Proverbs: Your Path to Real Wisdom

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Today I want us to depart from both of the series that we've been involved in: Philippians in the morning and the study of the attributes of God at night. We're going to look back into the Old Testament both this morning and tonight. This evening we'll be looking at Psalm 103—which is for many of you a favorite Psalm—looking at that as we prepare to partake of the Lord's Table this evening. So we certainly invite you back for that. But this morning I want us to look at the Book of Proverbs.

Back in 1987 there was a story in the Atlanta Journal Constitution that was really quite interesting. It was about a man by the name of Rob Cutshaw. Rob Cutshaw owns one of those ubiquitous little roadside shops in North Carolina that sells rocks. I love Western North Carolina. But if you travel much in the mountains, you'll see (or used to see anyway) a number of little shops with rocks, various kinds, polished neatly, others cracked open so you could see the beauty and the glory that was there. About 25 years ago, Rob owned one of those little shops outside Andrews, North Carolina. Like many in that trade, he hunted for rocks. He kept some, and sold those to people as souvenirs who passed through the mountains. But those that he found that were the most valuable, he passed along to collectors or to jewelry makers. And that's how he made his living. He knew enough about rocks to know which ones to pick up and to sell, but he was certainly no expert. And he left the real appraising of them to others. He made a decent living at it. He enjoyed it. But Rob confessed that it didn't always pay the bill bills, and there were times when he resulted to moonlighting, actually chopping wood in the winter to provide for himself.

On one dig about twenty five years ago, Rob found a stone, this rock that he described to the Atlanta Journal Constitution as "purdy and big." He tried unsuccessfully to sell this specimen, and according to the Constitution, he kept the rock under his bed or in his closet in a shoe box when he couldn't sell it. He figured that he could probably get upwards of maybe $500 for this blue stone, and he had hoped that he could make that. But he decided that if worse came to worst, and he had to make ends meet to pay his power bill, for example, he would take less for it. That's how close Rob came to hocking for a few hundred dollars what turned out to be the largest, most valuable sapphire ever found. The blue rock that Rob had abandoned to his closet or under his bed for nearly two decades turned out to be the famous Star of David Sapphire. It weighs nearly a pound and could easily have sold at that time for almost three million dollars. Think about it. Rob almost sold for less than $500 what was worth almost three million. He understood that that blue rock had some value. In fact, he saw it as having more value than most of the rocks that he picked up, but he grossly underestimated its true worth.

Sadly, we do the same thing with some of the books that are in our Bible. We understand they have value, but we have no idea of their true, genuine worth. I think that's especially true of the books that Solomon wrote. We have three of them provided for us in the Old Testament. One of them is the Song of Solomon. That's a book that is often ignored by Christians, because, frankly, they're embarrassed by it. Others take that book and allegorize it into some allegory of Christ and the church. When in reality, the Song of Solomon is a beautiful expression of the joys of married love as God intended for it to be. And if the Lord should tarry, someday we'll probably take a look at that book.

Another one of Solomon's books that, I think, is often neglected is the Book of Ecclesiastes. Ecclesiastes is a divinely inspired philosophy of life. And again, if the Lord should tarry I'm confident that we will get to that book (if nothing else in a survey form) in the months and years to come. It does have a number of difficult passages in it. Unfortunately, a lot of Christians think Ecclesiastes is merely the musings of an unregenerate mind, it's the best that an unbeliever can do when he sits down to think about life in the world. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It's a divinely inspired philosophy of life in a fallen world, and it's incredibly beneficial for every true Christian. These are lost treasures. Not lost in the traditional sense, but lost in the sense of Rob's sapphire, where we don't truly begin to comprehend their true value.

This morning, I want us to unearth another of the Bible's lost treasures. It's the book that in English is called Proverbs. In both Hebrew and in the Septuagint it's called The Proverbs of Solomon. Notice verse 1 of chapter 1: "The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel." That is a title for the entire book. The word "proverb" that you find there in verse 1 comes from a Hebrew word that means "to be like." It has a wide range of meaning, everything from a folk saying to an allegory to a lament. Here in its simplest form it simply means "a comparison." It's a comparison of a truth to something that we know or, could I put it this way, it is an object lesson that teaches a moral truth. A proverb is a truism; that is, it is normally true but there are exceptions.

And notice, they're called the proverbs "of Solomon." That is, what we find in this book is primarily the product of Solomon and his initiative. Solomon wrote many of the proverbs that we find here. Notice in 10:1, "The proverbs of Solomon." Then in 25:1 we find that "these also are the proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah, king of Judah, transcribed." So in other words, 200 years after Solomon's death, Hezekiah's men came along and took more of Solomon's proverbs and put them together here following 25:1.

Solomon wrote many of the proverbs here, as we've seen, but others he simply collected. Notice Proverbs 24:23: "These also are [the] sayings of the wise." They're attributed to a group called "the wise," but they're not necessarily written by Solomon himself. He collected them and pulled them together under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit into the book that we have before us. There are other individuals who contributed to the Book of Proverbs that we know almost nothing about. For example, 30:1, we meet a man by the name of a Agur; 31:1, a man by the name of King Lemuel. And then starting in 31:10 (through the end of the book), we have an acrostic poem to the virtuous woman, which is probably anonymous.

By introducing this book as "The proverbs of Solomon," the point is this: this is the wisdom, teaching of Israel which sprang from the initiative of Solomon. It's one of five books in our Old Testament that are called wisdom literature. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon make up a package we call wisdom literature. Wisdom literature has an ancient tradition. In fact, secular wisdom literature goes back to 2700 BC, 600 years before Abraham walked the earth. But wisdom literature reached its zenith in Israel under the leadership of Solomon. In fact, you'll remember the story (you flip back to 1 Kings 3) of the time early in his life. He was probably about 20 years old when God came to Solomon in 1 Kings 3, and He offered Solomon anything he wanted. He said you ask for it, and you will receive it from Me. What an amazing offer of God to this young man twenty years old. And Solomon showed some of the wisdom that he already had, some of what God would eventually give him an abundance, because he asked for wisdom. And God promised him just that. God gave him wisdom (in verse 9) even as He promised.

Notice the wisdom that he had. Look at 1 Kings 4:29. This sort of documents through the pen of the prophet exactly how wise this man was. First Kings 4:29, "Now God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, like the sand that is on the seashore." Now this isn't Solomon making this up. This isn't some braggadocios person talking about himself. This is a prophet under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit describing what God did in the life of Solomon. He gave him breadth of mind like the sand that is on the seashore. Keep your finger there in chapter 4. But if you notice 3:12, God says I'm going to give you wisdom "so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you." He had this breadth of mind, this greatness of intellect, that there was no one before him that was like him, and there has been no one since like him. God is essentially saying he is the wisest human being to ever walk the face of the earth short of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice now back in chapter 4, he goes on to describe this wisdom. Verse 30, he says,

Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol and Darda, [and] the sons of Mahol; and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations.

Now, compared to these other wise men in the ancient world, Solomon surpassed them all. We don't know much about these men. Some of them are mentioned in other places in scripture; some of them are not. But we know that they're held up as the high point of wisdom in the ancient world, and we're told that Solomon surpassed them. We're supposed to be impressed. If we knew these men and we read this verse, we're supposed to be impressed that Solomon is wiser than all of them. It's interesting that in the ancient world, wisdom was a precious commodity, and the wise were the ones who were greatly admired. They were the heroes of their day. It's kind of sad to compare our day, when the heroes are an athlete who can toss a ball through a hoop but couldn't think his way out of a wet paper bag, or an actor who's claim to fame is that they can pretend very well to be someone they're not. But in the ancient world wisdom was held in high esteem.

Notice 1 Kings 4:32. Notice the skills, the specific skills that Solomon had. "He also spoke 3,000 proverbs." Solomon was a writer. He wrote 3,000 proverbs. Only about 500 of them are recorded in Proverbs, so another 2,500 we don't really know anything about. He was a musician. Verse 32, "His songs were 1,005." We only have three of those (the best we know) recorded for us in Scripture. One is Psalm 72, another is Psalm 127, and a third is the book we call the Song of Solomon. But he wrote 1,005 songs. He was a botanist. Verse 33, "He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows on the wall." He was as zoologist.

He spoke also of animals and birds and creeping things and fish. Men came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

People traveled from long distances to meet Solomon and to confront firsthand his wisdom. And of course, the most famous of those was the Queen of Sheba in chapter 10. And when she met Solomon and when she encountered his great mind, you remember what she said? She said the half had not been told. She said I'd heard about your wisdom, but I hadn't heard even half of what there was to tell about your mind and your intellect.

It was because of the influence of Solomon that about 400 years later in the time of Jeremiah we discover that there was actually an office in Israel given to wisdom and to putting together proverbs and teaching the people. Turn to Jeremiah. I want you to see this. Jeremiah 18. Again, this is 400 years after Solomon, approximately. Jeremiah 18:18, as the people are devising a plan against Jeremiah, they say something interesting: "Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage, nor the divine word to the prophet!" Now this is interesting, because in addition to the king of Israel, we meet three officeholders in this verse. The first two we're very familiar with: the office of priest and the office of prophet. But notice, there was also an office of "sage." Literally, "wise man." There was an office in Israel set apart for one to teach the people this kind of wisdom. In fact, I believe that if you turn—and we won't take time to do it this morning—but if you turn to Ecclesiastes 12:9, "the Preacher," as he's described there in Ecclesiastes, is called a "wise man." It's the word translated "sage" in Jeremiah 18:18. And I think what follows there in Ecclesiastes 12:9-11 is a job description, if you will, of the sage in Israel. Because of Solomon's influence, there were probably even wisdom schools where people went to learn, like the school of the prophets in Samuel's time. So this is called "The proverbs of Solomon." And when you look at this book, realize that what you have here is the collected wisdom of Solomon and the master sages, the master wise men of Israel. It was used to train young people in the skills of living.

When I was in college, Sheila's family, and I as well, made friends with a young man by the name of Sammy Marcos. Sammy was from Kuwait. Long before the Gulf War nobody knew where Kuwait was. And he was one of those enterprising young men (In most dormitories there's always one.) who gets a set of hair clippers, and for a fee will massacre your hair at any cost. He actually did a decent job. But most of them, of course, have no skill. They just are available, and they have the equipment, But Sammy was over at Sheila's folks house one day, as they befriend him. And as he was there, her mom was taking out of the oven, at just that time that he arrived, some freshly baked, warm, wonderfully smelling chocolate chip cookies. And I just made all of you hungry for lunch. That was a mistake. But as he smelled those cookies, Sammy said this—and it was really quite a turn of wisdom. He said, "These are like the cookies I wish my mother used to make."

Well, this book contains the wisdom that you wish your father used to give. But it's much better, because it comes through Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. And ultimately, it comes from God Himself to us. Think about it. As our heavenly Father, God has included in His book, in His revelation, a book that teaches us how to live wisely in the details of life. It's as if God as our father puts his arm around us and says, "Son, daughter, let Me teach you how to live, let Me give you the fatherly advice that you need to live in the world." And I hate to tell you dads this, but He's the only Father whose counsel is always right.

Now I can't begin to plumb the depths of this magnificent book in the few minutes we have remaining this morning, but my goal this morning is to motivate you to appreciate and to study this book on your own. And the best way to do that is to show you what Proverbs and God Himself promises to deliver to anyone who will pursue the proverbs that are written in this book. And that's clearly outlined in Proverbs 1:2-6. In those few verses we find the purpose of this magnificent book. Essentially, verse 2 is a summary of the purpose. It's a twofold purpose. There is a moral purpose, and there is a mental purpose of the Book of Proverbs. And each of those is summarized in verse 2. And then verses 3-6 provide a detailed explanation of those two purposes. They sort of develop those two purposes. So in the first half of verse 2 we encounter the moral purpose in summary form, and then that moral purpose is sort of expounded for us in verses 3-5. In the second half of verse 2 we discover the mental purpose of the book, and verse 6 unfolds that more for us. So let's look at this twofold purpose of the Book of Proverbs, of what it promises to deliver to you if you'll expend the energy to be in its pages.

Let's look first at the mental purpose. The second half of verse 2 summarizes it: "To discern the sayings of understanding." Literally, in Hebrew it says, "To discern words of discernment." Now that sounds like double-talk to us. It sounds like a college roommate of mine who put on his door "the department of redundancy department." What does this mean? "To discern words of discernment." Well, the root idea of this word "discern" means "an ability to discriminate between things." But to discriminate about what? Notice, he says to be able to discriminate the words or "sayings of discernment." In other words, you're going to be able to understand the sayings that require discernment. This book is going to give you some mental skills.

Notice these sayings of discernment are sort of categorized for us, are listed for us in verse 6, where this mental purpose is developed a little more. Notice verse 6: "To understand." There's our word "to discern" again. "[To discern] a proverb." We've already looked at that. That's simply a comparison, an object lesson. And then there's "a figure." That means "a satire." When I was in college, I'll never forget we had to give little speeches and sort of practice public speaking. And one of them was on Jonathan Swift's writings called A Modest Proposal, in which he proposes some horrible things to solve the orphan problem in England. But it was all satire. It was tongue in cheek. It was intended to horrify. I'll never forget, one of the students got up and delivered this blazing speech against Jonathan Swift for ever proposing such a horrible thing. He'd missed the whole point. He missed the fact that it was a satire. Well, Proverbs will enable you to discern when it's a satire. It also says in verse 6, "Words of the wise [literally, the sayings of the sages] and their riddles." That is, difficult issues, enigmatic questions. This word "riddles" is used 21 times in the Old Testament. Eight of those times it's used of Samson's riddle, you remember, during his life. Those are the sayings of understanding. Those are the sayings of discernment.

What is the writer saying here? What is Solomon's saying? He's saying that Proverbs not only contains these different kinds of sayings, but Proverbs will give you the tools to understand them. Proverbs will give you the mental capacity and the tools to understand the meaning that's there. You know, when you read through the Proverbs—and many of you do that. In fact, some of you probably read through a chapter of the Proverbs every day. When you read through them, the meaning of some proverbs appear obvious, but verse 6 implies that there is much more than meets the eye. Listen carefully. The proverbs are really condensed wisdom or, could we put it this way, compressed experience. Have you ever gone to the store and bought those little sponges that are compressed down to a tiny little cube, and you let them out of the package and add a little water and they expand several times their normal size? That's what Solomon is saying about the Proverbs. He's saying at first glance it looks simple, it looks like you can understand it, but to really get into and understand the depth that's there you have to add much thought and meditation. And when you do, you see it as it is compressed experience, condensed wisdom, and it explodes to fill your mind with its truth. Proverbs are like that. You know it's really arrogant for us, isn't it, to assume that we can run our eyes across a Proverb and imagine that in our weak pea brains we can grasp the depth of the wisest man who ever lived, in just passing our eyes over the words immediately grasp all the meaning and richness of a Proverb?

God is promising, in the end of verse 2 and in verse 6, that Proverbs will help you learn how to think; Proverbs will teach you how to think more deeply and how to understand the language of Solomon and the master sages. That's the mental purpose of this book. What an amazing promise. Proverbs will help you learn how to think and how to think deeply after the mind of the wisest man who ever lived. But that brings us to the moral purpose. Go back to 1:2. At the beginning of verse 2, we have this moral purpose summarized for us: "To know wisdom and instruction." "Wisdom" describes the content of what we learn, the what that Proverbs delivers. "Instruction" gives us the methodology, how Proverbs delivers it. Now let's look at those two words.

First of all, at wisdom. This is what the book will deliver to us. This word is a familiar Old Testament word. It occurs more than a 150 times in the Old Testament. But to really understand it, I think it's best to look at it outside of the context here in Proverbs, and to look at its use in everyday life. Often the way to understand a word in a language that isn't primarily your own is to see how it's used in other contexts, in the context of everyday life. Let me show you a couple.

Turn to Exodus 35. What is wisdom? Well there's an interesting use of it in Exodus 35:35. The context here is the building of the tabernacle. God sovereignly picks and gifts two men to lead the building. And one of them is a man by the name of Bezalel; the other is Oholiab. And verse 35 says, "[God] has filled them with skill." There is our same Hebrew word for wisdom. "[God] has filled them with [wisdom] to perform every work of an engraver and of a designer and of an embroiderer, in blue and in purple and in scarlet material, and in fine linen, and of a weaver. as performers of every work and makers of designs." Now what's this saying? It's saying that sewing, construction, carving, require wisdom, and that God gave them wisdom. A good way to translate the word "wisdom" here is just as they have in the New American Standard, "skill." God gave them skill.

Let me show you another instance, very similar. Psalm 107:23. The Psalmist writes about those who go down to the sea in ships. These are seasoned sailors, merchants in the great waters. Verse 24, "They have seen the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind." As I mentioned in the first hour, if you're prone to sea sickness, you may want to close your ears.

He spoke and raised up a stormy wind,

Which lifted up the waves of the sea.

They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths;

Their soul melted away in their misery.

They reeled and staggered like a drunken man,

And were at their wits' end.

What's the picture here? The picture is of seasoned veterans of the sea, merchants who are used to sailing. They meet a huge storm. And as a result of that storm, notice the end of verse 27, they "were at their wits' end." Literally translated, the Hebrew says this: all their wisdom was swallowed up. All their wisdom was swallowed up. In other words, they had exhausted all their skills. The storm was so bad that all of the skills they had amassed in their years of experience on the sea were absolutely worthless. All they could do was hang on and ride it out. So here too the word "wisdom" could easily be translated "skill." They were at their skills' end.

So the word "wisdom" speaks of the skill to accomplish something. And in Proverbs that skill is living. So let me define it for you this way. In Proverbs, wisdom is the skill necessary to live in the daily routines of life in a way that pleases God. You remember Peter promised that God had provided for us all things that to pertain to life and godliness in this book, and here is a book given to us that deals with the details of life. Derek Kidner puts it this way:

Proverbs moves in the realm of the details of character small enough to escape the law and the prophets. It asks what a person is like to live with or to employ; how he manages his affairs, his time and himself. This good lady, for instance, does she talk too much? That cheerful soul, is he bearable in the morning? And this friend who is always dropping in, here is some advice for him.

You see, God has given us in the Book of Proverbs the fatherly advice for how to live in the details of life in a way that honors and pleases Him.

But this skill that is wisdom is not a secular skill. It's not available to just anyone. Proverbs 2:6 says, "The Lord gives wisdom"; 9:10 says, "Thee fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." In New Testament terms, 1 Corinthians 1:24, "To those who are... called... Christ [is]... the wisdom of God." You see, true wisdom can only belong to those who fear God in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If that's what you want, Proverbs will give you that kind of skill. That's what Proverbs will deliver.

Now let's look at how. Notice back in Proverbs 1:2 the word "instruction." This is how it will deliver wisdom. It usually refers to oral instruction. For example, in 1:8, "Hear my… instruction." So it's orally teaching. What the writer is saying here, what Solomon is saying is Proverbs will sit you down, as it were, and teach you as a father would teach his children. It will give you instruction. You've heard it said, as I have all my life, that experience is the best teacher. Is that true? No, that's not true. Many have a lifetime of experience—perhaps someone you know, hopefully not you—many have a lifetime of experience and still make the same mistakes. It's because practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent. My golf game is a perfect illustration of that.

Think about it for a moment, this issue of experience being a good teacher. If you went into your doctor's office tomorrow, and you'd never noticed before, but you glanced upon the wall, and where most doctors have their diploma (graduate of a certain institution), you looked up and it said "graduated from the school of experience." How many of you would stay with that person as your doctor? Not many of us. We understand that. We understand that experience isn't the best teacher. We're very picky and careful about where we send our children to school, because we know they need instruction about how we're going to school them (sic). We're very picky about, then, the colleges that we choose for ourselves and for others, because we understand that we're going to sit for four years under professors. And we understand that the field we're pursuing, experience isn't the best teacher. We need someone who knows to instruct us.

But when it comes to the all-important issue of living, we assume that we need no training. You and I, instead, need to learn from those who are truly wise and avoid all the pain that comes from the school of hard knocks. Proverbs promises that kind of instruction. So in 1:2, Solomon summarizes the moral purpose of the book in these two words: instruction, that is oral instruction, that's the method; and wisdom, that's the goal.

Now notice in verses 3-5 that Solomon expands the moral purpose of the book by giving us four facets of this skill of wisdom. He gives us wisdom expanded. Let me tell you what I really mean by wisdom, he says. Verse 3, look at the first facet: "To receive instruction in wise behavior." This is the first facet of wisdom. "Wise behavior" is sometimes translated "intelligence." But its most common usage is "good sense in the everyday practical affairs of life." It's practical intelligence. It's what we call common sense. It's a certain savvy or savoir faire, the ability to say or do the right thing in any situation. You remember Abigail, who was Nabal's wife and eventually would become David's wife, how she saved her husband Nabal by her (and this word is used) her common sense, her wise behavior. What I want you to notice though in verse 3 is that common sense is a skill that can be learned. Verse 3 says, "To receive instruction in [common sense]." That's a great comfort, isn't it, to all of us? It's not something you're just born with or born without and there's no hope for you. It can be learned, and that's what Proverbs promises. Part of the skill of wisdom is a common sense.

Now notice the three terms that follow in verse 3. In the grammatical construction, "righteousness, justice and equity" modify "wise behavior" and sort of explain the forms this common sense takes. So we're going down another level here. This wise behavior is known by its righteousness, justice and equity. Now these words are often used in the theological setting, but they're often used not in a theological setting. Let me give you just a brief definition for each one of them. Righteousness means that which is according to the standard. Justice refers to that which is a custom or customary, what is fitting and appropriate. Equity refers to that which is level or smooth, particularly in dealing with people. It means an ability to deal with people appropriately and fairly.

So take those terms now specifically. Righteousness means you have the common sense to live according to the standard of what's expected from God or by God. Justice means you have the common sense to do that which is appropriate or fitting in every situation. For example, in Proverbs 23:1, it says when you go to dine with a ruler, put a knife to your throat if you're given to appetite. To paraphrase, don't be a hog when you go to eat with somebody who's important. That's fitting. That's appropriate. The word "equity" means you have an ability to deal with people appropriately. For example, Proverbs 22:24-25 says if you come across somebody who's an angry person, don't associate with them, because you will become an angry person too. Proverbs 22:22 and 23 say do not rob the poor or crush the afflicted. You see, there's instruction about equitable behavior toward others. So common sense shows itself in doing what's according to God's standard, righteousness; in doing that which is appropriate, justice; and doing that which is treating people fairly and appropriately, that is, equitable.

Now that's the first facet. Look at the second facet of the skill of wisdom. Not only wise behavior but also "prudence," verse 4, shrewdness. It's often used in an evil sense, like in Genesis 3:1 where "the serpent [we're told] was more crafty." It's a word related to this word. But in the positive sense, the prudent person understands life and how it works. A prudent person knows the ropes. It's an ability to foresee evil and avoid life's traps. Life has a lot of traps. Prudence gives you the ability to avoid those traps. In fact, Proverbs 27:12 says, "A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, the naive proceed and pay the penalty."

There's a third facet of wisdom. Notice verse 4: "Knowledge and discretion." "To give... to the youth knowledge and discretion." This is one thought in the original, much like our phrase "sick and tired." Taken together it means, as one lexicon says, "the know-how to make workable plans." Wisdom will give you the know-how to make workable plans. You see, a practical person is a person who knows how to get things done. You need a plan both to pursue the right things, and you need a plan to avoid the evil things. And Proverbs will give you both of those. In 31:16, the virtuous woman considers a field and buys it; she schemes and plans to do what's right. In 5:2 we're told that by following the prescription given by Solomon we can avoid the adulterous, we can create a plan to avoid sin. Wisdom gives us common sense, gives us shrewdness or prudence. It gives us the ability to make workable plans.

Knowledge and discretion, and then notice verse 5. Another facet of wisdom is "wise counsel." Wise council. This word is related to the word used for the rope that sailors used to steer the ship. I've been out on Charlie Yates' boat, and it's pretty easy to steer his boat. You just turn the wheel one way or the other. But in the ancient world, there was no wheel. There was a rope tied to a rudder, and men would be on each side of that rudder, pulling the rope whichever direction they wanted the ship to go. This word is related to that, this "wise counsel." It refers to guidance in steering a straight course through all of life's decisions. You see, one facet of wisdom is the discernment to steer a right course through life.

What amazing promises. Proverbs will give you all of that. But who can benefit from it? You say, well, I'm not sure I can. Look at verse 4. Let me show you who can benefit from Proverbs. "To give prudence to the naive." There's the first group. The naive are those who are wide open, who are open to everything. Some of you know that you are open to everything. Proverbs will give you the wisdom you need. Then there's "the youth," verse 4. The youth isn't necessarily naive, he's simply a person who lacks experience. He hasn't had all the experience of life. Proverbs will give you experience. But then verse 5 says there's another group that can benefit: "A wise man will hear... and a man of understanding will acquire wise council." Listen, you're never too old, mature, experienced or wise to benefit from what Proverbs offers. So listen to this: here is, in the Book of Proverbs, counsel for successfully living in the details of life from the world's wisest man—and from God Himself. And it's intended for every one of us to benefit from.

You say, all right, I'm sold, but where do I start? How do I start to get to mine out of this book the riches that are there? Well, let me give you two quick hints. Proverbs 4:7, "The beginning of wisdom is: acquire wisdom." You know what he's saying? The beginning of wisdom is get wisdom. Derek Kidner, in his excellent commentary, says this, "This is a blunt way of saying that it doesn't take brains or opportunity, but decision. Do you want it? Come and get it." You see, wisdom starts with a desire for it. Do you have that desire? Do you long to please God in the daily issues of life?

And then, secondly—and you'll have to study this on your own. Our time has gone. Proverbs 2:1-5, in these verses you see the image of a search for hidden treasures. That's how you're to approach the Book of Proverbs. Imagine if you knew for certain that there were several million dollars buried in your backyard. What would you do to gain that money? You would literally overturn everything in your yard in your search for that money. That's how we're to ransack the Book of Proverbs, looking for the wisdom that God offers. Look at the verbs in 2:1-4:

Receive my words

...treasure my commandments…

Make your ear attentive to wisdom,

Incline your heart to understanding;

… cry for discernment,

Lift your voice for understanding;

...seek her as silver

And search for her as for hidden treasures;

[And look at the payoff.]

Then you will discern the fear of the Lord

And discover the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom;

From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

He stores up sound wisdom for the upright.

What an amazing promise. Do you want it? Come and get it. And search as you would for hid treasures. Follow the verbs that are in those verses, verses 1-4.

Listen, do you want the mental skills to really understand this book? Do you want the skill to live in the details of life in a way that pleases God? Do you want common sense? Do you want to know the ropes? Do you want to know how to make workable plans in life? Do you want guidance in making life's important decisions? Parents, do you want your kids to have these things? Then take Proverbs out of the closet, out of the shoe box, and look again at its true value. Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for this great book. Forgive us for taking Your Word, this Book of Proverbs filled with Your wise counsel for us in the daily issues of life, and treating it as a bauble, not understanding its true value. Lord, help us to begin to plumb the depths of the richness and the wisdom that are here. Help us to search for them as for hid treasures. And Lord, I pray for the person here this morning who has no way of discovering wisdom, because they've never discovered Christ. I pray that this morning You would open their eyes, cause them to bow the knee in repentance and faith toward Christ. For it's in His name we pray, amen.