Proverbs 1:1-33

The purpose of Proverbs is to promote wisdom and expose folly.  Wisdom is the ability to live well which means according to the design of our Creator.  The Proverbs are like a set of instructions from a wise father who is striving to prepare his son for the realities of life and wants him to do well.  The Proverbs promote righteous living and seek to help the simple and foolish grow in their knowledge so that they can become wise and then continue to grow in wisdom.  These sayings are an effort to summarize instructions and make them memorable so that they can guide the heart of those who pay attention to them.  The fear of the Lord is where all proper living must begin, it is foolish to consider that there is a way to live our lives apart from the instruction of our Creator and still be successful.  As we travel through the book of Proverbs in the weeks ahead we will notice a great deal of repetition.  Remember that these are instructions designed to reach the heart of a son or daughter.  Those of us who have raised children know how important it is for us to repeat instructions to our children so that they will learn obedience.  Today’s chapter is a stark contrast between the voices that clamor for our attention.

THE CALL OF THE WILD: There are many voices that call for our attention and clamor for our affections.  Solomon starts out by warning his son to pay attention to his instructions and because they will bring great joy to his life.  He then warns him of the other voices that will call for his attention.  He warns us that we are surrounded by sinners who are wild and foolish people that have no fear of the Lord.  These wild men must be rejected and we must not fall into their traps.  They sneak around calling for men to come with them and harm other people for sport.  They take pleasure in violence and seek to become wealthy through dishonest and violent men.  Evil men are constantly looking to expand the number of men who surround them because it brings some sort of relief to them to have more people with them in their sinful ways.  We must learn to identify this call and avoid it with all that is in us.  It may look enticing and exciting but its end is destruction and devastating pain.  Those who are greedy will plunder the poor only to find themselves in the deepest throws of pain and poverty.

THE CALL OF THE WISE: There is another voice that calls for our attention and affection and that is the voice of wisdom.  It does not sneak around whispering in the corners like to call of the wild; it shouts out in the streets and calls all to walk in its righteous ways.  Wisdom calls out and pleads with the foolish to abandon their folly and turn to the path of wisdom and righteousness.  Wisdom warns us that if we do not listen and heed the instruction of God, we will find ourselves alone on the day when calamity strikes.  The tendency of sinful men is to scoff at God’s Word during their times of prosperity.  However, when the inevitable calamity of sin invades their lives they want to cry out to God for help and deliverance.  God’s help will not be forthcoming and they will be alone in their desperation.  Those who scoff at the instruction of God’s word will find themselves suffering with the consequences of their choices.  The stupid and sinful ignore the call of the wise.  But the prudent will listen and obey the instruction from God and will find security and joy in the wisdom of God’s Word.