1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: 2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight; 3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair; 4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young— 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance— 6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise. 7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Why should one take the time to read, study, or even try to apply Proverbs to their lives? The first several verses of Proverbs 1 make this argument of why, they actually could read as a TV commercial script:
I picture King Solomon, dressed the part, telling us to come on down to the Wisdom Spot, “Come on down, everyone, young and old! We have all your wisdom needs, plenty of bite-sized nuggets to help you with discipline, insight, fairness, discretion, discernment, understanding…. All the fruits of wisdom you could ever need. Come on down.”
Some folks have stated that wisdom comes with age. Perhaps this is true, we learn from our life experiences. Therefore, the more grey hairs we have, the wiser we are. I have been noticing more grey hair, therefore I must be gaining more wisdom. Regardless of our hair color, or our age, verses 4-5 tell us that the Proverbs are for everyone, the young and the old. The young still have much wisdom and knowledge to gain and need direction. Likewise, verse 5 tells us the wise need to listen to add to their learning. Sometimes for folks both young and old, we don’t like to admit we need help. The reality is we always have something to learn. This speaks to our humility, being willing to say, “I don’t have it all figured out. I need God’s wisdom to live my life the right way.” May we humble ourselves and open our minds and heart to the wisdom God gives us each day.
Matt