Proverbs 1:1-7 Complete Jewish Bible
1 The proverbs of Shlomo the son of David,
king of Isra’el,
2 are for learning about wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words expressing deep insight;
3 for gaining an intelligently disciplined life,
doing what is right, just and fair;
4 for endowing with caution those who don’t think
and the young person with knowledge and discretion.
5 Someone who is already wise
will hear and learn still more;
someone who already understands
will gain the ability to counsel well;
6 he will understand proverbs, obscure expressions,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
7 The fear of Adonai is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Two things my parents always tried to teach me growing up: what we need are ‘wisdom’ and ‘discipline’. ‘Wisdom’ is living from God’s perspective on life and ‘discipline’ is having the character to consistently do what you know is right.
We must have a “starvation level” of hunger for God’s wisdom and pursue it. Reverent Fear of God is the first step in the quest for a meaningful existence.
Acquiring wisdom is not a particularly hard thing to do.
Who we hang around with, who we call our friends, who we call our enemies, who we choose to ignore or to scorn altogether for some arbitrary reason has a huge influence on who you become. God says Choose your relationships wisely.
Good and blessed things tend to flow from wise and disciplined behavior both exhibited in public or in private ways (but not in a magical or guaranteed way).
Lady Wisdom yearns to set people free from their foolish ways and to impart a spirit of wisdom to them so that they will become more disciplined and wise.
Wisdom proactively shouts and cries out to the simple-minded, urging them to change.
How often she has called out to us.
How often we have neglected her advice – to our own detriment.
If we reject the call of wisdom over and over again, we move beyond the reach of her help. We may then search for her but it may will be far too late. We will have eaten too much, stomached too much of the bitter fruit of living our own way.
Our own complacency will have destroyed us.
What’s the point?
Listen to wisdom!
Accept her advice and pay attention to her correction.
If you do, you will live in peace and safety, unafraid of harm.
Do we hear the shriek of urgency of Wisdom’s appeal!
Her appeal is made to all.
To be complacent is as bad as outright rejection.
Lady Wisdom wants the fool, the inexperienced, immature (simple), and the mocker to know and see for themselves the horrible consequences of their not obeying her, so they will turn back to God respond positively to her right away.
Great advice for wise living.
While I do not want to be thought of as an “all wise know-it-all,” I definitely don’t want to be a fool.
The word “fool” is used more than 80 times in the Bible. None of those men-tions me by name, but I don’t want the descriptions there to fit me either. I especially don’t want to be listed as a fool in some record that God might keep.
Thankfully, Proverbs is a book that God gives to help us, to inform us, to see and hear just what a fool is so that we can fight against becoming one. From the beginning it pits wisdom against foolishness. Sometimes the invitation is to embrace what is wise; other times the challenge is to fist fight what is foolish.
Proverbs is a collection of wisdom sayings that tell us the way things are.
In this world there is wisdom, and there is folly. Wisdom comes from reading and studying to learn disciplined living God’s way, and folly comes from going our own way. God gives us Proverbs to help us see that our heart and character must 100% be shaped by him, so we can live wisely in all kinds of situations.
Ultimately, disciplined living, morally, ethically, wisely, is 100% about being more Christlike than flesh like: having the mind of Christ, who is perfectly wise.
The Bible calls Jesus “the wisdom of God.” And a wisdom-shaped heart, and a wisdom crafted wisdom shape soul and spirit is essentially one that has Christ at the exact center of it. In that way, I want to be that “Christ-Like wise guy.”
If any of us, are fool enough to believe we are all wise
Shalom!
2 Regard it all as joy, my brothers, when you face various kinds of temptations; 3 for you know that the testing of your trust produces perseverance. 4 But let perseverance do its complete work; so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing. 5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all generously and without reproach; and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in trust, doubting nothing; for the doubter is like a wave in the sea being tossed and driven by the wind. 7 Indeed that person should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 because he is double-minded, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:2-5 CJB)
It takes a lot of wisdom to run a business.
It takes a lot of wisdom to be a good husband and a good wife
It takes a lot of wisdom to raise children.
It takes a lot of wisdom to be a family to reverently fear, honor, worship God.
It takes a lot of wisdom to be a teacher or a leader in the community.
It takes a lot of wisdom to be a faithful, conscientious worker and to live well, especially as a Christian in these days of foolish rampant divisive immorality.
Think of all the issues we face every day.
Where shall I draw the line between what is right and what is wrong?
How shall I determine what is moral and what is immoral?
How shall I determine what is ethical and what is unethical?
How can I make decisions that are God directed, disciplined, and wise?
The entire book of Proverbs in the Old Testament is written to help believers draw the line in the sand between what is Godly wisdom and human folly.
When Solomon came to the throne to fill the shoes of his father, David, the first thing he asked God for was a wise and discerning heart. (1 Kings 3:4 – 14)
This request pleased God greatly.
Here in the New Covenant book of James, God repeats how pleased he is when his children ask for wisdom.
God is so pleased that he will never turn them down.
What an invitation!
We learn wisdom through disciplined study of God’s Word.
We gain wisdom through the experiences of living.
We develop wisdom by watching and learning from others.
We also receive wisdom when we ask God for it.
According to James, we all ought to be praying for wisdom daily.
James 5:14-20 Disciples’ Literal New Testament
Pray For One Another So That You May Be Healed
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him summon the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, having anointed[a] him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of [b] faith will restore[c] the one being ill, and the Lord will raise him. And if he has committed[d] sins, it will be forgiven him. 16 Therefore be confessing-out[e] your sins to one another, and be praying for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer[f] of a righteous person can-do much while working[g]. 17 Elijah was a person of-like-nature to us, and he prayed with prayer[h] that it not rain. And it did not rain upon the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
Try To Turn Back Those Who Stray From The Truth
19 My brothers, if anyone among you errs[i] from the truth and someone turns him back, 20 let him know that the one having turned-back a sinner from the error of his way will save his[j] soul[k] from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.
And “God, who 100% gives generously to all without finding fault,” will give it.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 14 Complete Jewish Bible
14 (0) For the leader. By David:
(1) Fools say in their hearts,
“There is no God.”
They deal corruptly, their deeds are vile,
not one does what is right.
2 From heaven Adonai observes humankind
to see if anyone has understanding,
if anyone seeks God.
3 But all turn aside, all alike are corrupt;
no one does what is right,
not a single one.
4 Don’t they ever learn,
all those evildoers,
who eat up my people as if eating bread
and never call on Adonai?
5 There they are, utterly terrified;
for God is with those who are righteous.
6 You may mock the plans of the poor,
but their refuge is Adonai.
7 How I wish Isra’el’s salvation
would come out of Tziyon!
When Adonai restores his people’s fortunes,
Ya‘akov will rejoice, Isra’el will be glad!
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 