Pro 1:1 These are the proverbs of King Solomon of Israel, the son of David.
Pro 1:2 Proverbs will teach you wisdom and discipline and how to understand sayings with deep meanings.
Pro 1:3 You will learn what is right and honest and fair.
Pro 1:4 From these, an ordinary person can learn to be smart, and young people can gain knowledge and good sense.
Pro 1:5 If you are already wise, you will become even wiser. And if you are smart, you will learn to understand
Pro 1:6 proverbs and sayings, as well as words of wisdom and all kinds of riddles.
Pro 1:8 My child, obey the teachings of your parents,
Pro 1:9 and wear their teachings as you would a royal crown or a medal of gold.
31 chapters in Proverbs. A chapter for every day of the month. 31 days to make an ordinary person smarter than they are today. 31 days for a young person to gain knowledge and good sense. 31 days, and if you are already wise, will become even wiser.
The end result is guaranteed. And the 31 days is not even mandatory. You can do it at your own pace. But it’s up to you. And here is the best part. You can have all 31 Proverbs working in your life, and it is absolutely free. It is all right here in your Bible.
What can you get from Proverbs? This passage tells you what you get.
Number one on the list is wisdom. Did you pray for wisdom? Well here is the answer to your prayer. Right here in Proverbs chapter 1. Proverbs will teach you wisdom.
And you can never be too wise for Proverbs. Verse 5 says that if you are already wise, you will become even wiser.
Pro 1:4 From these, an ordinary person can learn to be smart, and young people can gain knowledge and good sense.
The number 1 benefit you receive from reading this book is that once you’re finished reading its words, you walk away wiser than you were before.
You get wisdom. You also get discipline. The King James Version calls it instruction. We all need instruction.
This life is not easy. Raising kids isn’t easy. Proverbs provides instruction for kids and for parents.
From Proverbs we get:
“Obey the teachings of your parents, and wear their teachings as you would a royal crown or a medal of gold.”
There’s a lot in that verse. I can tell you that in the military, when I graduated from training, I got a ribbon to wear on my jacket. When I graduated from leadership training, I got another one. And the more ribbons you have on that jacket, the more you wore it with pride. And the guy with all kinds of ribbons, stacked in rows over his heart, people are checking that guy out. He’s been through a lot. He has accomplished a lot. And he’s got it all right there in plain view for everyone to see.
Your life is in plain view. People are watching you. And what you do and how you act is just like that. You either have the ribbons and people respect you, or you’re still in basic training and haven’t even learned how to discipline yourself. Maybe your parents haven’t taught you.
That one’s for the kids. Here’s one for the parent:
“Whoever refuses to spank his son hates him, but whoever loves his son disciplines him from early on.”
We have laws now that almost make it a crime to spank a child. I guess they want us to hate our children. Kids need discipline, and the rod has been ordained by God. For parents who do not want to spank their children, you need to get in line with the Word of God.
So there is something for kids as well as their parents.
And there is instruction for all walks of life. And you will find things that directly apply to you in whatever you are doing.
So there is wisdom. There is instruction. And there is an understanding to be gained. You will also learn how to understand sayings with deep meanings (words of insight, words of understanding).
In other words, you’re going to get some sense. Sense to understand what you are being told.
Spare the rod, spoil the child.
A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush.
You come across people that say that the Bible is hard to understand. It is, if you cannot understand words of insight. There is a lot said in passages of Scripture that goes beyond the words themselves.
Judas went out to betray Jesus, and John in his gospel makes it a point to let the readers know that it was night. John is deep. John uses few words and writes a universe.
There is more being said than what is said. The New Testament is full of parables. It has things that are hard to understand. Just ask Peter. He said a lot of what Paul wrote is hard to understand, and there are many who wrestle with those passages to their own destruction.
You want to learn how to understand hard sayings? Read Proverbs.
You will learn to understand proverbs and sayings, as well as words of wisdom and all kinds of riddles.
Pro 1:2 Proverbs will teach you wisdom and discipline and how to understand sayings with deep meanings.
So we get into this verse 7. Proverbs 1:7 tells us that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.
Pro 1:7 Respect and obey the LORD! This is the beginning of knowledge. Only a fool rejects wisdom and good advice.
It doesn’t matter how much you know or how wise you are in comparison to others. If you have no fear of God, all of your wisdom and knowledge won’t even get you to the starting line.
Real knowledge and real wisdom begins with God. And the fear of God is only the beginning. It increases from that point.
You might have a great deal of learning under your belt. You could be like Confucius the great sage of the Far East. You might have an intellect that surpasses Einstein. But if you do not have a fear of God, it is worthless. It is under the dominion of your fallen nature.
The apostle Paul counted all of his learning as waste. The great Catholic Theologian, Thomas Aquinas, on his death bed, when asked about the great works he had written, answered that it was all straw. He had wasted his life.
But take that fallen nature to God. Learn to fear God and the wrath of God that is coming to all mankind. Run to the shelter and hide your soul in the shadow of the Almighty, where all is light. Learn about the sacrifice He made for you. Come to Christ. Accept His shed blood and apply it to your sin stained life. Then you will be truly wise. And all of your learning and understanding will be rightly understood and applied.
The fear of the LORD is only the beginning. It is the starting point. When you have that, read on and gain. Read on and build on the foundation: gold, silver and precious stones.
Only a fool rejects good advice.
Pro 1:8 My child, obey the teachings of your parents,
Pro 1:9 and wear their teachings as you would a royal crown or a medal of gold.
So kids, there it is. Obey the teachings of your parents. Do what they tell you to do. Listen to the advice they give.
Kids think parents don't understand. Parents do understand. Parents were kids once. We’ve been there. We do understand. Kids need to learn to understand. This is your first time around, and if you want to stay in the game, you need to understand the rules. We’ve been there. We’ve done that. And it would be smart for you to listen rather than experience the things you are being warned about.
And if you do good, helping people when you see people who need help, and be polite to people when you talk to them, that is your crown and that is your medal. That is your gold necklace. And you will shine and people will praise you. They will praise your parents as well.
In fact, these are the kinds of things that Jesus said we all should be doing: Going the extra mile, being kind to others, treating other people like we would like to be treated: and when we do the good things, He says it is like shining a light. And not only do we get honored, God is glorified. Our Father is praised because of the good things we are doing.
