The Blessings of Wisdom
8:1 Does not wisdom call?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
2 On the heights beside the way,
at the crossroads she takes her stand;
3 beside the gates in front of the town,
at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
4 “To you, O men, I call,
and my cry is to the children of man.
5 O simple ones, learn prudence;
O fools, learn sense.
6 Hear, for I will speak noble things,
and from my lips will come what is right,
7 for my mouth will utter truth;
wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are righteous;
there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
9 They are all straight to him who understands,
and right to those who find knowledge.
10 Take my instruction instead of silver,
and knowledge rather than choice gold,
11 for wisdom is better than jewels,
and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and I find knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.
14 I have counsel and sound wisdom;
I have insight; I have strength.
15 By me kings reign,
and rulers decree what is just;
16 by me princes rule,
and nobles, all who govern justly.
17 I love those who love me,
and those who seek me diligently find me.
18 Riches and honor are with me,
enduring wealth and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,
and my yield than choice silver.
20 I walk in the way of righteousness,
in the paths of justice,
21 granting an inheritance to those who love me,
and filling their treasuries.
22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
23 Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no springs abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains had been shaped,
before the hills, I was brought forth,
26 before he had made the earth with its fields,
or the first of the dust of the world.
27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28 when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
29 when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 then I was beside him, like a master workman,
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
31 rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.
32 “And now, O sons, listen to me:
blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
34 Blessed is the one who listens to me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting beside my doors.
35 For whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the Lord,
36 but he who fails to find me injures himself;
all who hate me love death.” (ESV)
13a To fear the LORD is to hate evil;
This verse makes it very clear: You cannot be a servant of the LORD and yet walk in evil. Sin goes against God’s very nature, and He detests it more than anything else. As Christians, we need to have this same view of sin and keep our lives far from it. Many “Christians” today feel that it is ok to sin because God will forgive them. But this mindset reflects a heart that is not centered on the LORD at all. if we are serious about serving God, we need to make sure that our lives are free of sin and that we view sin the same way God does, with no exceptions.
36 But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
Wisdom is a key theme in Proverbs. Solomon was all about it and how important it really is. It says in verse 36 that whoever doesn’t have wisdom is hurting themselves. Anyone who hates wisdom loves death. Why would we want to hurt ourselves and why would we love death? Because wisdom guides us on a path of righteousness and holiness. It will help us keep away from sin and help us keep our faith. It will help us rejoice when we are persecuted, like Bobby said on Sunday. Wisdom is a very important thing we need to strive to acheive.
11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Wisdom is something we need to strive to achieve as Max said. In fact, it says that wisdom is more precious than anything we could want. Doesn’t that get you motivated? Wisdom is priceless and “those who seek [wisdom] find [it]” So what does that mean we need to be avoiding: pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech. To walk on the paths of righteousness and find wisdom, we must first turn from our sins. Take a quick check to see if any of these things are keeping you from wisdom and turn from them!
17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.
How great is our God! He has given us so many amazing promises, and never fails to fulfill them. Here He promises that we will find wisdom when we seek it out. Lets dive in to the Word, especially during these Proverbs, with pure and eager hearts, asking God to show us how to live wisely, and taking faith that He will reveal it to us as He promises.
Wisdom is precious and highly valuable. It can only come from our Lord and Savior and through His Word. We must not forget the privilege we have been given as followers of Him to obtain it. Verses 10 and 11 say
10 Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold,
11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
We must seek after wisdom and knowledge and adhere to His instruction for they are worth more than any earthly thing. What do we hold dear to us? Do we value the Word of God and the wisdom He gives or do we value earthly things more?
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34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.
This is a great encouragement to keep on doing Scripture of the Day! if we listen to the wisdom of the Word and apply it to our lives we will be blessed. This is a good motivation to make it back here to this site on a daily basis!
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10 Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold,
11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
I was struck by the word “choose” in verse 10. We have to make a choice daily to seek after godly wisdom (through the reading of God’s Word) instead of seeking earthly wisdom or riches. When we look at how we spend our time each day and how much time we are giving to God it shows us what we value most. I am committed to seeking God’s wisdom daily and I am asking God to help me to value Him and His Word above all else!
11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her…
17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.
18 With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.
19 My fruit is better than fine gold; what I yield surpasses choice silver.
It’s very clear in this passage when it explains what wisdom is and what it’s not. All other earthly things that we may desire do not compare to wisdom’s everlasting treasures. We must be careful to see if we are desiring wisdom, and wisdom only. Wisdom is not something that we aquire over night, it’s something we must diligently seek after (v 17). It’s so clear that having wisdom is so much GREATER than having an abundance of precious metals or stones. It’s important that we do a self-check to see what we desire- earthly things? Or wisdom?
13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.
this verse of many stood out to me the most. it is so staright forward and in your face, to fear the Lord is to HATE evil. its like how much God despises sin. it is very important to fear the Lord as well as to hate pride and evil behavior and perverse speech, which is a huge problem today. there are o many “role models” for kids out there today that have horrible mouths and think they are amazing like Barry Bonds. it is important that when we do something cool or amazing that we realize it is the Lord who is giving us the ability, it is alll Him. we dont do anything without Him, He is our everything. i am comforted by that thought.
10 Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold,
11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
I loved what Beth Said about this. We have choices everyday and we have that choice to have wisdom and follow God, or go towards sin. And i also think that God does not need us, we need him so he isnt forcing us into anything but we should have that desire for him and for his wisdom and word.
32 “Now then, my sons, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Listen to my instruction and be wise; do not ignore it.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.
Wow These verses are soo cool! It’s a really great encouragement to stay in the Word daily so the we may be wise! I love in verse 33 how it just plainly says to listen and “do not ignore it”, I love that! Very good chapter!
10 Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold,
11 for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.
Like Jenae, I loved what Beth said about this verse. She picked out that verse 10 started with choose. We are to choose to go after the wisdom of the LORD that comes by reading His word and applying it, or we have the choice to go after wordly wisdom. As Christians, we must go after wisdom from the LORD and be in the word everyday. This is so important. This should be a desire for us and something we put into our free time instead of things that don’t matter.
32 “Now then, my sons, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.
If we follow God’s commands we will be blessed, sanctified and set free from this world. Following God’s major comands of repentence and faith grants you eternal life in heaven, and that is definately a blessing!
36 But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
If we dont follow God’s commands, it is like we hate Him, and hateing God leads to condemnation and being sent to hell. So I advise all followers to please follow God’s commands so that you may be blessed!
1 Does not wisdom call out? Does not understanding raise her voice?
2 On the heights along the way, where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
What really stood out to me in these verses was that wisdom isn’t something that is like reserved for a few people or something. It calls out, “does not understanding raise her voice?” When we are tempted, don’t we know what we SHOULD be doing? Wisdom is there for us to listen to, we just need to be wise enough to take it.
WoW. This is such a great book! I never knew how valuable wisdom is! I would definitely wish for wisdom if I had 3 wishes. I really like vs. 13 a lot cuz it really suns up the whole book of proverbs if there was one.
Verse 13 really popped out to me it has a really big impact. It isn’t natrual for a human to hate evil, we naturally love it. It is only because of the Lord that we can hate evil. Our fear of the Lord that is found when we are saved has to overcome our old self’s want for sin and evil.
13 To fear the LORD is to hate evil….
As bobby talked about a couple weeks ago people tend to think that because we are saved we don’t have to do what is right. It’s like we have been given a “lisense to sin.” But infact we are told to do the exact opposite we are suppoesed to hate what is wrong and delight in what is good.
35 For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD.
36 But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
This was a very reassuring and encouraging chapter to me. But i really liked how it ended. It just lays it out plain and simple that if you want to find life and be in the favor of the lord you must first God. And if you do not find God you harm yourself and will hate him and find death. So this was just encouraging to me that i should everyday seek God wholeheartedly and then i will receive his favor.
We can hate evil (v.13) or we can hate wisdom (v.36). The benefits of thinking the same thoughts about sin as God does are life and favor from the Lord. The consequences of being a fool is death.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting at my doorway.
35 For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the LORD.
36 But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
These 3 verses just make me think a little bit. In verse 36, how it says that if anyone does not find the Lord will harm himself because he will go to Hell. They are just saying that they love that if they don’t want the Lord in their life. When I heard verses like this when I wasn’t a Christian, it scared me because I don’t love death. So it made me want the Lord in my life and thats what I did. Now I don’t need to worry about going to Hell because I am saved. I found the Lord and therefore I found life just like it says in verse 35. So if anyone is saved then they are also blessed by the Lord if they listen to Him and are waiting for him at his doorway. Verse 34 makes me happy to hear, but if your not a Christian then these 3 verses should scare people. I know people at my school who have heard these verses and they just don’t care and they don’t want the Lord in their life. They don’t even care what will happen to them in Hell. That is pretty sad and I have prayed for those kinds of people.
36 But whoever fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”
This is a big motivation to just always seek the Lord and rely on him! I definately do not want to be in harms way, and I want to be with the Lord and to always serve him. I found this really encouraging as well. This verse is the truth, and it like BAM, right out there plain and simple, as Zach said.