GOD’S WORD FOR DECEMBER 13 ~ ~ Romans 10:17 ~ ~ “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

Continuing with the book, “How to Read the Bible” by Dr. Michael Youssef of Leading the Way Int’l Ministries.

Starting chapter 9 ~ ~   “Wisdom of the Kingdom:  The Books of Solomon”

Rosalind Picard is one of the leading researchers in the field of  artificial intelligence.  The founder of the Affective Computing Research Group at MIT, she designs AI systems to solve health problems.

Raised in a family that never attended church or even mentioned religion, Rosalind said she viewed Christians as people who had “thrown their brains out the windows.”  As a teenager, she babysat for a Christian doctor and his wife while they attended bible studies.  She couldn’t understand why they wasted time studying the Bible.

When that couple invited Rosalind to attend church with them, she pretended to be ill.  When they asked her the following week, she claimed to be sick again.

“Faking sickness to a doctor really wasn’t working,” she recalled.

They asked if I’d read the Bible.  I was a straight A student – one of those obnoxious kids who thought myself really smart, so I thought I should probably read the bestselling book of all time.  I agreed to take their advice to read the book of Proverbs, one a day for a month.  I saw there was all this wisdom …stuff I could learn from.  I was humbled.  Then I set out to read the whole Bible.  And that changed me!

What makes these Old Testament proverbs so powerful?  There can only be one answer:  The wisdom of Proverbs comes from God Himself.

PROVERBS:  GOD’S ROADMAP TO WISDOM

The book of Proverbs is the owners manual for the human life.  If you want a rewarding, meaningful, satisfying life, then you need to spend serious time in Proverbs.  The first twenty-nine chapters were written by King Solomon.  Chapter 30 is credited to an unknown man, Agur, son of Jakeh.  Chapter 31 is described as “The sayings of King Lemuel – an inspired utterance his mother taught him.”

King Solomon reigned for forty years at the height of Israel’s Golden Age, and was renowned for his wisdom, which is proven by the great success of his kingdom.  We can explore his wisdom in the three books he wrote:  Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

How did Solomon become so wise?  Soon after being anointed king of Israel, he made sacrifices to God on the hilltop altar at Gibeon.  During the night, God appeared to him in a dream, saying “Ask for whatever you want Me to give you.”

Solomon replied, “Give your servant a discerning heart to govern Your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.  For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

God was pleased with Solomon’s prayer…..

“Then God said to him: “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you.  And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days.” 1Kings 3:11-13.

When you read Proverbs of Solomon, you are exploring God’s answer to his prayer for wisdom.  The purpose of Proverbs is to provide the reader with a guide to effective living and wise decision-making:

The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:

To know wisdom and instruction,

To  perceive the words of understanding,

To receive the instruction of wisdom,

Justice, judgment, and equity;

To give prudence to the simple,

To the young man knowledge and discretion—

A wise man will hear and increase learning,

And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel,

To understand a proverb and an enigma,

The words of the wise and their riddles. (Proverbs 1:1-6)

The next verse gives us the key to unlocking the wisdom of this book:

“THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF KNOWLEDGE, but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7)

If you want to be wise, you must first understand that all wisdom begins with an attitude the Bible calls “the fear of the Lord.”

Does this mean we should cower in terror before God?  Of course not.  But we must approach Him with reverent awe and with an absolute submission to His will.  That is the beginning of wisdom.

The first seven chapters of Proverbs are discourses on wisdom from a wise father to his son.  These chapters address such issues as the importance of seeking wisdom from the Lord, avoiding temptation and envy, choosing friends wisely, standing firm against peer pressure, and maintaining pure speech.  This discourse is summarized in these key verses in Proverbs 3:5-6:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Chapters 8 and 9 personify wisdom as a woman who says, “To you, O people, I call out:  I raise my voice to all mankind …. I open my lips to speak what is right”: (Proverbs 8:4 and 6)

In these chapters Lady Wisdom contrasts two ways of life – the rewarding way of the wise and the self-destructive path of the foolish.

Chapters 10 to 22 contain nuggets of wisdom from King Solomon himself.  There is so much godly insight and advice that I could write encyclopedia-length volumes about them and still not do them justice.  Let’s look just at three verses in this section:

Proverbs 18:10-11:

“The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe, the wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it a wall too high to scale.”

These two verses provide a stark contrast between those who take refuge in the Lord for peace and security and those who hide behind flimsy walls of wealth.  In today’s uncertain world, we are surrounded by voices, shouting at us:  “Buy gold!”  “Buy silver!”  “The stock market is plunging!”  “War in the Middle East”  “War in Europe!”  “War in Asia!”

   I want you to know that whenever you hear that the world around you is crumbling, or whenever you feel your own world is caving in on you, the Name of the Lord is a strong tower!

The Bible has revealed to us many names of God, and each reveals a unique and comforting facet of His character:

 JEHOVAH JIREH “the Lord our Provider”

JEHOVAH RAPHA, “The Lord our Healer”

 JEHOVAH NISSI, “The Lord our Banner”

JEHOVAH SHALOM, ‘’The Lord our Peace”

 JEHOVAH RAAH, “The Lord our Shepherd”

 and on and on, name after name.  And each of these names is a strong, fortified, unscalable tower of refuge for us!

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Psalm 91:1&2

 He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress:  my God; in Him will I trust.

Psalm119:50

This is my comfort in my affliction: for your word has quickened me.

Matthew 28:20

…Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.

II Corinthians 5:17

 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

II Corinthians 2:14

 Now thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and make manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.

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