Proverbial Wisdom – 3:7-12

Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Proverb 3:7-12 (KJV)

Hello dear brothers and sisters in Christ—once again I am late, and this time I have no excuse. The wonderful outdoors beckoned me and I simply did not resist. I cleaned up the flowerbeds, I put out some gorgeous fall decorations, and shame on me, I let my weekly blog be late. Reds, oranges, and browns…I love the fall colors!

So let’s jump right into this week’s lesson, which will be broken down into three sections. The first section is verses 7 and 8, the second section is verses 9 and 10, and the last section is verses 11 and 12.

Our first section contains three warnings. We should not to be wise in our own eyes, we should fear the Lord, and we should turn from all evil. If we are wise in our own eyes, we hold a conceited, inflated view of ourselves, and consequently, we may not admit or learn from our mistakes. And as we have already discovered in Part 1 of our journey through Proverbs, it is a foolish, rebellious man who refuses to learn.

Paul directs us in Romans 12:16 to, “Live in harmony with each other. Don't try to act important, but enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don't think you know it all!” (NLT). There you go…news flash…you don’t know it all.

But don’t feel bad…I don’t know it all either. All of us have a lot more to learn; therefore, we need to stay humble and teachable.

Our reverential fear of God should help keep us humble and teachable. Throughout the Bible, we are told to fear the Lord and to obey His commands. When we fear the Lord and obey His commands, we turn away from evil—we simply want no part in it. In fact, Exodus 20:20 tells us that the fear of the Lord can keep us from sinning.

Without sin, often we can increase the length of our life and the quality of our days. We decrease our daily stress because instead of worrying, we trust and lean on God. Further, we avoid sinful activities that can lead to sickness and death; such as cirrhosis of the liver, sexually transmitted diseases, and illegal drug overdoses. As a result, many times our spiritual condition can have a profound impact on our physical condition.

Our second section tells us to honor God with the first fruits of our increase. Everything that we have, our health, our jobs, our possessions, and our money, are gifts from God. It all came from His favor within our lives, and ultimately, it all belongs to Him. We are just stewards of His money; and as such, we should not squander it on our lustful desires. Why steal from God?  “The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God…” (Exodus 23:19).

When we are good stewards of God’s money in our tithes and offerings, God continues to bless us. He will meet our needs, financially, physically, and spiritually. He always deserves our first and our best of everything…not our leftovers.

“’Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you!’” (Malachi 3:10, NLT).

Our last section for this week, deals with discipline. We are passing through a classroom of life, and hopefully, we are learning and improving as we go along. Nevertheless, we make mistakes and sometimes we refuse to recognize or learn from our mistakes. Consequently, God may have to discipline us. Matthew Henry says in his Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible, “…for we may be sure that a God of unspotted purity does us no wrong and that a God of infinite goodness means us no hurt.”

Since God is without sin, everything that He does is for our own benefit. He teaches us to avoid sin and He leads us towards His righteousness. If we refuse to learn the easy way, through listening to His Spirit and learning from His Word, He will teach us the hard way…through discipline. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19).

In this life, you may face discipline in the form of various trials and persecutions. While you are being disciplined, humbly surrender yourself to God. Submit to His refining fire because He is working to remove all the impurities within you—He wants to shine you up so that He can see His own reflection when He looks at you. Let God shine you up so that you can reflect Him.

And have you entirely forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you, his children? He said, “My child, don't ignore it when the Lord disciplines you, and don't be discouraged when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes those he accepts as his children.”

Hebrews 12:5-6 (NLT)

Three Key Concepts:

1. Fear of the Lord can keep you from sinning.

2. Your spiritual condition can have a profound impact on your physical condition.

3. God disciplines those He loves.

A Godly Legacy

The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools.

Proverbs 3:35 (New King James)

Have any of you ever watched a movie that showed a large family squeezing into a teeny-tiny attorney’s office? Every member of the family anxiously awaited the reading of the Last Will and Testament. Breathless with anticipation, they all sat on the edge of their seats—their imaginations running wild.

You saw greed in their eyes as they rehearsed in their minds what they were going to say once they verified that their father had left them his entire estate. At that moment, they forgot all about their father’s final three years of suffering, as his diseased body slowly shriveled away. Now they were interested in only one thing….what did he leave them, what did they inherit?

The Will was read and pandemonium broke out.

Charlie, the oldest son of the deceased, thought that he deserved the largest inheritance so he began yelling at Susie, the youngest daughter of the deceased. Sandra, the widow and mother of both Charlie and Susie, began sobbing. And then Shawn, the oldest grandchild, began cursing. In the middle of all the commotion, the attorney kept saying, “Let’s calm down.”

These scenes are comical and they make us laugh; however, at the same time, they are sad. They illustrate the sinful greed that flows throughout our society.

Although the movie might have been fictional, I am sad to tell you that those types of reactions do happen. As a retired accountant, I have witnessed families being were torn apart because of worldly greed. Someone always thinks that he or she deserves more. That is because this world worships money.

All we think about is money, money, and more money, which in turn, leads to greed, greed, and more greed. “How can I accumulate more? I can never have enough! I’ve got to leave a large inheritance.”

Be warned! You can keep accumulating things and keep building barns to hold all of your possessions; but if you do, eventually you will become a servant to your money and to your possessions (Luke 12:15-21).

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (Matthew 6:24, NLT).

When people leave legacies of sin, those legacies begin to take root, and as a weed chokes out a flower, a sinful legacy chokes out life. Let’s confirm this through the Bible.

First we have Adam. Through his sin, Adam left a legacy of death (Romans 5:14). That’s not a very good legacy if you ask me!

Next, let’s look at King Saul. He, too, left a legacy of death to his son, Jonathan (1 Samuel 28:19, 31:2).  Then do you remember King David’s legacy to his child that he fathered with Bathsheba? That legacy was also death (2 Samuel 12:18). David’s son Amnon…death (2 Samuel 13:28). David’s son Absalom…death (2 Samuel 18:14). Death…death…death, sin leaves a legacy of death.

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:19-21, KJV).

Change your priorities. Do not strive to accumulate massive wealth to leave as a legacy. Instead, leave another type of legacy—one that will not rot, rust, or disappear.  Leave your children a legacy of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.

I am not sure if you recognized those qualities that were listed above, but those qualities are the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have your family remember this about you, “Dear old dad, he didn’t accumulate a lot of money, but he sure did love the Lord.”  That is a legacy of great worth.  

God is a perfect Father who gives us a legacy of great worth. He gives us love.

Through His Son (Jesus), God gives us an eternal legacy of life. Then His Son, Jesus the Messiah, bequeaths to us another legacy of life—salvation and the Holy Spirit. Praise God for these precious legacies!

Accept your inheritance of life through God’s Holy Spirit. Allow Him to mold and remake you into God’s image. When you do that, then you can pass on a legacy of life to your children. You can teach them through your words and actions what it means to live and walk by the Spirit of God.

Wouldn’t you love to leave a godly legacy to your family?

A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

Proverbs 25:11 (KJV)

Three Key Concepts:

1.  A legacy of sin brings death.

2   God, through His Son, gives us a legacy of life.

3.  With help from God’s Spirit, you can leave a godly legacy.