Proverbs is a teacher’s manual, written by a father, to a father for the instruction of his sons and daughters. The Proverbs are more accurate than economists, more insightful than sociologists, more practical than your teachers, more helpful than your own heart, and more enlightening than your personal experience. A proverb is a simple phrase to explain a complex subject, and the book of Proverbs is a compendium of wisdom to explain life in God's world.

Okay, so open your Bibles to the book of Proverbs, and when we came to the end of Ecclesiastes, we learned that the summary of all of our work is to fear God and to keep his commandments. And we have a very similar theme that runs through the entire book of Proverbs. And of course, it is the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. In chapter one, verse seven, you find this summary statement that explains everything that the author of Proverbs is trying to communicate. So if you ever want to try to explain the book of Proverbs, go straight to chapter 1 verse 7 and you'll get an idea of how to explain it.

Proverbs is a teacher's manual, but it's also a compendium of life skills, and it's designed to increase your skill in living life. There's so many issues that come at you in life. Proverbs addresses, I think, all of them, at least most of them. And you'll find a phrase, you'll find a section that will address the most critical areas of life. This is why people read the book of Proverbs monthly.

There are 31 chapters, and many people read one chapter a day. If you're on the first of the month, you read Proverbs 1. If you're on the 15th of the month, you read Proverbs 15. If you're on the 31st of the month, you read Proverbs 31. It's a great way to go through life and to gain wisdom.

It's also a book written by a father. It's written by a father to a father for the instruction of his sons and daughters. And it's a significant child-raising manual, and every parent should use it extensively. And I don't know if you could use it enough. You can read Proverbs over and over again and still not plumb the depths.

It's such a critically helpful book. The Proverbs are... I'm going to give you a list. Here's what the Proverbs are. Number one, they're more accurate than economists.

There's a lot of economic theory out there. Proverbs blows through the smoke and gives you the bottom line. Number two, they are more insightful than the sociologists. Number three, they're more practical than your teachers. Number four, they're more helpful than your own heart.

Number five, they're more enlightening than your personal experience. Number six, They're more powerful to correct than your personal resolve. Number six, they're more helpful than the best business books. Number seven, they give you the best kind of hope that you can get. And it is the hope that only the truth can give you.

Truth gives birth to hope, and Proverbs gives you that on so many categories of knowledge. Right off the bat in the book of Proverbs in verse 1 you learn what is the genre of this book. A Proverb, that's the genre of the book. What is a Proverb? A Proverb is a simple phrase that explains a complex subject.

It's a short phrase that explains big things. That's what I told my grandchildren the other day to try to define what a proverb was. A proverb is usually a comparison or an object lesson. And you'll read about the lazy man who's like a door who swings on its hinges. You'll read about the ring of gold in a swine snout, which is compared to a lovely woman that lacks discretion.

So there are all these comparisons that you'll find. They are simple for the mind, and they're easy to memorize. That's one of the most powerful things about them. You can read the Proverbs and you'll be able to pick up, if you read it over and over again, you'll be able to pick up the ability to memorize short sections of it, and they're very helpful. Ray Stedman Wrote this about the Proverbs.

Reading a proverb takes seconds. Memorizing a proverb takes minutes. Applying a proverb takes a lifetime. And that is true. In the Proverbs, you're going to encounter a very rich array of poetic constructs, various methods to communicate the truth of God.

You'll find simile, which is a comparison of things that are alike. You'll find metaphor, which is the comparison of two things that are not alike. You'll find allegory. You'll find what is called anthropopathism, which compares human feelings with other kinds of things. You'll find synecdody, which is the stating of a part of something to represent a whole, like for example.

Gray hair in one of the verses of Proverbs is really code. It's code for old folks. So you have a part of something like gray hair that actually is designed to represent the whole of something else. You will find metonymy, which is associating one thing with another. You'll find personification, where you'll see human attributes or qualities compared to things that are not human.

So there are all these different kinds of comparisons. You'll find hyperbole. You'll find irony. You know, ironies are statements where you say one thing, but you might actually mean the opposite of that thing. And here's an example in Proverbs 31 verse 6.

Give strong drink to the perishing. He's actually saying the opposite. That's insane. That's the whole point that he's making. In Proverbs 19.27, you'll read, Cease, my son, from listening to instruction.

Well, he doesn't mean that. He doesn't mean that you should stop listening to instruction. He's proclaiming something through irony. You'll find parallelism. So look for these different kinds of poetic constructions that are designed to teach you things from lots of different angles, from nature, from personality, from weather, you know, from different kinds of people.

You'll encounter all kinds of different categories of persons and situations, real live situations that take place in real life. That's one of the great values of Proverbs. It really shows you real life. You know, many, many years ago, probably 40 years ago, I preached a sermon series through the book of Proverbs, and I called it Street-Level Wisdom, because that's what it is. It's the wisdom that lives in the street where you meet all of life's different kinds of people, where you encounter the various situations, the highs, the lows, the difficulties, the easies.

It's all there in Proverbs And Proverbs, you know, puts you in various situations. Notice that when you read it. They sort of cast forth a moment in time, and there you are. You're now in the middle of that moment of time. What do you do?

The Proverbs will tell you what to do. The message of Proverbs is really communicated in the introduction to the book, in the first seven verses, and I'm gonna identify seven aims of this book that you find in chapter 1 verses 1 through 7. And the first aim is teaching, And you find that in verse 2, in the very first phrase of verse 2, to know wisdom and instruction. And what he's saying there is that the Proverbs are there to help you understand that all of your actions have consequences, and that the wise person can see the consequences. And the Proverbs help you see what those consequences might be.

A wise person is able to see beyond his own immediate gratification, And he sees what most likely would happen. And so because he sees the consequences, he moderates his gratification accordingly. You know, one of the great signs of maturity is the ability to delay gratification for some greater goal. And it's one of the things that particularly young people have to learn. If they don't learn it when they're young, it's going to be really hard for them as they grow over.

Because the ability to delay gratification, because they see consequences, will cause a lot of harm in their life. And it'll have economic, relational harm, it'll have spiritual harm as well. So the first aim of Proverbs is teaching, to impart wisdom. Secondly, insight. In the second phrase of verse 2, to perceive the words of understanding.

So Proverbs is there for us to provide practical insight. The word perceive is important to notice. It means to see into. Daniel had this quality. He had extraordinary powers of perception.

And Proverbs shows us how to see into something or behind something or ahead of something. It helps us to notice what the implications are so that we have insight into different kinds of situations. And what you'll find is that many, many situations are given insight in the book of Proverbs. And you know, it really, it shows you how sin gets in the way of your success. Proverbs is a book about success.

I think we should acknowledge that. And they're meant to shape your inner life and your outward lifestyle, to renew your mind, to take your mind out of foolish thinking and into wise thinking so that you see through things. You perceive, you have insight, and as a result you become useful because you can see around the outward appearance Because the Bible has told you how to do it. And thankfully, you don't have to be super insightful on your own. You have God who shows you.

You don't have to cook it up on your own. He's going to show you what things really are and often compared to what they are on the surface. This is such an important thing to be able to see behind things because of the wisdom of God. Here's the third aim of Proverbs, and that is internalization, verse 3. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, judgment, and equity.

In other words, these things are received. They are internalized. They become part of you. Reading and embracing, loving the words is a process of internalization. You bring them into your soul, and you marvel at them.

And this internalization changes the whole fabric of your thinking. I remember when I was a young Christian and for the first time reading the book of Proverbs, I remember sitting against a wall with some friends and we were reading the book of Proverbs and we would be laughing at one moment and then almost crying in another moment. They were so remarkable. I had never read anything like it before. It was such a marvel, but that started a process of internalization that verse three speaks about.

Here's the fourth aim of Proverbs. Prudence. Verse 4, to give prudence to the simple. Now, the word prudence that's used here in Proverbs 1-4 is the very same word that the Lord uses in Genesis 3 to explain the serpent. And it indicates that Christians can become shrewd, helping them to understand what makes people tick and how one ought to do something, to give prudence, to help particularly young people to direct their steps in a prudent way.

And it keeps Christians from staying, well I'll just use the word stupid. The word in Proverbs is simple, but it keeps you from living in this naive understanding of things where you don't really, you're just very simple. But it makes a Christian as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove, and as a result it imparts skill to the person. And then we have the fifth aim of Proverbs, knowledge and discretion. This is in the last phrase in verse 4.

To the young man, knowledge and discretion. Now, notice the word young. Now, of course it says the young man, it implies the young woman as well. This is not just written for men. It is written by a father to train his sons and his daughters.

It's directed specifically for youth. It is the book of the Bible that is the greatest youth ministry tool that exists in it. And it's written for youth, why? To the young man knowledge and discretion. And what that means is that It helps a young person plan a course skillfully by helping a young person make various judgments about the world, about their own feelings, about other people, about the things that they see.

And This is why you have statements like, better the fear of the Lord where there is little than treasure when there's strife. It helps you to sort out what's really valuable in life. It's designed for protection. It keeps young people from pitfalls and destruction. And it also helps young people to learn what it means to be a leader.

When you get to chapter 31, you'll see how Lemuel's mother was teaching him how to be a good leader. So the book provides for us an understanding of knowledge and discretion, particularly for young people. The sixth aim of the book is to increase in learning. Verse five, a wise man will hear and increase learning, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel. Notice there are various actions here.

To hear and then increase learning, And then to attain wise counsel. There's a proactive posture that is profiled here, and it has to do with increasing learning. God doesn't want to leave you right where you are. He wants you to increase. He wants your mind to be expanded, to broaden your sense of things, to give you a greater sense of really learning, and to increase in that learning.

And it helps you to know how to live in a fallen world without falling for the world. Because it identifies what the world really is and exposes it for what it really is. But it also here explains that wisdom doesn't come in isolation. We have these two things. We have the Word of God to help us understand life's experiences, but we have also those life experiences.

And what wise people do is they look at their experiences in light of what they are learning. And there are many things to learn in the Book of Proverbs. Some of the things you learn in the book of Proverbs are very rare in our society, and I'll just give you one example. Let's take the use of the rod. One of the things that Proverbs advocates is the use of the rod, that the rod of correction drives out rebellion.

But what do the people in your surrounding culture think about the rod? Well, they despise it. Most parents don't really use it, and if they do use it, they don't use it properly. They use it for abuse rather than for discipleship and for love in the way that the Bible communicates it. You know, what God advocates regarding the use of the rod has actually become illegal, even in a few states of the United States and in a number of countries in the world.

So as you increase in learning, often it causes you to depart even further from the sensibilities of your culture. And you have to decide who are you going to believe, who are you going to follow. The book of Proverbs will teach you to think differently compared to the rest of the world, and you will increase in learning. In other words, you won't stay the same person that you were when you first started reading it, because it's really designed to shape you and to give you more than you had before. And then competence, this is in verse six.

To understand a proverb and an enigma, the words of the wise and their riddles. So one of the aims of proverbs is to increase your competence, And this means that the Proverbs train your mind to think. They help you to think more deeply about things than you do on your own. And so it brings you into a whole world of pondering things. You know, you should never read the Proverbs quickly.

This is one of the great dangers of just reading them quickly. They're not designed to be read that way. They're designed to be read and pondered. Read them, think about them. You know, I know as our family has read through the Proverbs, I've often felt like we're reading this way too fast.

We'll read a chapter in Proverbs, and I'll say, well, let's identify one verse that was really helpful. Unfortunately, there are 10 verses in there that were really helpful and were worthy to really ponder. So the Proverbs are written to increase our competence in understanding. There are riddles, there are enigmas, there are words of the wise. What happens when you read the Proverbs is that your mind is expanded and you enter into graphic imagery and concepts that really are designed to increase your brain power, in other words, to increase your competence in the way that you think about things.

And so I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Proverbs exercise your brain. The brain is a muscle and it makes you smarter and it makes you more competent in your ability to think. And learning how to think through things is really critical. When you see something happening out in the world in a person's life or in your own heart, And if you're stuck, then get unstuck by the Proverbs. They'll help you understand those things and your mind will expand.

And then finally, and this is perhaps the most critical aspect of what is the aim of Proverbs. It's found in verse 7, and it really is the foundation of the summary of the whole book. Here it is. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. So you'll encounter this phrase, the fear of the Lord, in the book of Proverbs.

What is the fear of the Lord? The fear of the Lord that a disciple of Jesus Christ experiences in their hearts is not the fear that God is going to hurt you, But it's rather that we might offend God. We might disobey the one that we love. The fear of the Lord in a Christian is much more like love than it is terror. It's a fear that would hate to disappoint.

When you love someone, it pains you to think that you would disappoint them, and you esteem them so highly that you fear that you might swerve away from what might please them. And so the fear of the Lord is the desire to please the Lord. And I've experienced this on different levels in my own life. Here's one level. The idea of doing something, particularly morally that would cause Deborah to be disappointed, And my desire to please her has kept me from many temptations.

I want to please her. I want to bless her. It's because I love her. It's not because I'm afraid of her, but it's because I want to be a blessing to her, and if I throw her into a season of grief, that would be just the worst thing I could think of, at least for a reason like that. You might come up with a reason to send your wife through a season of grief.

Not that way. But there's a world of difference between the wisdom that Solomon is imparting and the principles of Greek speculative philosophy, because this grounds wisdom in the fear of God. Speculative philosophies, secular philosophers, psychologists, historians, They do not understand wisdom because they do not understand the fear of the Lord. That's something we need to really grasp. The ones that parade themselves as being so wise, they're really not wise at all.

Why? Because they have no grounding in the fear of God. And knowledge that is divorced from the fear of God is not really knowledge. It is foolishness. And so the ground of all education is the fear of God.

If you don't start with that, you don't really have much of an education. That's a sad thing because most of the people in our country, as they're being educated in these schools and universities, it's completely divorced from the fear of God. And therefore, I would just like to present the idea that it's not wisdom. They're not gaining wisdom because there's no fear of God. Okay, now I want to tell you something that you may not have encountered before.

When we think of the Proverbs, we think of Solomon as the author. Well, the truth is there are actually about five authors of the book of Proverbs, and I'm going to review them for you. In chapters 1 through 22, verse 16, it's Solomon. In chapter 22, verse 17, to chapter 24, verse 34, the wise are the authors of those proverbs. The third set of authors is found in chapters 25-29.

These are the men of Hezekiah. Hezekiah was a wise man, and he communicated the wisdom of God to the men that were around him. He was a remarkable person. And his men wrote Proverbs, and you'll find those in chapters 25 to 29. And then the fourth author of Proverbs is found in chapter 30, and he is Agur, the son of Jacob, and he declared these proverbs to Ithiel and Ucal.

And then finally, chapter 31, the author is Lemuel, and he documents the lessons that his mother taught him. In some ways, it's the chapter of the Bible written by a woman, because he's repeating the things that his mother taught him. And this chapter 31 is so marvelous. Here you have a mother who teaches his son how to keep from temptation and trouble as a king and also how to find a good wife. So he, Lemuel, communicates the things that his mother taught him.

You've got a list of key verses in Proverbs. We've covered the first one of the list, Proverbs 1, 7. Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 is so helpful. All of Proverbs 7, Proverbs 8, 22-36, Proverbs 31, these are critical chapters. But all of them really point to the fact that it's the fear of the Lord that's the beginning of wisdom.

And that the wisest people in the world, they don't trust their own thoughts in their own ways. They trust in the Lord with all their heart and they lean not on their own understanding. And they flee danger, moral danger, and they cling to wisdom. Running through this entire book is the honor of parents and the instruction of parents. The term my son appears over and over again because again this is a book where a father is teaching his son.

So there's just so many practical things. Christ in Proverbs is particularly displayed in Proverbs 8, 22 through 36. And here you find that wisdom is personified. And you have a picture of eternity past where the Father and the Son are working in creation. And there they are.

They're creating the world and they're delighted together. They're displaying this beautiful picture of the Trinity, of the delight of the Son as an agent in creation. It's one of my favorite parts in all the Proverbs, chapter 8, verses 22 through 36. Now, just some further detail. I've given you an outline that I have taken from an Old Testament scholar by the name of Bruce Waltke in his commentary on Proverbs.

It's a very, very fine commentary. Waltke spent a good portion of his life immersing himself in the book of Proverbs, and he's written a large two-volume set on the book of Proverbs. He breaks the book of Proverbs into seven collections. The first collection is from chapter 1-1 through 9-18. These are lessons of a father.

The second collection begins in chapter 10, verse 1, and goes all the way to chapter 22, verse 16. These are various directions for skillful living. The third collection includes 30 sayings of the wise. That's from chapter 22, verse 17 to 24, 22. And then there are more sayings of the wise in the fourth collection, chapter 24, verse 23 through 34.

In the fifth collection, which begins in chapter 25 verse 1 and goes to 29, 27, are guidance for relationships. The sixth collection are the sayings of Agur the son of Jacob in chapter 30, and then the final collection, the seventh collection, are the sayings of Lemuel in chapter 31, 1 through 31, where a woman's wisdom for kings and the identification of a godly wife is presented. So there it is. I would like to just kind of walk through the book of Proverbs. I want to tell you about some of my favorite verses in Proverbs, and we'll go through this section by section in terms of these various collections that arise out of the outline of Bruce Waltke.

Now you read verses 1 through 7 in the first chapter, and it's the introduction to the book, but notice the first words in verse 8. Right after that, these two words, my son, hear the instruction of your father and do not forsake the law of your mother for they will be a graceful ornament on your head and chains about your neck." Here in the next great section in the book of Proverbs you find an appeal to the fifth commandment to honor your father and your mother that it might be well with you. And notice there's a different language used here. There's this graceful ornament on your head, chains about your neck. There are all these benefits that come to the person who honors his father and his mother.

And then he continues on and gives various warnings. When you get to chapter 2, you find these words, my son, again, in the very first verse of chapter 2. And go ahead and look at it with me. My son, If you receive my words and treasure my commands within you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding, yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding. If you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.

For the Lord gives wisdom. From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of his saints.

Then in verse 9, he says, Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path. When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you. Understanding will keep you. These are promises for those who seek wisdom. God blesses those who seek wisdom.

If you find yourself in a season in life where you're not seeking wisdom very much, just recognize what you're missing. You're missing all this here. You're really missing the blessing and the protection of God in your life. In chapter 3, we encounter more wonderful words. My son, this is in chapter three, verse one, do not forget my law, but let your heart keep my commands for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you.

Let not mercy and truth forsake you. Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." Those are timeless words. Those are words that can help you keep yourself from all kinds of trouble. Don't forget my law. Verse 13 in that same chapter, happy is the man who finds wisdom and the man who gains understanding.

For her proceeds are better than the profits of silver and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies and all the things that you desire cannot compare with her. Length of days are in her right hand. In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her." These are the promises. Later on in this chapter, there's protection when you stumble. You lie down and Your sleep will be sweet. You won't be afraid of sudden disaster. God will give you confidence as you learn wisdom.

You seek it and fear dies in your heart. It's such a powerful and wonderful thing. In chapter 4, I want you to notice this when you get to chapter 4. This is really important. Chapter 4 is Solomon telling what his dad David taught him.

The whole proverb is that. If you want to know what David taught his son, chapter four shows you. And it's really very beautiful. He says in verse three, When I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me. And he said to me, let your heart retain my words.

Keep my commandments and live. Get wisdom. Get understanding. Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Here, David instructed his son Solomon to get wisdom.

You have to go get it. It's not going to come to you. By the way, you strike gold, gold doesn't strike you. You know what I'm saying? You go get wisdom.

You have to go get it. It's not going to get you. You have to open up your heart and turn your mind toward it or you're not going to have it. That's why he says get it. You go get it.

You have to take motivation and go get it because wisdom is not going to strike you. You have to strike wisdom by going after it. And then he makes all these promises about those who get wisdom and who get understanding. When you get to chapter five, you have the warnings of immorality and how to keep yourself from destruction. Chapter 5, verse 5 gives one of the most critical and helpful statements about why young men and young women should stay away from immoral things.

Verse 4 and 5, I'll read it. In the end she's bitter as a wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword. Her feet go down to death. Her steps lay hold of hell. Incredibly terrifying.

Chapter 6 continues with wisdom in various kinds of business relationships, particularly the becoming surety for a friend. One of my favorite verses is verse 6 in chapter 6. Go to the ant, you sluggard, consider her ways and be wise. You know when my kids were growing up they just loved to say the word sluggard. You know, and he would read it.

It's such a great word. Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise, which having no captain, overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, oh sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep?

A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. And your poverty shall come to you like a prowler and your need like an armed man. Terrifying. Being a slugger doesn't cause things to go very well with you. Chapter 7 is another appeal to treasure the commands of God.

Treasure my commands within you. Keep my commands and live. And my law is the apple of your eye. Remember, this is a father speaking to his son. A father is asking his son to listen to his law.

It's legitimate for a father to teach his son and daughter particular things. And again at the end of chapter 7 there's another terrifying disclosure of what happens when you let your heart go to immoral things. Verse 25 in chapter 7, Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways. Do not stray into her paths, for she has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men. Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death." I don't know how you get any more terrifying than that.

I've seen many living examples of that. It's what happens. Then you know you go to chapter 8 and then chapter 9 and there are various disclosures of wisdom for how to handle different relationships. Here's one in chapter 9. Do not correct a scoffer lest he hate you.

Rebuke a wise man and he will love you. There you go. Now you know how to understand who you're talking to, if you're talking to a scoffer or a wise man. When you talk to a scoffer, when you correct a scoffer, he's going to shoot it right back in your face. And now you know who you're talking with.

Again, another terrifying disclosure about immorality at the end of chapter 9. He does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of hell. Chapter 10 opens with, a wise son makes his father glad, but a foolish son is the grief of his mother. You just might think about this in your own life. How is it that you are either making the heart of your father glad or are you a grief to your mother?

How does that happen? And here, Solomon is warning children not to be a grief but to make their parents a glad. Chapter 11 is a classic position statement on pride, 11 verse 2. When pride comes, then comes shame, but with the humble is wisdom. Your heart starts rising up in pride.

You start thinking too much about yourself. Guess what? Shame is on the way. Count on it. And then in that same chapter in verse 22 of chapter 11 is that classic statement about the outward appearance of a woman and her real nature.

As a ring of gold and a swine snout, so is a lovely woman who lacks discretion. Solomon is just saying a woman who lacks discretion, who is beautiful and well appointed, she's actually a pig. How about that? You know, moving on here, Let's go to chapter 13. We have in verse 1, a wise son who heeds his father's instruction, and a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

One of the hardest things for children is to listen to the rebuke of their father. It's always a test to know whether they're wise or not. And when they kick back in your face, you know there's lack of wisdom there. You should pray. And if you're the one who's kicking back, you should recognize what it means to you and that you ought to repent and seek the Lord.

Chapter 14, a wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with their hands. I don't know how many times I've used that in counseling with particularly women who are tearing their house down with their own hands in different ways. Lack of love, various ways that women tear down their houses with their own hands. And I'm going to read it to you. Chapter 15, a classic statement on relationships.

15.1, a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. This is just a basic rule. If you're going to speak harshly, you're going to get harshness back. Expect it. Don't act like you're being wronged if you have a harsh word.

You're going to get a harsh answer, and you shouldn't be surprised by it. In verse 5 in that same chapter, 15, he says, a fool despises his father's instruction, but he who receives correction is prudent." When you get to chapter 16, there's one of the most remarkable verses about the sovereignty of God. 16.4, "...the Lord has made all for Himself, yes, even the wicked for the day of doom. God has arranged the good and the evil to serve His own purposes, for His own glory. Proverbs 16.4 And then this famous and very helpful proverb in chapter 16, verse 9, A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." That's such a comfort.

In verse 33 of chapter 16, the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord. You Remember who else cast lots? Haman. Haman cast lots for the day that he would destroy the Jews. And God, God superintended the moment so that all things would fall into place in His own timing.

Chapter 17 verse 22 is I think a very helpful proverb for so many situations. A merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. That has to do with the impact that you have on the people in your life. When you have a merry heart, it's a blessing. You know, from the rising of the sun to the time that it goes down, do you have a merry heart?

Are you spreading the joy of the Lord? Or are you drying up the bones? That's what he's saying. That you can be someone who's drying up the bones around you, or you're going to be doing good to those around you. Chapter 18 has a really helpful admonition to those of us who speak and weigh in on things.

Verse 13, he who answers a matter before he hears it, it is folly and a shame to him. And then the next verse, 14, the spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit? In other words, your inner life is a strength to your physical outward life. And when your spirit is fat, it can sustain you even in sickness in a particular way. That doesn't mean that righteous people never get sick, but it's a principle of life.

When your soul is fat, You don't get as sick. There's so many places that we could stop. Look at chapter 20. Wine is a mocker. Strong drink is a brawler.

And whoever is led astray by it is not wise." The Bible gives two principles regarding strong drink and wine. And the first is, be careful it's dangerous. And the other is, it's a blessing. Those are the two streams of thought in the Bible. And you find this one stream here in chapter 20, verses one and two.

When you get to chapter 21, you learn about how things are wired in the world and all the kings of the earth, your president, my president, the local governors. Chapter 21 verse 1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever He wishes. It's just a proclamation that God is in control of all rulers. You know, whenever you see a ruler doing something, just recognize God is doing it.

And then in chapter 22 we come to the 30 sayings of the wise in chapter 22, 17 to chapter 24, 22. Here's one, make no friendship with an angry man and with a furious man do not go. In other words, If you encounter somebody who's angry, stay away from him. He says, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul. Stay away from angry people.

Chapter 23. Chapter 23 is very interesting because in that chapter, there's this consistent theme, and that is, it's the theme of understanding the situation that you're in. And go look at 23 for me. Look at verse 1. He says, when you sit down and eat with a ruler, consider carefully what's before you.

In other words, he's saying when you're in a situation when you were with a ruler, understand where you are. Understand there's certain things going on in the room and you better understand what's going on in the room and don't feed your face as if there's nothing going on in the room because something is happening. And then in verse 4, do not overwork to be rich. You know, when you face challenges of work and the difficulties of work. Verse 6, do not eat the bread of a miser.

Like when you're with a miser, you just need to understand you're with a miser, okay? And there are dangers in eating with a miser and you better Stay away from those dangers. And he tells you what the dangers are when you're with a miser, a stingy person. And then in verse nine, he talks about when you're with a fool. What do you do when you're with a fool?

Verse nine, don't speak in the hearing of the fool. He'll despise the wisdom of your words. So he presents all these different kinds of things. You know, when you're with successful sinners, verse 17, don't let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day. And then when you're with wine bibbers, maybe you're in business and some of the men want to go out and they want to go get drunk.

Verse 20, don't mix with wine bibbers or with gluttonous ears of meat. And when you're with your father, verse 22, what do you do when you're with your father? Well, you listen to your father. So there are these various situations. What do you do when you encounter a seductress?

That's verse 27. He says, understand, a seductress is a narrow well. Okay? It's a trap. You know, how do you think about those who linger long at wine?

It'll tell you right there in Verse 30 to the end of the chapter. So in other words, that proverb helps you to understand sort of who you're with and what you should do because life gives you a lot of different kind of situations. Life is not bland. Life takes you to all kinds of different moments. And chapter 23 tells us that.

Chapter 24 is my father's favorite proverb. Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them. For their heart devises violence, and their lips talk of troublemaking. Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established. By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches." That's my dad's favorite proverb.

He repeats it over and over again. Then in the fourth collection there are further sayings that are there and I'm gonna have a stop in chapter 24 verse 30. This is a critical one. I went by the field of the lazy man and by the vineyard of the man devoid of understanding." And there it was. All overgrown with thorns, its surface was covered with nettles, its stone wall was broken down and when I saw it I considered it well.

I looked on it and received instruction. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. So shall your poverty come like a prowler and your need like an armed man." Here's one thing you need to know. When you find someone whose property and their things are overgrown with thorns and they're broken down, you better understand what's going on, okay? Here's a little piece of advice.

Don't marry somebody like that. How about that? Because verse 34 tells you why you shouldn't marry somebody like that because it says your poverty will come like a prowler and your need like an arman. You'll always be in financial trouble. If you're like that, you'll be in financial trouble.

If you marry somebody like that, you're gonna have trouble. Got that? There's a little bit of marriage advice right there. It's all over the book of Proverbs, by the way, because it helps you to size up the people and the situations and the moments that you catch yourself in. It's so helpful.

Then there are all these proverbs for guidance of relationships from chapter 25 through 29. This is the fifth collection. Chapter 25 verse 6, don't exalt yourself in the presence of the king and do not stand in the place of the great For it is better that he say to you, come up here, than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince whom your eyes have seen." Lots of advice about eating, drinking, talking, working, everything. It's all here. It's such an exciting book.

There's so much in here about laziness. Look at chapter 26. The lazy man says, there's a lion in the road. A fierce lion is in the streets. As the door turns on its hinges, so does the lazy man on its bed.

And then there's some really interesting ones that sound contradictory. Look at chapter 26 verse 4. Verse 4 and verse 5 are complete contradictions. Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him. Okay, so don't answer a fool according to his folly.

Verse 26, answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. So remember this is a proverb, it gives you a principle, not an absolute. What the writer is saying here is that there are situations where you should keep your mouth shut, but there are other situations when you should open it. Sometimes you should rebuke the fool, sometimes you should shut your mouth. That's what he's saying, and You have to figure out what kind of moment you're in and be wise.

Chapter 27, do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day will bring forth. Chapter 28 has some of the most stunning statements about the law of God for people who reject the law of God. Chapter 28 verse 4, those who forsake the law praise the wicked. How about that? But those who keep the law contend with them.

Or how about verse 9? He who turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination. When you find somebody who says they don't accept the law of God, God isn't hearing their prayers. Their prayers are actually an abomination to God if they reject his law. You know, when people say, you know, the law of God's not for us, take them to Proverbs chapter 20, 8, and show them verse 9 and see how they like it.

Again, you know, you have this in chapter 30, the sayings of Agar, and then finally you have chapter 31, the words of King Lemuel, the things which his mother taught him. Just beautiful words. I love Proverbs 31. It's so inspiring. It shows you so much about what family life ought to be like and the industry and the authority that God gives women to conduct their lives and the way that Women are designed to focus their energies to building the strength of their household.

And what a blessing it is when a woman does that, and it ends with, Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates. It's interesting that Proverbs ends with a woman being praised. It begins with wisdom being praised, and it ends with a woman being praised. And So here we are. We're in one of the most important books for the instruction of young people that's ever been written, and it's designed to blow away the cobwebs in your mind about how you think about things.

It's designed to steer you through the different situations that you find yourself in. It's designed to keep you from being naive. It's designed to keep you from falling into the trap of the sluggard. It's designed to keep you out of poverty, okay? It's such a helpful book, so don't Read it too fast.

Meditate on it.