The Winning Life: Wisdom; Proverbs 4:7

TEXT - Proverbs 4:7(NKJV) ⁷ Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding

Have you ever done something stupid?  What if I told you that you could begin today and go the rest of your life and never make another foolish decision?  I believe that God can so give us His wisdom that we can live life and always make right decisions!

3 questions...

1.      What is wisdom?

2.      How do you get it?

3.      How do you pass it on to others (especially your children)?

People have always been on a quest for wisdom: Genesis 3:6.  We are instructed not be wise in our own eyes: Proverbs 3:7.  Jesus said the Greeks seek for wisdom; Paul said that professing to be wise they became fools...

The Bible has to much say about wisdom: Exodus 28:3; Exodus 31:1-10

Wisdom can mean skill to do a task.  Exodus 35 declares that all the gifted artisans were filled with wisdom from God to do their job, even the women who spun goat's hair into yarn and linen!  James wrote that every good and perfect gift comes down from above.  This tells me that we have in the church to do whatever He has called us to do!

Where does wisdom come from?  Job asked that question and God answered it: Job 28:12-28

This is such an amazingly beautiful and poignant section of Scripture...  It is part of what in the Bible we call "Wisdom literature": Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.  Our focus is Proverbs: Proverbs 2:1-11; Proverbs 3:13; Proverbs 3:19; Proverbs 4:5;

What is the ‘fear of the Lord’?  Reverential awe?  Being afraid of God?

The Bible some wonderful things to say about the fear of the Lord: 1 Samuel 11:72;  Chronicles 14:14; Psalms 34:11-18; Psalms 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10-11; Proverbs 10:27; Proverbs 14:26-27; Proverbs 15:33; Proverbs 16:6; Proverbs 19:23; Proverbs 22:4.

                        

Here is the definition: Proverbs 8:13 The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.  The Scriptures will explain themselves if we will let them!

Are there some things that you hate?  Brussel sprouts?  Rattlesnakes?

If the Fear of the Lord is the beginning place?  How do we start?  The same place that wisdom starts.  

Three sources: Proverbs 6:23(NKJV) ²³ For the commandment is a lamp, And the law a light; Reproofs of instruction are the way of life,

The Word of God...  The Voice of God...  The Walk of God...  Let’s look at them...

The Word of God produces the fear of God and the wisdom of God: Deuteronomy 17:18-20; Deuteronomy 31:10-13; Proverbs 3:1-4; Proverbs 4:20-22; Proverbs 6:20-22; Proverbs 7:1-4;  Colossians 3:16; 2 Timothy 3:15.

How does this happen?  How does this all work?  David Ingles wrote:

The Word is working mightily in me; the Word is working mightily in me

No matter what the circumstances, what I feel or see

The Word is working mightily in me

There is a practical side.  We learn what God likes and doesn't like.  We learn what God blesses and what He doesn't bless.

2 Timothy 3:16, 17 (NKJV) All Scripture  is  given by inspiration of God, and  is  profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

But there is a also a mystical side...

Hebrews 4:12 (NKJV)For the word of God  is  living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

The Voice of God produces the fear of God and the wisdom of God: Psalms 25:12-14; Isaiah 50:10; Proverbs 8:1-36; Matthew 7:24-25.

God is calling out to us, to speak to us in our everyday situations.  He wants to speak to us about our business, our family, our personal lives, our futures.  He knows what will happen and can lead us.  We need His rhema word to be the sword of the spirit in our lives.  Jesus said, “the words that I speak to you are spirit and life!”

The walk of God produces the fear of God and the wisdom of God: Proverbs 3:5-6; Proverbs 3:11-12; Proverbs 9:1-10; 2 Corinthians 5:7; Colossians 2:6.

As we encounter the reproofs of life, we learn.  Did we hear or not?  Did we obey or not?  Did we discern or not?  Hebrew teaches us that spiritual gifts are given in an immature state and are developed by reason of use!

APPLICATIONS

Read God’s Word every day

Spend time with God every day

Walk with God every day

                                           

We must learn that just one of those areas is not enough.  The Word without the Voice is just ritualistic legalism; the Voice without the Word is just un-balanced emotionalism; and both without the Walk is just hypocritical intellectualism.