Proverbs chapter 2 begins with a simple greeting, My son. It is not known with certainty who wrote Proverbs 2, although Solomon is widely viewed as the author. So this passage appears to be a King passing down his advice to his son. In much the same way we can take this as a word from our King to his children. He encourages his son to “accept my words” and “store up my commands”. This is the first step. We must accept the words and store up the commands. Only then can we seek wisdom and understanding (v. 2) and find the knowledge of God (v. 5).
Accepting the words is simple, we just believe that what the King is telling us is the truth. Storing up commands is harder and it sounds like a lot of rules and regulations, but really it is a condition of the heart. I believe that’s why these two statements are separated this way. First you must “accept my words”, which is believing with your mind that the things he is telling you are Right. Then you must “store up my commands”, and that’s when they really influence what is in your heart. This is the most difficult part of the Christian walk, changing your heart with its sin nature to a heart with His nature. But the payoff comes in seeking wisdom and understanding and finding the knowledge of God.

This verse must explain why good Christians never get cancer, never get laid off, and never have fights with their spouses. Oh, wait… Yet if that’s not the case, what exactly is God’s view of a life at ease?

In September, my company announced a major restructuring that left the future of my career (along with many others) in serious doubt. My position was definitely being eliminated, it was just a matter of whether one of the newly-created divisions would want to hire me, or if I’d be let go. Over four stressful months, while top management decided who was in and who was out, all productivity came to a grinding halt, and the office slipped into a quagmire of gossip.

One day, a coworker asked me how I already knew that I would have a position in the new organization. Puzzled by his question, I told him I was just as much in the dark as everyone else. “Then how are you so at ease?!” he said. I responded that my hope was not in my job. “So you’re sure that God’s going to give you another well-paying job?” “Nope. But my hope isn’t in my house, my car, or my bank account, either.” The look on his face was nothing short of perplexed. He went on to ask me: “If that’s the case, why do you work so hard?” I told him that I work for the Lord, and that I would always strive to use my talents as best as I could, wherever He calls me to work.

The more I listen to God, the more my definition of being “at ease” changes. It becomes less and less associated with the creature comforts I have, and more about the comfort I receive from knowing I’m living a life with purpose in service to God. Even my view of the phrase “without fear of harm” changes. With God, living a boring life of hoarding tomorrow’s yard sale fodder seems a whole lot more harmful than what any disease could throw at me.

There are consequences for our actions. If we study for a test, we will do well. If we eat right and exercise, we will be healthy and feel better. The same can be said for our failure to act.
Waywardness is defined as: turning away from what is right or proper; willful; disobedient:
Complacency is defined as: a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation.
Our “turning away” will kill us, and our “feeling of security”, because we are unaware of the potential danger, will destroy us. It is a choice.
We choose to rebel. We are not corrected for our foolishness. We continue in the same behavior over and over. Then, when faced with our consequences, we don’t know what to do or how to fix the problems we create. The consequence is not the problem…our actions or lack of action is the problem.
In terms ofpleasing God, the wise man grounds himself in the path God directs by knowing and following His Word. He prepares himself so he will be strong and have control over his actions by a foundation of truth. A fool trusts in emotions, feelings, and opinions of man, which are subject to change and lend to instability and weakness.
God has determined fools, based on their disobedience, speech, anger, and knowledge, will be rewarded with consequences equal to their actions. The fool and the wise are both rewarded by God in direct correlation to what they are doing. An individual can choose to be foolish or wise. Are choosing to be wise or a fool? “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever man sows that shall he also reap.” (Gal 6:7)

What are you sowing?
What will you reap as result thereof?
Who else is being affected by your choice?
Are You a Fool?

The book of Proverbs is a treasure trove of advice. I often seek advice on how to deal with subjects as varied as money, relationships and contentment. Many days I simply ask God to provide me answers to some burning question and then I turn to Proverbs to find my answer. I am often quite surprised at what the scriptures reveal!

Being a teacher, I am privy to all kinds of little white lies on a daily basis. Kids will say anything to avoid getting into trouble! Rule breaking is another thing that I deal with daily. Most of the time the little white lies and the rule breaking are not malicious in intent, but are simply a child’s lack of wisdom and experience. The majority of them haven’t learned that lying and breaking rules have consequences. It is part of my job to dole out the consequences when I catch someone in the middle of a non-truth or breaking the rules. I think it’s important for my kids to learn that lying and rule breaking don’t get them anywhere! It is my goal to make sure they know that there will always be consequences when they do something wrong. God feels the same way about us, His “kids.”

Proverbs 1:31 warns against blatantly ignoring God’s advice and wisdom, choosing instead to live a life directed by sin. Put simply: if you choose to live a wayward life not centered on the Lord and His wishes, then you will face the consequences – a life without God’s mercy or grace and subject to eternal death.
This verse shows that God takes sin seriously. However, it also shows that, even though He despises sin, God feels it is necessary for us to suffer the consequences of sin so that we can learn to listen to wisdom and lead a life that is pleasing to Him. It’s human nature to sin. As such, we will always face the consequences of our actions. The great thing is, though, God is always there to forgive our sin and welcome us back into His arms.

Proverbs opens with a wise father’s call to his son to embrace wisdom and reject foolishness.  Two options for a worldview are presented.
The first option is the family’s inherited godly worldview that has passed from one generation to the next as demonstrated in Deuteronomy 6:6-7:
These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Our faith is deeply concerned with passing on the truths of God from generation to generation.  Paul writes about this in Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.”
The second worldview is clearly different as it attempts to draw a person into corruption and evil.
The father’s lesson continues as a rebuke of the gullible and unresponsive and then reflects on the outcome of such unresponsiveness and carelessness.  This verse in The Message is very blunt and to the point.

Proverbs 1:30 (The Message)
29-33 ”Because you hated Knowledge 
   and had nothing to do with the Fear-of-God,
Because you wouldn’t take my advice 
   and brushed aside all my offers to train you,
Well, you’ve made your bed—now lie in it; 
   you wanted your own way—now, how do you like it?
Don’t you see what happens, you simpletons, you idiots? 
   Carelessness kills; complacency is murder.
First pay attention to me, and then relax. 
   Now you can take it easy—you’re in good hands.”

We have confidence that God’s word comes directly from him and is useful in gaining wisdom as 2 Timothy 3:16 states:
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
The world protests God’s laws.  However, read Psalm 119 to see how the psalmist beautifully expressed his love for the law and his desire to obey it.  Yes, the law does condemn us because we cannot keep it perfectly, but it describes the will and character of our holy God.  How can we love God without loving his law?  Praise God he sent his Son to keep the law for us as we surely cannot do it ourselves.  It now no longer condemns us, but serves to guide us in pleasing Him.
Let us not live our lives carelessly, but rather purposefully, paying attention to the Wisdom of God, personified in Christ.

Questions for Reflection:
1. How are you passing on truths from this generation to the next?
2. Read Psalm 119 and consider the many ways the law gives us understanding.

It is probably safe to say that none of us would have anytrouble recognizing that robbing a bank, or committing murder is wrong andungodly. Both in history, and often times the news these days it is not hard tofind stories about people that have committed cruel and heinous acts, things sodark and painful that we can’t begin to understand how a person can even bringthemselves to such a point, showing us the face of evil with piercing clarity.We won’t need to be told those things are wrong.
Sometimes in our lives we are faced with big decisions, and ofcourse it is important that we seek the Lord’s will at those times. I believemost of us recognize that. But, while there may be a handful of big events ordecisions that come along, there are numerous small things that we do daily.Small choices we make, perhaps routines we have established and go throughwithout much thought.
Will we see it if some of these small things are perhapsmore motivated by convenience, or habit, the pressure of busy schedules, or evenselfishness in some way, rather than His will? This is easily overlooked, easyto dismiss as insignificant. I certainly know I’m guilty of it.
So, most of us will know the saying “How do you eat anelephant?” – the answer is, one byte at a time. Many small steps will compoundone after the other, and before you know it you will have taken a bigger leapthan you realized. Do we ever stop to really think about all the things we dodaily? All the tiny steps we take, are they taking us closer to God, or awayfrom Him? I challenge all of us to consider His will in *all* things, big andsmall.

Discussion questions:

1. What are some of the routines and habits you have that you normally don’t think about much?
2. If you made any changes to align more with God’s will with the small things, how would that affect you and the people around you?

Proverbs 1:28 says, “… they will call to me [Wisdom] but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me.” Who are ‘they’? Proverbs 1 speaks of a people who delight in mockery and hate knowledge (Proverbs 1:22), yet they call on God to deliver and rescue them from ruin. God remains uncommunicative, ‘…since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you…when distress and trouble overwhelm you…I will not answer;… [you] will not find me.’ Proverbs 1:24-28. This scripture makes it clear that our loving, most gracious Father will not put up with obstinate, perverse, prideful, arrogant, ungodly behavior or attitude. He will (and does) correct and discipline those He loves. Hebrews 12:6, Revelation 3:19. Listen to the Lord and He will listen to you.

Discussion Questions:
1. What attitude and/or behavior (s) help us to hear from God?
2. What is your attitude towards God?

Recently my uncle was diagnosed with stage four kidney cancer. He was told his only chance of survival was to make the donor list and have a transplant. He just found out a couple of days ago, that he did not make the list.

Sometimes calamity overtakes us like a storm, disaster sweeps over us like a whirlwind, and distress and trouble overwhelm us. And this can happen in many forms. It may be in the form of disease. It may be in the form of a lost job. In this short time that we have on Earth, nothing is certain. The only thing that is certain is our faith in God.

But God warns us to not be anxious about anything. Not even death. But in everything, through prayer to present our requests to God. And we are supposed to do this with Thanksgiving in our hearts? Yes!

I am thankful for the time that my uncle has had on this Earth. And I pray that through each of the trials that we face daily that we will not allow the storm to take us under, or the winds to carry us away from our eternal hope in Christ. I pray that despite any tough situation we are facing we can take time for thanksgiving and trusting in the Lord’s perfect plan. Let’s thank him today for whatever situation we are facing. He will carry us through the storm!

Do you believe that God speaks to you? I do. I have not heard Him speak in an audible voice, as Samuel did, but He speaks in my spirit, through his Word, and through the counsel of godly people. God convicts me of right and wrong, but he also provides answers to questions that may not seem at first to be moral ones. Where should I live? Where should I go to school or work? How should I organize my day?

1 Kings 19:12 says that God speaks in “a gentle whisper” (NIV) or “a still, small voice” (KJV)—literally, “a sound of soft stillness.” If we know that God speaks, and that His answers are wise, how then do we seek his counsel? We quiet the noise that surrounds us and spend time listening to God. William Arnot wrote in 1857: “The Word says, ‘Be still and know that I am God.’ Those who don’t want this knowledge are afraid to be still, lest it should steal in and disturb their peace.” It is no different in 2012. Are you afraid to be still? Do you always have your Ipod in your ears or the TV and radio on? When you’ve had a stressful day, is your first instinct to flip on the computer or Xbox to relax? Or are you constantly rushing from activity to activity until you fall into bed, exhausted?

When was the last time you were still, in your house or car or outside in God’s creation, with no background noise to distract you? Take a few minutes today to be still. Acknowledge God, and give Him a chance to speak to you.

Questions:

1. Do you want God’s counsel, even if it might disturb your peace?
2. Do you find time to be still? Psalm 46:10
3. Can you say, as Samuel did, “Speak, Lord, for thy servant is listening”? 1 Samuel 3:10

When someone calls to you, or stretches out his hand to you, these are both offers for help.  Help is usually offered to you when you are in trouble or in need.  In the verses surrounding Proverbs 1:24, the Wisdom of God is personified.  And in verse 24, the listener is accused of rejecting Wisdom.  Rejection happens when you judge something, and deem it to be not good enough.

What is the ultimate Wisdom of God?  The ultimate knowledge?  It is the salvation that only comes from God, through the person of Jesus Christ.  To the unbeliever, this is a dire warning.  Have you weighed God against your own thinking and then judged Him and His plan for salvation “not good enough?”  If you have had the privilege of having God call to you and stretch out His hand to you with an offer of salvation, will you finally take the gift that He offers?  Will you study, search, pray, repent, and ask God  to answer your questions so that you can find peace, rest, and eternal life in the person of Jesus?  Reading on, when you judge God, you will eventually find yourself judged, and will indeed receive whatever you valued as “good enough” for your faith and belief.

And to the believer, this is also a warning.  If the Holy Spirit calls to you to change your heart or your lifestyle, will you heed Wisdom or reject His choices for you and rely on your own?  If the Spirit reaches out to take you on God’s adventure for your life, will you take His hand, or laugh, like Abraham’s wife, Sarah, and scoff at God?  God promises that while believers will not suffer His wrath, we will be judged and rewarded for our actions in this life.   When we, as believers, judge God’s ways as “not good enough” and choose the rewards of this life, then we risk that those will be the only rewards we receive.