Continuing Our Journey through the Proverbs

Tonight we’re going to continue our journey through selected passages in the book of Proverbs. As you may recall, the book of Proverbs is a dense book, like bedrock, studded with gemstones and gold nuggets of knowledge. Each of these statements – just a couple lines long – reveal profound truths from God. The Proverbs teach us wisdom.

The problem that many of us run into, though, is that we tend to think of wisdom like a specific subject at school. We might learn about math, or about history, or about science – and, oh yes! – if we find some time we might learn a bit about wisdom, too. But this is the wrong way to think about wisdom. Wisdom is what holds everything else together. We must have wisdom in order to understand what our other types of knowledge are for. We need God’s wisdom in order to understand what’s virtuous, and what’s valuable, and what’s valid when it comes to how we live. If we’re going to know the best way to live, we must have God’s wisdom.

And so tonight we’ll get out our spades and pickaxes again, and we’ll go digging a bit more in the Proverbs to uncover more treasures of truth. If you have a Bible nearby, please turn with me to Proverbs, Chapter 19. I’ll be reading the first three verses of the Chapter. But before I read Proverbs 19, verses 1 through 3, let’s ask God to work among us, to teach us, by the work of His Holy Spirit. Please pray with me:

[Pray and Read Text]

A Journey of Wisdom

It’s rather common for people to say that our lives are like a journey. Each of us are headed down a path. And our lives are filled with forks in the road, and decisions to be made, that will lead us to certain destinations.

This same analogy is in view, here, in the first three verses of Proverbs 19. Verse 1 speaks about a man walking in his integrity – there’s mental imagery of someone walking ahead in a certain direction, on a journey. Verse 2 continues with similar imagery. It says that whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way. His feet go the wrong direction. He misses the right road. And verse 3, likewise, speaks about a man “bringing his way (or his journey) to ruin. So the Holy Spirit is giving insight here on how we can walk the right way, on the right path, to reach the right outcome or destination.

Now, there are a number of Christian groups that will suggest that to find your way in life – to journey the right way, on the right path, to reach the right outcome or destination – you need to receive some sort of omen from God. Or you need to randomly point to Bible verses until one of them appears to have some sort of connection to your situation. Or you need to empty your mind, and wait for the Holy Spirit to give you a special message, directly and privately. But in these three verses, God indicates that making right decisions comes from having real knowledge – real wisdom.

I recognize that these verses primarily consider the ways of a foolish person, and the problems with that sort of path. But the whole point of understanding what foolishness looks like is so we can learn to journey in the way of discernment and insight. So as we work through the text, I want to turn the perspective of the text slightly. And I want to focus in on what a wise manner of life looks like. I want to consider with you how we should journey ahead in line with the Bible, God’s wisdom, walking in the right way, on the right path, toward the right destination.

Specifically, there are four characteristics of a wise person’s life that I want to point out here from the text. First, a wise person will be devoted to integrity. Second, a wise person will be deliberate in decision-making. Third, a wise person will be delivered from ruin. And fourth, a wise person will be delight in the Lord.

Devoted to Integrity

So first, a wise person will be devoted to integrity. We see in this in verse 1: “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity, than one who is crooked in speech, and is a fool.”

Notice the contrasts that are made here: The first person is considered to be poor. Literally, he’s struggling to have enough food each day to get by. By contrast, it’s implied that the other person has been able to get wealthy. The first person, we’re told, walks in integrity. But the second person is dishonest. He has crooked, distorted speech. In fact, it’s implied that this person has made ungodly decisions in order to gain earthly wealth. And we’re faced with the question, which path is better? Is it better for us to pursue integrity, regardless of the impact it has on our earthly security and status? Or is it better to do whatever it takes to gain cash, comfort, and convenience?

Now, the interesting thing here is that I think that many Americans – many of us – would say that that the poor man of integrity is living a better life than the rich man who’s deceitful and hypocritical. We would instinctively want to affirm that morality is more important than money. But are you and I should ask ourselves – are we really as committed to integrity as we think we are?

When no one is looking over our shoulder, are you still committed to integrity in filing taxes, paying babysitters, requesting refunds for slightly-damaged items shipped to your house, and all your financial dealings? Or do you try to bend rules for financial gain? When you’re at work, do you walk in integrity, with diligence and self-disciplined Or do you take the path of laziness and procrastination? When your child or spouse accidentally breaks a glass plate, out of integrity do you respond with level-headedness, and patience? Or do you grumble or lash out about the clumsiness of your family member, without any humility and empathy? How committed are we really to integrity?

Each of us are in danger of being people of crooked speech, speaking one way, but then living a different way – claiming that godliness is gain, but then living to indulge our pride, greed, and laziness instead. We may claim to be followers of Christ, but then functionally live as though our purpose in life revolves around something else: amassing the biggest bank account, or trying to have the most fun, or expressing our feelings or emotions the most authentically, or something else. So we need to grapple with what this Proverb says – the man of crooked speech, who doesn’t continue ahead in integrity – that person is a fool. The wisest path of life – the right path – is to live consistently with God’s truth. That’s what integrity is. And that’s the journey we were made to take.

Imagine if you went out golfing with a friend. It’s his first time golfing, so even though you’re not very good, you expect you’ll probably still do a bit better than your friend. And sure enough, it turns out that you have a pretty lousy game. You have several double-bogeys – even a few that are three or four strokes above par. And along your journey, you even lost a golf ball once or twice. But along the way, your friend is taking shots that are absolutely terrible. At each hole, it’s regularly taking him 15 strokes to get the ball in the cup at the end of the fairway. And so when you finally get done, you say, “Well, I guess I won.” But your friend looks at with a genuinely confused look and he says, “What do you mean? I got more points!”

Then it all makes sense! Your friend was aiming at a different goal. He thought he had a winning strategy! But since he failed to understand the rules, how golf is actually played – he wound up being a loser. And as we live, we need to give serious thought to figuring out what are we setting out to do on the golf course? What rules of the game are we following? Have we invented our own idea of what it means to win at life? Are making a journey to nowhere? Or are we aligning ourselves with what it actually, ultimately means to live rightly before God?

The world is full of games that people play – who can have the most political power, the most advertising influence, the most beauty, the biggest fanbase, the most followers on social media, the strongest bodies, and the list goes on. But even if you lose all those manmade games, in order to pursue integrity before God, and rightness with him, through faith in Christ, you’ve made the winning decision. You’ve chosen the path of wisdom. And you won’t be disappointed.

Deliberate in Decision-making

But there’s a second characteristic of a person listed here. A wise person will be deliberate in decision-making. Look with me at verse 2: “Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.”

Now, this verse points out two bad ways to make decisions. Making an uninformed decision purely based on what you feel, or what you think you want – that’s bad method #1. “Desire, without knowledge, is not good. And bad method #2 is to make decisions quickly, impatiently, or impulsively. “Whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.”

So if we flip these two things around, the Bible here identifies two things that are important when it comes to finding the right path (making the right journey). In order to make wise decisions, it takes knowledge. And it takes time.

Now when the text here refers to knowledge, I think many of us are inclined to just think of this in terms of technical information. For example, we recognize that if someone is going to perform a surgery, they should know a lot about human anatomy, and effective surgical practices. And if someone is going to build a house, they should know what the right temperature and moisture conditions are for lying a foundation, and what building materials to use, and how far to space the floor joists and wall studs – and all the rest. We might assume that that’s all that the text here is saying.

But here in Proverbs, the Bible is talking about a different type of knowledge. You may remember, in the introduction of this book – in Chapter 1, verse seven – the Spirit of God tells us that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.” The knowledge being spoken about there isn’t just technical knowledge. (You don’t have to fear the Lord in order to learn surgery techniques, or how to build a house). It isn’t even just talking about experiential knowledge – the knowledge we gain from our life experiences. But the Bible is talking about what you might call foundational knowledge. This foundational knowledge includes knowing how we got here, who our maker is; knowing who we are and why we exist; knowing how we should be living, and what we should be living for.

You might know how to do a lot of things – how to fix a car, how to play a musical instrument, how to program a computer – but you won’t know how to use this knowledge rightly – you won’t rightly know how to live, until you first have the foundational type of knowledge that comes from knowing God and his Word. Decisions that are directed by self-will instead of God’s wisdom will take you down the wrong path. Desire without knowledge is not good.

And so if you’re going to be wise, you need to be deliberate. Be careful to let God’s truth inform your decisions. If God says something is important, prioritize it! If God says something is worthwhile, value it. If God says something is evil, avoid it. If God says something is good, embrace it. If God gives a command, obey it! Let your desires and zeal be directed by knowledge, to find the good path of wisdom.

Notice, though, the wise decision-maker is also deliberate, in that he or she takes time to make decisions. Because when the text says, “whoever makes haste with his feet misses the way” the text here indicates that the person who slows down to think will end up making a better decision, to journey onward in the right direction.

I think all of us can think of a time when we blurted something out that we’ve immediately regretted. Or we can think of a decision we made impulsively – something we’ve clicked on, some way that we’ve responded to people in anger, in a way that was physically or verbally harsh. We’ve purchased things impulsively that we didn’t need. We’ve eaten things impulsively that weren’t particularly helpful or healthy.

Making good decisions takes time. Wise people will understand this is the case. Especially since it takes time to think. And it takes time to ask God for wisdom and for his blessing upon your decision. We shouldn’t expect wise decision-making to be quick.

And you’ll probably learn over time that in Presbyterian churches, led by elders, like ours is (in the PCA) – in Presbyterian churches, decisions sometimes feel like they’re being made slowly. It can be frustrating, in the moment. But on numerous occasions, I’ve seen that the long-term fruit is worth it. Finding the good path is worth the time that it takes.

So when you’re faced with difficult decisions, take time to let your emotions settle – for the cloudiness of your thinking to give way to clear skies. Take time to reflect on God’s commands. And think through how your decisions will relate to your responsibilities to your family, and to Christ’s body, the church, and to your employer, and to your neighbors. Take time to pray that God would help you to see whatever sins might be warping your perspective, so you can repent and yourney ahead in faith. Take time to seek out advice. Because as Proverbs 15:22 says, “Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.”

Delivered from Ruin

This actually corresponds to the third characteristic of a wise person.  A wise person is delivered from ruin. My third and fourth points here will be much more brief.

Look with me in verse 3. The text says, “When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.” The text doesn’t say if a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, but when. The text here recognizes that “A man’s folly will bring his way to ruin” all the time – no exceptions. In this life, it may not always be obvious that this is the case. But in the day of God’s final judgment, it will become obvious to everyone – the person of crooked speech, the person who makes haste in his journey, the person who makes decisions that reject the wisdom and righteousness of God – that person will come to ruin.

But this indicates that the wise person won’t. The person who’s wise is going to be concerned about the final outcome and destination of their life. And before they choose a road, they’re going to ask themselves where does this road lead? Is the road going to take me to a place or refuge, or is it going to take me into the path of a wildfire? Is this highway going to lead me into an evacuation zone, or is it going to lead me into the eye of the hurricane? The wise person will avoid roads that lead to ruin, and will instead journey toward better things: to be reconciled with God, through faith in Christ.

Because there’s only one way that doesn’t lead to ruin. There’s only one way that leads to eternal life. And in John 14:6, Jesus says, about himself, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The wise person is delivered from ruin, because those who are wise come to the Father through Jesus Christ. That’s where our journey should be headed.

Delighted in the Lord

And there’s one more characteristic of a wise person’s journey that’s implied here in the text. The wise person is delighted in the Lord.

The attitude of a fool toward God is described at the end of verse 3. When the fool makes bad mistakes, and suffers for the, our text says that “his heart rages against the LORD.” Ultimately, this is because a foolish man doesn’t rightly understand himself. A foolish man wants to think that he is good, that everything he does can be excusable. He trusts in his own judgment, and thinks of himself as wise, and is unwilling to admit mistakes. And so if his life is ruined – then he blames other people. His parents are to blame – and the childhood he had. His friends, and they way they pressured him – they’re to blame. His annoying boss is the problem. It’s the government’s fault.

The fool even blames God. When confronted with his own unrighteousness, the fool complains against God for being a just judge, who enforces righteous standards. When confronted with his own destructive decisions, the fool blames God for not stopping him. And because of things like this, the heart of a fool rages against the LORD.

But the heart of a wise man is different. A wise man is aware of his corrupt heart before God. He humbly admits his wrongdoings, and grieves over them. A wise man is aware that he can’t take away his own sins. He knows he can’t earn his way into God’s favor by good works. He understands that he needs forgiveness. And he needs to receive Christ, and his righteousness, as a gift from God.

And so the wise person is delighted with the LORD. Because he understands that God wasn’t obligated to give us Christ! And yet God, because of the love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, he made us alive, together with Christ. And so the heart of a wise man rejoices in the LORD. With happiness, he sets off on his heavenward journey. And as you remember again, just how much God has given us – giving us wisdom, giving us righteousness, giving us life – spend time this week enjoying God. Those who are wise will find their delight in him. Let’s pray: