Proverbs 3:1-35 Guidance for the Young:
3 My son, do not forget my law,
But let your heart keep my commands;
2 For length of days and long life
And peace they will add to you.
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
4 And so find favor and [a]high esteem
In the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall [b]direct your paths.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and depart from evil.
8 It will be health to your [c]flesh,
And strength[d] to your bones.
9 Honor the Lord with your possessions,
And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
10 So your barns will be filled with plenty,
And your vats will overflow with new wine.
11 My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor detest His correction;
12 For whom the Lord loves He corrects,
Just as a father the son in whom he delights.
13 Happy is the man who finds wisdom,
And the man who gains understanding;
14 For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver,
And her gain than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies,
And all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand,
In her left hand riches and honor.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
And all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her,
And happy are all who [e]retain her.
19 The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
By understanding He established the heavens;
20 By His knowledge the depths were broken up,
And clouds drop down the dew.
21 My son, let them not depart from your eyes—
Keep sound wisdom and discretion;
22 So they will be life to your soul
And grace to your neck.
23 Then you will walk safely in your way,
And your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet.
25 Do not be afraid of sudden terror,
Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes;
26 For the Lord will be your confidence,
And will keep your foot from being caught.
27 Do not withhold good from [f]those to whom it is due,
When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
“Go, and come back,
And tomorrow I will give it,”
When you have it with you.
29 Do not devise evil against your neighbor,
For he dwells by you for safety’s sake.
30 Do not strive with a man without cause,
If he has done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the oppressor,
And choose none of his ways;
32 For the perverse person is an abomination to the Lord,
But His secret counsel is with the upright.
33 The curse of the Lord is on the house of the wicked,
But He blesses the home of the just.
34 Surely He scorns the scornful,
But gives grace to the humble.
35 The wise shall inherit glory,
But shame shall be the legacy of fools.
Let’s dive into what God opened my eyes to in these verses. It is important to understand that what I am going to be talking about is what God showed me, which may be different from what He opens your eyes to. Dive into the verses yourself as well and allow God to speak to you individually.
If you are anything like me, you seek out peace of mind daily. My mind is constantly going and filled with all kinds of thoughts. There is not much peace in me when that is the case. Verse 2 speaks on how to find the peace we are constantly seeking out. A lot of people look at Christianity, see the “rules” we follow, and run the opposite direction as fast as possible. I will go ahead and tell you, keeping God’s commandments and trying my best to be like Jesus has brought immense peace into my life. Looking back on the times I was living in sin there was absolutely no peace within me. I went to bed and woke up with the same terrible feeling. The feeling of conviction. This conviction stirred up an emotional storm within me because I knew what I was doing was wrong, but I could not stop. Because I had not made the choice to try to stop and seek God, the conviction within me continued for months. I had no peace at all and it was one of the worst times in my life. The Bible is truth and I have experienced the truth within these verses personally. Once I began to seek that relationship again and try my hardest to keep the commandments, peace was back into my mind and heart. I still am convicted when I sin, but that conviction allows me to know I messed up and I immediately run to God with it. This peace is something I have never experienced before. At least not like this. Verses 11 and 12 also speak to this. Remember, conviction is an amazing thing if you let it be. First, it is a sign of salvation. God delights in those he corrects from sin. As humans we sin daily. There is no way around it. The difference between those saved and those not is in conviction. Conviction allows us to know we sinned and helps us make the right decision of turning from the sin. It can definitely be looked at in two ways. A fun-killer is one way. This is because it literally makes you miserable when you sin. It hurts because you know you have broken God’s heart. The other way to look at it is as a blessing. It truly is a blessing for the reasons I explained above. When I get this conviction I know I have messed up and I immediately take it to God. Because I do not want a broken heart from breaking God’s, it helps me try my hardest to not commit that sin again.
Verses 3-4 speak on mercy and truth. These two verses really speak to the importance of digging into the Word. In order to keep God’s commandments and know His truth, you have to read the Bible. I have seen in my life how easy it is to create my own god and his truths that do not line up with the Bible at all. I just had decided what I wanted God’s truths to be myself. But the Bible is the only truth. This is why it is so important to seek out commandments and truths within the Bible. It is dangerous for us not to. It saddens me to see the world today create their own god that lives within their mind. But this god is not God. There is only one God and His truths live within the Bible and nowhere else. We need to be careful about twisting His words and truths to fit what we want them to say. These truths will be shown outwardly in our lives and within our hearts. This is a sign of true salvation within ourselves and others. Treasure these truths and mercies with everything in you. Allow God to place them in your mind and heart so that you may live them out outwardly and inwardly.
Verse 6 really speaks to my life at the moment. I have many big life decisions coming up that I need help with. My biggest struggle in these decisions has been not doing what God wants of me. What if I am actually just doing what I think is best for me and not what God has been telling me is best? I know for a fact that God, not me, knows what is best for me. Anytime I have made decisions without God it has turned out terribly for me. Trust me, I have learned my lesson with that. So now it has turned into a worry of not doing what God is wanting me to do. The changes coming up are definitely not what I asked for and not anything I saw coming. I have been in prayer about these decisions and doors have just continued to open while others closed. This has shown me that God is within these decisions. I have asked Him to guide these decisions for me so that I end up where He needs me. I have seen Him in the closing and opening of opportunities. It is honestly a beautiful thing to witness happening right before my eyes, even though there is some pain in the closing.
God hit me hard with the truths of fear in this chapter. Verses 24-26 speak on it. If you know me personally, you know how much I struggle daily with fear. It is something I am ashamed of and really have been working on for a while. Although it has gotten better, there are still times I am overwhelmed with fear. My biggest fear is death. The most peace I have gotten from this fear comes from knowing that once I die I will be in God’s presence. It is weird because I am excited to be in His presence, but I am terrified of how I might get to that point. I hate having this fear because it means I am not fully trusting God in that area. Verse 24 specifically helps me with these thoughts. They mostly come at night, so having this verse on mind helps. It reminds me that I should not fear death because it will take me straight to God’s presence. Faith needs to be placed in God in that area. The nights I do not get rest is because of the thoughts of death that come. Because I have read this verse, it helps me have a way to fight off the thoughts and fears. Verses 25 and 26 also speak of fears, just in a different way. They speak to the only fear we have as Christians is a Godly fear. We should not allow sudden fears to take over us. A big reason why is because we know what is to come of us. We know our fate is to be with God, praising Him forever. After this life I will be wrapped in a peace and safety I have never known before. Whereas sudden fear comes to those who are not Christians because there is a fate awaiting them that is terrible.
Allow this to push you to reach others. To make Heaven crowded so that less have to see this terrible fate. Let God use you while you are on this Earth. Allow God to bring peace in you and to take your fears away. Know that God is in control of your life, if you let Him be, and that all is well.
Find time this week to dig into these verses yourself and seek God. Ask Him to open your heart to what you need to learn and what He is trying to tell you. Dive deeper into what you get from these versus by using google, books, etc.
