Transcript

Podcast Introduction

Our reading today is Proverbs 1-3. I’m calling today’s episode “ No Leaning Here ”

The show notes page for today’s episode is /s12e155

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Introduction to Proverbs

The book of Proverbs was written by Solomon, King David’s son. Solomon is commonly thought of as the wisest man, and the richest man who ever lived. His wisdom was a gift given to him by God as a result of the prayer he made upon his ascension to the throne at the death of his father, David. Instead of asking for wealth or victory over his enemies, or power, he prayed a simple prayer asking for wisdom to lead God’s people. God was so pleased by Solomon’s prayer that He not only granted him great wisdom, but He gave Solomon the things he could have asked for but didn’t. 

The book of Proverbs is primarily a collection of short, often just single sentence teachings, or nuggets of truth. They are thoughts and ideas that God revealed to Solomon. Remember, it has long been the belief by orthodox Christianity, and it is my belief, that the Bible was written by men as they were verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit. So these are not merely the thoughts of a wise man, but they are from the mind of God Himself. 

The first chapter’s introduction tells us that these proverbs will benefit anyone who heeds their teachings, and anyone who does not is a fool who will come to destruction. It tells us that we will learn wisdom if we put them into practice in our own lives. 

It also introduces a character who will be recurring throughout the book. And that is the personification of wisdom as a woman. In verse 20 we see Wisdom shouting in the streets and marketplace, chiding those who refuse to listen to her teaching and encouraging those who will, to listen.

Comments on Proverbs 2-3

Chapter 2 encourages us to pursue wisdom, because in so doing we will come to know God. If that is not a worthy endeavor, I don’t know what is. 

Much of the teaching seems to be directed at one of Solomon’s sons, so the teaching is especially applicable to a young person just starting out in life, but the lessons (as noted earlier) are good for everyone.

Proverbs 3:5: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Here’s a guy who could very easily be tempted to lean on his own understanding, but he had evidently learned that it’s better to “trust in the Lord with all your heart.”

Let’s face it, sometimes it is *so* hard to trust God with our whole heart. Sometimes the bills pile up and we don’t see any way out. Sometimes we’re misunderstood or mistreated. Tragedy strikes us or our family. We lose our job. 

Bad things happen, even to good people. And sometimes we look up and say, “God. Are you there? Do you see what I’m going through? Why don’t you help me? I need you *now*!” And sometimes it seems as though our prayers are not heard. It seems as if God has turned a deaf ear.

Beloved, those are the times when we tend to lean on our understanding. Right? We take the wheel. I mean, after all something’s got to be done!

We’ve all been through times like that, haven’t we? But it’s when life gets hard that God is givin...