# 405 The Proverbs – ‘A manual for living’ (MSG). Proverbs 2:1-22 The Path of the Righteous.

Amy Carmichael was born in Ireland in 1867. As a follower of Jesus, she served amongst women, in Belfast and later in Manchester, who were amongst the poorest of the working class, often found working in mills. Later God called her into overseas missions and in 1901 she formed what today is called the Dohnavur Fellowship, serving in south India. Among other things, she initially worked to save young girls from temple prostitution (eventually outlawed in India in 1948). She spent the rest of her life (she died in 1951) in India, never actually returning to the UK, serving the poorest and neediest in Indian society.

While serving in India, Amy received a letter from a young lady who was considering life as a missionary, asking, “What is missionary life like?” She wrote back, “Missionary life is simply a chance to die.” Reflecting the words of Jesus when he said:

³⁴ … Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. ³⁶ What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  (Mark 8:24-36)

As we turn to Proverbs 2, again we see the description of two contrasting ways to live – as the wise or as the foolish, or here described as the righteous (v. 20) or as the wicked (v. 22).

These verses are:

 ²⁰ Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
    and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹ For the upright will live in the land,
    and the blameless will remain in it;
²² but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
    and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

Timothy Keller, quoting Bruce Waltke, writes:

“The righteous are willing to disadvantage themselves to advantage the community [consider Amy’s story above]; the wicked are willing to disadvantage the community to advantage themselves [I’m sure you know examples of such people].” (# 51)

And so, the author of Proverbs seeks to instruct in the ways of righteousness. He writes;

My son, if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you,
² turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding—
³ indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.

As mentioned previously, there are two sides to gaining wisdom. Firstly, it is a gift of God as the following verse says: ⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. But, as the previous verses suggest, we have our part to play! The author uses such words as accept… store up… turn… apply… call out for… cry aloud for… look for… search for.

As Goldsworthy says: “Human experience in the search for wisdom is dependent on God who is the source of all truth.” (# 53)

Here in these verses, we see “a series of conditional ‘if’ and consequential ‘then’ clauses.” (# 53) i.e., if you… then you…

We have considered above the “if” and now let us consider the first and most important of the “then.”

 ⁵ then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.

It is an interesting fact that it all begins with wisdom (which is to fear the Lord) and ends with wisdom (fearing the Lord).

As we read earlier, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge [or wisdom] (1:7) and yet now we read that to seek wisdom you will then understand the fear of the Lord (2:5)

Or as Goldsworthy explains it: “In 1:7 ‘the fear of the Lord’ is the starting point for gaining wisdom, but here [in 2:5] it is the goal. God gives the knowledge of himself in his redemptive revelation and, from this, the wise person engages in the task of learning more wisdom and of knowing God.” (# 53)

So, which “path” are you walking on? The path of the righteous or the path of the wicked? How do the words of Jesus – For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it – apply to you today, wherever you are, whatever you are doing?

Father, help us today to search for [wisdom – life – Jesus] as for hidden treasure. Amen.