The theme of the book of Proverbs is generally agreed to be Proverbs 1:7.
Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
There are 2 groups of people in this verse. Those that fear the Lord and those that do not. I understand things so much better if I break them down into a list and sometimes I need a picture to also help me illustrate the point. Let’s make a list out of this verse.
Fear the Lord
Accept/admire/cherish wisdom
Accept/admire/cherish instruction
Fear the Lord
Beginning of knowledge
Fools
Despise Wisdom
Despise Instriction
Dishonor/scorn/insult the Lord
No Knowledge
In order to fear the Lord, we must first be willing to be humble before the Lord. We have to realize that the answers to life’s most important questions are found in God’s Word. When faced with any decision in life whether big or small, we must seek God through prayer and reading His Word to find answers. When we are not sure what choice we should make, we must seek the counsel of those that are wise.
Since we see that a fool despises wisdom and instruction, we see that the fool is seeking to make themselves happy. They do not want someone to get in the way of their happiness. If they seek the counsel of someone that disagrees with their desires, they will reject their wise counsel.
A fool wants to satisfy their desires for happiness or admiration from others. Maybe they see their way of doing things as an easier way of life. It could be that following the path of wisdom will be hard.
The book of Proverbs is a manual that helps us understand how to live. It helps us understand the character of mankind. What are the characteristics of a wise person? What are the characteristics of a foolish person?
Solomon wrote the book of Proverbs to his son. Solomon had many sons and there is not a specific son that it was written to, but it was written so his children could learn from the wisdom that he had been given by God. However, we see in I Kings 12 that his son did not learn the wisdom that his father was hoping to pass on to him.
“And Solomon slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.” (I Kings 11:43). Rehoboam was faced with a decision to lighten the work load that his father had put upon the people or make it heavier. So Rehoboam sought counsel with his father’s advisors and then he sought counsel with the young men who he had grown up with. He listened to his friends rather than the wise counsel from his father’s advisors. The people revolted and Rehoboam feared for his life. This is known as Rehoboam’s folly.
As we seek to become wise people, we need to be sure that the people we spend most of our time with and people we go to for advice are wise. Do these people that I seek advice from cherish instruction? Are they humble?
What do we do when we have conflicting words of advice from different people, or what someone shares with us conflicts with our own desires? What do we do?
- Go back to God’s Word
- Pray
- Be sure that the people you are seeking advice from are godly
If we make a decision that is in contradiction to God’s Word, it is not a wise choice. Just because something feels right doesn’t make it right. Eating a quart of ice cream in one sitting feels good, but is it wise? We cannot make a decision based on our feelings. They will change. We must make our decisions based on the solid truth of Scripture.
