Wisdom Wednesday – Three Minute Bible

March 25, 2020March 25, 2020

Wisdom Wednesday — Soft Hearts

Picture of a teddy bear with a cloth heart.

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline,
and do not resent his rebuke,

because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
as a father the son he delights in.

— Proverbs 3: 11-12

Discipline is almost always a little bit painful. Not because it involves physical pain, although that is sometimes a part of discipline. Instead, it is because it is painful to see ourselves as we really are.

The whole point of discipline is to correct someone’s behavior or attitude. To do that, we have to be made aware of what we were doing wrong. Our underlying character is what determines how well we take correction.

February 19, 2020February 19, 2020

Wisdom Wednesday – The Prize

My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,

for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.

— Proverbs 3: 1-2

What do you want out of life? Do you know? Are you looking for things to do that will shorten your life? Do you like to suffer? Are you the kind of person who enjoys going hungry?

Of course not!

Nobody in their right mind (and I grant you that there are people who are not in their right mind!) wants to die young. So hopefully we can agree that it is desirable to prolong life and enjoy the time in peace and prosperity.

February 12, 2020February 12, 2020

Wisdom Wednesday – Wise Eyes

Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.

— Proverbs 3: 7

What does it mean to be wise in your own eyes? I’ve heard of “wise guys” but I don’t remember hearing “wise eyes” before.

When we look at ourselves “in our own eyes” there is always a tendency to see what we want to see. When we look at someone else we have the advantage of seeing them from outside their head. Inside our head, our vision is cluttered by all the wants, needs and hopes we have collected all our life.

February 5, 2020February 6, 2020

Wisdom Wednesday – Avoidance

For wisdom will enter your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

Discretion will protect you,
    and understanding will guard you.

Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
    from men whose words are perverse…

— Proverbs 2: 10-12

Are there practical benefits to having wisdom? It depends on who you are and what you are looking for in life.

I do not like pain. I avoid it as much as possible. For this reason, I avoid taking unnecessary risks. I think everyone else should think the same way. I cannot fathom a point of view that embraces pain.

Some years ago in the course of my job, I met a young man who seemed impervious to pain. During the few weeks, I knew him I learned that he had an affection for high-risk sports. He would regale me with stories of the adventures he’d had and then tell me what it had cost him in broken bones. I am pretty sure he had broken almost every bone in his body at least once.

January 29, 2020January 29, 2020

Wisdom Wednesday – Paths

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.

— Proverbs 3: 5-6

So what is the big deal about traveling a straight path?

It depends on what you want, I suppose. Depending on where you are in life, look back on where you have been. Are you one of those people who seemed to know where they were going and walked straight towards their goal? Or are you one of those people, like me, who meandered a bit along life’s trail?

While exploring on our own can be fun, there are dangers along the trail. Like the little lost lamb, we might find ourselves stuck in a briar patch or the bottom of a ravine with a broken leg. Dangers and dead ends waste time and might keep us from getting where we are going.

And where are we going again? We are going to be with our Father in heaven. That is our goal. That is our hope.

January 22, 2020January 22, 2020

Wisdom Wednesday – Labyrinth

For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.

— Proverbs 2: 6, 9

The problem with being human – that is, being human without knowing God – is that we don’t understand the difference between right and wrong. That is not to say we do not ever do what is right. It just means that we do not know what is right.

As a human, we can say this is good and that is bad, but our knowledge is imperfect. (Ecclesiastes 11: 5) We do not know what lies beyond our vision. We cannot know how all things turn out. Because we cannot know the ending, we cannot know for certain if something is good or bad. Everything depends on how it turns out at the end.

January 15, 2020January 15, 2020

Wisdom Wednesday – A Tale of Two Mowers

For the Lord gives wisdom;
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.

He holds success in store for the upright,
    he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,

for he guards the course of the just
    and protects the way of his faithful ones.

Proverbs 2: 6-8

Does anybody want wisdom anymore? Is that even a “thing” these days? How about knowledge? What is that, anyway? People seem to claim different things as being true. They want me and you to accept what they claim is knowledge regardless of whether it makes any sense or not. Which brings us to “understanding.” Whose do we use, anyway?

The problem in a society where everyone wins and no one loses is expectations. When people who never lose grow up they continue to expect to be treated as a winner, even if their ideas are losers.

For example, let’s take two neighbors; Harry and Larry. Harry is a humble man, attentive to the Lord, and always looking for the “right” thing to do. Larry, who lives next door, is generally full of himself. As far as he is concerned, he is always “right” and doesn’t need to bother with learning from anyone else.

January 8, 2020January 9, 2020

Wisdom Wednesday – Seeking Treasure

My son, if you accept my words
    and store up my commands within you

turning your ear to wisdom
    and applying your heart to understanding—

indeed, if you call out for insight
    and cry aloud for understanding,

and if you look for it as for silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasure,

then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.

Proverbs 2: 1-5

Solomon recognizes that even he, the most powerful man in all the earth in his day, can not force a person to accept his words. He tells his children, and by extension us, that if you accept his words there is a benefit. More than that, he expands on what it takes to acquire understanding.

January 1, 2020January 2, 2020

Wisdom Wednesday – Happy New Year!

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1: 7

There is a theme that runs through Scripture and underlies every great piece of human literature as well: Good Guys vs Bad Guys. In Proverbs, this eternal battle is often characterized as a conflict between the “wise” and the “fool.” (See our discussion under the post, “The Big Picture.”)

December 25, 2019December 26, 2019

Wisdom Wednesday – Merry Christmas!

And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.

Genesis 3: 15

The Perfect Gift

Today’s “Wisdom Wednesday” text is not from the traditional wisdom literature in the Bible. Instead, we are looking at the wisdom of God in action.

Today we celebrate the birth of our Savior. The reason we need a savior is that Adam and Eve could not resist the wiles of Satan. Having sinned, they became spiritually dead, separated from God. At the same time, they were able to see something they had been protected from while they were alive in God. They could now see evil. The tragedy was (and is) that people do not always recognize evil for what it is.