Proverbs 4, Part One

“Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.” The Dillon High Panthers had it right when they chanted this before their football games. The same principal that comes from Friday Night Lights applies to living life with purpose. We need a focus and passion for wisdom in order to live out our faith.

From the first few verses of Proverbs 4, we learn that wisdom is passed on from generation to generation. Godly people inspire godliness in others. The proverb begins:

“Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction,
and be attentive, that you may gain insight,
2 for I give you good precepts;
do not forsake my teaching.
3 When I was a son with my father,
tender, the only one in the sight of my mother,
4 he taught me and said to me,
“Let your heart hold fast my words;
keep my commandments, and live.
5 Get wisdom; get insight;
do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will keep you;
love her, and she will guard you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom,
and whatever you get, get insight.
8 Prize her highly, and she will exalt you;
she will honor you if you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head a graceful garland;
she will bestow on you a beautiful crown.”

Proverbs 4:1-9

It tells us to respect godly teaching and we will gain understanding. People who know God are worth listening to because they are credible. The father tells his son that he was young once, too, and his father taught him in the same way. Now, he is passing this wisdom on because it has benefited him. In The Message translation, this chapter is titled “Your Life is at Stake”. The speaker’s father told him this message because wisdom is so important. It is a life or death matter, and wisdom leads us to Christ, who is our salvation.

Christ is wisdom.

“And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption,”

1 Corinthians 1:30

Christ is also our life.

^“When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

Colossians 3:4

Additionally, Verse 6 shows us that we must commit to wisdom. This is like having a relationship; in order to benefit, we must pursue wisdom.

The proverb continues with more guidance:

“Hear, my son, and accept my words,
    that the years of your life may be many.
¹¹ I have taught you the way of wisdom;
    I have led you in the paths of uprightness.
¹² When you walk, your step will not be hampered,
    and if you run, you will not stumble.

13Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
    guard her, for she is your life.“

Proverbs 4:10-13

Wisdom can give us long lives, as the commandment says:

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

Exodus 20:12

We are blessed when we realize the value of wisdom and pursue it. It is obvious how important wisdom is; the beginning of Proverbs focuses intensely on it. From Proverbs 4, we see hints that point to Jesus as the embodiment of wisdom and the life it gives. When we seek wisdom, we will find God.

“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul”

Deuteronomy 4:29

I will continue with Proverbs 4 in my next post. Blessings,

Olivia