Be Wise in God’s Eyes

Google the Wisest Person in the World…King Solomon!!

In 1 Kings 3:3, Solomon is described in the following positive terms: “Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father.” One night, the Lord appeared to Solomon and said, “Ask what I shall give you” (verse 5). In response, Solomon answered, “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” (verse 9).

The passage notes, “It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this” (1 Kings 3:10). God delights to give wisdom to those who truly seek it (Proverbs 2:6–8; James 1:5).

God responds to Solomon’s request for wisdom by promising three different gifts.

The first is the wisdom Solomon had asked for: “I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you” (verse 12).

First Kings 4:29-34 records the details of Solomon’s wisdom:

“And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He, spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.”

And so the collection of Proverbs…

Now this is not a complete book study but rather a Summer of Wisdom where you will hear different sermons on topics coming from the book of Proverbs which means…

Proverbs: Short clever sayings that offer some type of wisdom.

Watch: Proverbs Bible Book Overview Video | BibleProject™

As followers of Jesus, God's will is for us to live our lives with the wisdom that comes from heaven. While all of Scripture contains godly wisdom, the Proverbs are a collection of sayings that provide insight as to how we should respond to the various challenges of life.

The book of James “The Proverbs of the New Testament” says who needs wisdom…

LETS ASK GOD WHO GIVES TO ALL!!

And what is the beginning of Wisdom?

Proverbs 1:1-7

The Beginning of Knowledge (knowing and applying)

Developing Practical Skills for Living Well in Gods World

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

2 To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, 3 to receive instruction in wise dealing in

Righteousness (Living Correctly)

Justice (Making things Right)

and equity (for all); 4 to give prudence to the simple, (Wisdom is not built on just the education System) knowledge and discretion to the youth— 5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning, (we gain this throughout our lives) and the one who understands obtain guidance, 6 to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles.

7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

The fear of God is foundational to true wisdom; all other types of learning are worthless unless built upon a knowledge of the Lord Himself. Many other passages talk about the fear of the Lord (e.g., Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; 14:27; 15:33). Before we can understand how the fear of the Lord leads to wisdom, we need to define what the Bible means by “fear” in this context. In the Bible, the word translated “fear” can mean several things. It can refer to the terror one feels in a frightening situation (Deuteronomy 2:25). It can mean “respect” in the way a servant fears his master and serves him faithfully (Joshua 24:14). Fear can also denote the reverence or awe a person feels in the presence of greatness (Isaiah 6:5).

The fear of the Lord is a combination of all of these. Fear of the Lord can be defined as “the continual awareness that our loving heavenly Father is watching and evaluating everything we think, say, and do”. (ex. Healthy Fear of My Parents)

How do we develop it? We must recognize God for who He is.

We must glimpse with our spirits the power, might, beauty, and brilliance of the Lord God Almighty (Revelation 11:17; Hosea 12:5; Isaiah 6:1–5). Those who fear the Lord have a continual awareness of Him, a deep reverence for Him, and sincere commitment to obey Him. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” This verse gives us some added insight with its antithetical parallelism—there is a sharp contrast between the wise life and the foolish life.

A wise person fears/reverences/obeys the Lord; a fool despises God’s instruction and cannot be told what to do. The wise person is wise because he has started at the starting place; the fool has no foundation on which to build wisdom. The link between the fear of God and wisdom means we cannot possess wisdom if we recreate God in our own image. Too many people want to “tame” God into a non-threatening nobody. But, if we redefine the Lord as a god that makes us feel comfortable, a permissive “buddy” who exists simply to bless us and give us what we want, we will not fear Him in the way He deserves to be feared.

When the reality of God’s true nature has caused us to fall down in worship, we are then in the right position to gain wisdom. Wisdom is merely seeing life from God’s perspective and responding accordingly. Until our hearts are in a right relationship with God, we are unable to have the “wisdom that comes from heaven” (James 3:17).

Without the fear of the Lord, we may gain knowledge of earthly things and make some practical choices for this life, but we are missing the one ingredient that defines a wise person In the parable of the rich farmer, the rich man had a “wise” and practical plan for his profits, but God said to him, “You fool!” because the farmer’s plans were made with no thought of God and eternity (Luke 12:16–21). Without the fear of the Lord, we make final decisions based on our faulty human understanding When we incorporate the fear of the Lord into every moment of our lives, we make decisions based upon His approval.

We live with the knowledge that the Creator of the universe is intimately involved in our every move.

He sees, knows, and evaluates all our choices, and we will answer to Him.