# 406 The Proverbs – ‘A manual for living’ (MSG). Proverbs 2:1-22 Wisdom that comes from heaven.    

I guess we have all read books or seen movies of prospectors searching for gold, or of adventurers seeking treasure of some sort. One famous story is “Treasure Island” by Robert Louis Stevenson written in 1883 which tells the story of an impulsive and adventurous young boy named Jim Hawkins who comes across a treasure map. He goes on a dangerous journey to try and recover the treasure.

In Proverbs 2:4 we read of something far more profitable that what Jim Hawkins was seeking to find – that is wisdom from God. The author of Proverbs exhorts his son to make seeking this wisdom from heaven a priority in his life,

Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold,
    like an adventurer on a treasure hunt.  (2:4 Message)

This is one of the “if’ sentences in verses 1-4 and last time we considered these and the first “then” sentence which was found in verse 5 which says, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

The other “then” (or results, consequences or rewards) sentences follow in verses 6-22 as follows:

⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom;                                                                                                                              from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

⁷ He holds success in store for the upright,
    he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
⁸ for he guards the course of the just
    and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Or as the Message puts it:

He’s a rich mine of Common Sense for those who live well,
    a personal bodyguard to the candid and sincere.
He keeps his eye on all who live honestly,
    and pays special attention to his loyally committed ones. (vv7-8 Message)

Of course, there are many wonderful promises in the Bible concerning God being with us such as when He promises “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5 – a quote from Joshua 1:5)

Proverbs continues:

⁹ Then you will understand what is right and just
    and fair—every good path.
¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
¹¹ Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you.

These verses describe “the process of wisdom coming into the heart and soul, transforming our understanding and our actions. We will then be guarded by discretion and delivered from those given to evil, who are walking not on wisdom’s paths but on crooked ones.” (# 55)

Then the author gives two examples of those to avoid. Firstly, wicked men (consider the descriptive words below in Bold font):

¹² Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men:
    from men whose words are perverse,
¹³ who have left the straight paths
    to walk in dark ways,
¹⁴ who delight in doing wrong
    and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
¹⁵ whose paths are crooked
    and who are devious in their ways.

Then the adulterous woman (consider again the descriptive words in Bold font):

¹⁶ Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
    from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
¹⁷ who has left the partner of her youth
    and ignored the covenant she made before God.
¹⁸ Surely her house leads down to death
    and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
¹⁹ None who go to her return
    or attain the paths of life.

“Adultery is a contradiction of the most intimate human relationship and is especially damaging to life (see 5:1-23, 6:20-29, 7:1-27).” (# 53)

And the message of Proverbs is about positive and healthy relationships and life, in contrast to the self-centred and destructive descriptions of the people above whose paths leads down to death.

How we need the wisdom described here in Proverbs and God’s guidance and protection. The sort of guidance from God that “means that we have the wisdom to know the good paths from the bad ones. God [though] does not make our decisions for us; rather he equips us with the wisdom to choose the course that is consistent with the goal to which he is bringing us.” (# 53)

This goal is described below: 

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;

This being the opposite to those who ignore or reject such wisdom and guidance. Concerning them it says:

²² but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
    and the unfaithful will be torn from it

Kathleen Nielson in her book on Proverbs asks “What voices offering wisdom do you hear around you today? What kinds of wisdom are they offering?” (# 55) Something worth considering!

Maybe James description of the two types of wisdom may help:

³ Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴ But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. ¹⁵ Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶ For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness. (James 3)