Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy

Welcome to Day 120 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.

This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom.

Proverbs - The Purpose

Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 120 of our Trek. Yesterday we started a commentary on the book of Proverbs with a background introduction of the book.

We won’t go straight through the book of Proverbs all at once, but we will intermix the commentary with other daily wisdom nuggets. Today we will look at why studying the book of Proverbs is so important for wisdom and lay out the six sections within the book.

Before we get started, I want to remind you of the drawing in celebration of the 100th day of our Wisdom-Trek. We will have a drawing on October 5th when we will be giving away 7 Wisdom-Trek t-shirts. There are only three more days to register, and you can register once per day.

We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio.  Today we drove to New Castle, Pennsylvania, to see our newest grandchild Evelyn Grace. She is the cutest little girl and her proud parents Barnabas and Leesha are doing well.

Today our campfire is burning brightly, and as we listen to the crackling of the wood, it almost sounds as if is part of our conversation, sharing in the nuggets of wisdom that we are consuming.  As we continue to share more introduction to the book of wisdom, you contemplate "What is the purpose of the Book of Proverbs?" As your mentor and your guide, I strongly believe if you desire to gain wisdom and desire a life built on wisdom, then Proverbs must be the foundation for your life.

I am going to keep our discussion of Proverbs more conversational as if we were literally sitting next to each other. Through the magic of our modern technology I am right there beside you. If you have any comments or questions, please share them in the comment section of our daily journal pages.

As I share the wisdom of Proverbs, I will also weave some related scriptures into our lessons as they apply. So, let’s get started.

1. How do we gain wisdom in our lives?

Since you are on our Wisdom-Trek with us, you have already taken proactive steps to gain wisdom. Congratulations and thank you for trekking with me. If you feel that you are lacking wisdom, as I do in so many areas of life, then all you need to do is ask God for wisdom as instructed by James, the half-brother of Jesus in his letter written to the dipersed believers in the 1st century AD.

James 1:5-8, “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.”

2. Why is Proverbs so important?

Proverbs accomplishes something no other biblical book does. It simply compiles numerous short instructions for living an effective life on earth. While other books articulate profound theological truths, lengthy narratives of triumph and failure, or prophetic preaching to a disobedient people, Proverbs concerns itself completely with instructing people in the path of wisdom. The writers of the book recognized the varied circumstances of a person’s life and provided principles to apply in a variety of situations rather than instructions to follow in only a few specific instances.

3. What's the big idea of Proverbs?

Proverbs states its theme explicitly very early in the book,