TEXT: Proverbs 3:1-18

SUBJECT: Exposition of Proverbs #5: The Blessings of Wisdom

Tonight brings us to the fifth sermon in our study of Proverbs. Its key verse is 4:7: "Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom, and in all your getting, get understanding". The whole Book is spent developing this theme. The blessings of wisdom stand out in the paragraphs we've just read. And so, like Moses, let's "look to the reward".

First, the Blessings of Wisdom. Vv.1-10 present five stanzas. In each, a directive is given and a promise is made. If you obey the former, you'll receive the latter. Let's take up each in turn.

"My son, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you".

The LORD speaks to us endearingly; it is not "My slave or My subject", but "My son". This recalls the affection He has for us and the love we ought to return Him. He wants us to "not forget [His] law". The memory is infirm; it must be refreshed often by meditation on His Word. The meditation, however, is more than a mental exercise (like multiplication tables); His "commands" must sink into our hearts--and remain there; they must fill the whole person. This is the directive. Like the "Blessed Man" of Psalm 1, we're to "meditate on His God's Law day and night".

If we do, we'll be amply compensated. Long and serene lives are pledged to those who daily ponder God's Word.

This promise--and the ones to follow--have to be carefully interpreted. Some have taken them at face value; they adopt what's been called the "health and prosperity Gospel". We have to be a bit more nuanced in our thinking. We have to respect the distinction between the Old and New Covenants; we have to recall that these promises--even under the Theocracy--were not universally applied. Under the Old Covenant, material blessings were a sign of God's favor; their absence was a proof of His curse (cf. Deuteronomy 28). Under the New Covenant, the two have been de-linked. Its Mediator had "no place to lay His head"; He was a "man of sorrows and acquainted with grief". His disciples often follow Him into pain and poverty. Moreover, the righteous weren't always blessed in the old days, nor the wicked punished, as Psalm 73 makes crystal clear. This doesn't mean, however, we're to disregard the blessings attached to wisdom. They do come in its train. But they tend to be more spiritual in nature. Wise people may suffer much and die young, but they still have something: "The peace of God which passes all understanding, keeping their hearts and minds through Christ Jesus". The blessings of wisdom, therefore, have to be interpreted--like the rest of the Bible--in a Christ-centered way.

The second stanza is vv.3-4: "Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man".

The wise person is both merciful and truthful--never one or the other. Mercy without truth is weak, unjust, and cowardly. Truth without mercy is cruel, pitiless, and arrogant. Most of us tend one way or the other; we can't be satisfied with that; we must (under the blessing of God) strike the balance. By combining the two, we find conformity to Jesus Christ. Never was a man more truthful and just than He; yet who was ever more tender-hearted than the Savior?

To "bind mercy and truth around your neck" means to carry them with you at all times. Think of them as a medical alert tag. Take them off at your own peril! To change the metaphor: I feel naked without my wrist watch; a lack of truth and mercy ought to be even more sorely missed.

The third stanza is vv.5-6: "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths".

The directive is to live under God and His Word. Faith is to be placed in the LORD--and no one else. It shows itself, not by warm, fuzzy feelings, but by submitting to His Word, and following it wherever it leads. This is the Proverbs' analog of "Walking in the Spirit". Many claim to do so; Do they? We can only assess their claim by its fruit: "Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, mercy, faithfulness, and self-control". The person who's always exasperated or bitter or worried or impatient is not "Walking in the Spirit"--not acknowledging God, and not "Trusting in the LORD with all [his] heart".

But if we do, He will provide the guidance we so badly need. He may not direct into the paths of peace and serenity, but He will lead us in the way we ought to go; the way that brings most glory to Him and most good to us.

The fourth stanza is vv.7-8: "Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh and strength to your bones".

Humility is the goal of this command. We're to be humble enough to realize our own weakness under temptation, and so, to keep away from it as much as possible. Our Lord taught us to pray: "Lead us not into temptation"; His apostle filled in the details: "Abstain from every appearance of evil".

The modesty will cost us some pleasures to be sure, but we'll be amply repaid. It will provide "health" and "strength" to our bodies and souls.

The last stanza is also the least popular, vv.9-10: "Honor the LORD with your possessions, and with the firstfruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine".

We're to make the LORD our first financial priority. His "cut" is to come off the top of our incomes--not what's left over. It is not the gleanings we're to give Him, but the "firstfruits". The saint of old was to tithe (give 10% of his income to the LORD). That Covenant (which was good) has been replaced by another (which is better). And, in proportion to our blessings come our obligations. In other words, all believers in Christ ought to give freely to their Savior--with tithing as the starting point of New Covenant giving--not the goal.

When we generously give to the LORD, He promises to bless us financially. Solomon describes riches; they may come our way. But, more likely, what we get in return is something much better: "Godliness with contentment is great gain".

The teaching of this paragraph is nicely summed up in Psalm 19. After praising God's Law, testimonies, precepts, judgments, and statutes, David goes on to their blessing:

"And in keeping of them

There is great reward".

"My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, nor detest His correction; for whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights".

Chastening means parental discipline: Spankings, restrictions, lectures, and other unpleasant things. God chastens all of His children. He does it, not because He's a "cosmic bully", but because He's our Heavenly Father. He knows the kind of discipline we need and how much of it. He administers it in love. In proves we're His children.

A child who resents his father's discipline, who doesn't learn from it, or fights back, is a foolish child. And so is the believer who thinks ill of the chastening of his Heavenly Father.

You know you're becoming wiser if--and only if--you're "counting it pure joy when you fall into various trials".

Finally, we have a tribute to wisdom, vv.13-18: "Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who gains understanding; for her proceeds are better than profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare to her. Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand, riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her".

Wisdom leads to happiness. Not the happiness of a trouble-free life, but to a deeper and more lasting joy. Several comparisons are made. Wisdom comes out the better in each. It brings more happiness than "silver, gold, and rubies". In case there is some valuable better than these, Solomon puts it beneath wisdom too: "All the things you may desire cannot compare to her".

Wisdom carries "long life, riches, and honor" with her. She's happy to share them with us.

Wisdom is something like a quiet country road leading to some charming destination. Wisdom is like the Tree of Life which offers eternal joy and peace to anyone who partakes of its fruit.

In summary: Because of the intrinsic value of wisdom and the blessing it confers, "Happy are all who retain her!"

What value have you placed on wisdom? Has it become your "principal thing"? If you'd but think on its blessings, you'd value it more than you do. And "in all of your getting", you'd "get understanding". May God make us pursuers of wisdom, for Christ's sake. Amen.