Proverbs 2:1-15

Introduction

Hey guys, tonight we are going to start looking at the book of proverbs in the Bible. Now who knows what a proverb is? Let me tell you an ancient Mexican proverb: in a closed mouth, a fly does not enter. So a proverb is sort of like a wise saying about life. Now we are going to read chapter 2 of the book of Proverbs to see what it says about wisdom and life.

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Wisdom

So, what is wisdom guys? People have a lot of different thoughts on what wisdom is and where it can be found. People say wisdom can be gained from reading lots of books, or meeting lots of people, or from doing a lot of things. They think they can gain wisdom from science or by looking at nature. They think that they can gain it from meditating on a mountain or looking into their thoughts. And they think that these different wisdoms can lead you to live a good life.

Well in verse 6 it says "For the Lord Gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." So if you want true knowledge, understanding and wisdom it has to come from God. And from God's wisdom you will know how to truly live and you will know the good life. Let me say it again: only from God can we have wisdom and the good life.

We see this further in verse 9, if you have this wisdom you will understand what is right and fair. You will have discretion, meaning that you will be able to make the right decisions.

Further on in verse 12 to 15 we see that God's wisdom will even save us from the ways of wicked men, who say bad things, who love doing the wrong stuff, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.

How awesome does that sound, having knowledge, understanding and wisdom from God. He created the world and us, he is the source of all truth so surely if we follow Him and his wisdom we can have and live a good life.

The problem

But there is a problem. We don’t look to God for wisdom. We are like the wicked men. Who say bad things, who love doing wrong, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.

We don’t want God's wisdom, we want to choose for ourselves how to live our lives. That is sin, us wanting to do things our way, us wanting to be the bosses of our own lives. We are God's enemy and if we were left to our own wisdom, we would be heading straight to judgment and punishment for not living under God.

But God

But God didn’t leave us to follow our own wisdom. He revealed himself and his wisdom. He sent his son Jesus. Jesus once said " I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." Jesus made it possible for us to come to God by taking the punishment we deserve for disobeying God. He did this by dying on the cross. On the cross he took God’s wrath for our sins. So through Jesus we can come to God. Through Jesus we get life. Through Jesus we get Truth and wisdom.

So how do we turn from the world's lies to Jesus' Truth and wisdom?

In verses 1 to 5 we see how we should go about this. We need to accept God's word. We need to say God "what you say is all that matters". We need to look at his commands and say to God "I want to follow you and do what you tell me". We need to turn our Heart and mind to God and say “God what you say is important to me”. We need to Cry out to God and ask him to help us understand his ways. We need to search for it like it was hidden treasure showing that God He is valuable to us.

If you want to live life God's way. You need to say to God. God I'm sorry for living Life my own way. I need Jesus to take my punishment. I want to live life your way. I want you as the King of my life. Thank you for sending Jesus to take my punishment and give me life.

And that’s it. If you take God seriously he will take you seriously. If you truly want his wisdom he will give it to you. We can live life God's way. We can have true wisdom. And this can start right now. God has revealed his wisdom in his word, the bible. I encourage you to take the bible seriously, read it every day. See and read what God has said. It is like a gold mine full of rich wisdom and through it we can know God, we can know his true wisdom and we can know how to live a Good life. If you don’t have a bible, ask a leader and we can get one for you.

Finally in verse 7 it says that God holds victory in store for the upright. As long as we are on this earth we will still make the wrong decisions and sometimes or a lot of the time we will not be very wise. But God has victory in store for us. It’s not up to us it is up to him. He is protecting us he is shielding us. One day God will make us new, he will make usperfect, and we will know His wisdom and we will know God properly, in person. That is exciting.