I spend together each day perhaps our deepest desires are for the life-saving work of God to take place in the hearts of our children.

May this be the wisdom that penetrates, and lives, in your heart, and in the hearts of those whom you dearly love. Amen.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.