Highlights for Me as we get to Know God through these Chapters
Note: I use the Amplified Classic Version when writing out Scripture for the expanded understanding of the verses from the original languages. I highly recommend it.
Proverbs 1: God gives skillful wisdom, and that also being godly wisdom.
God gives instruction/discipleship, and discipline to those who reverence and worship Him.
Discipline: the training in obedience to rules and codes of behavior, and correction/punishment which comes from disobeying God.
I thank God for forgiveness, and grace because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son, Who died in our place and took our sins, sicknesses, and sorrows upon Himself. He took our punishment, so that we may come boldly before the Throne of God, our risen Saviour, and still have an audience with our Holy God, communing with Him continually.
Proverbs 2: God gives wisdom, and stores it up for the righteous. God protects the righteous, and guards the paths of justice, preserving the way of His saints.
Proverbs 3: Let not Mercy, Kindness, and Truth, forsake you.
Bind them on your fingers --- in all you touch, let mercy, kindness and truth be imparted to others.
Write them on the tablet of your heart -- for out of the heart your thoughts and words flow.
Then you will find favor, good understanding, and high esteem in the sight of God and man.
[Luke 2:52 "And Jesus increased in Wisdom (in broad and full understanding) and stature and years, and in favor with God and man." [AMPC]
Psalm 23:6 "Surely, or only, goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days, the House of the Lord (and His Presence) shall be my dwelling place." [AMPC]
Note: In each chapter I began to notice how Solomon spoke to his "son" -- a singular son, among all the children he had. I perceive God Himself speaking to His Son, through Solomon, even as so many others did throughout Scripture, so that Jesus could find Himself in the Book. Then Solomon spoke to "sons", just as Jesus, when He prayed for the Disciples, and then for all, to come to know Him, and to come to know Who sent Him.
Proverbs 4: Listen to the Word of God. Consent to it, and submit to the Word of God.
Let the Word of God never depart from our sight. The Word of God is life, healing and health to us.
Guard our heart spring, for as Jesus elaborates: from out of our belly is meant to flow rivers of living (life-giving) water.
Proverbs 5: For Solomon, Godly wisdom was learned by actual and costly experience, so he compels us to give attention to his wise words. Learning from other's experiences can cause us to have good, and even better, outcomes in our experiences.
Proverbs 6: Give attention to that which God hates, and do what He loves. Be example we can say, from Solomon's observations, that God loves 7 things, which please Him greatly:
1. The humble, and those who seek the best for others, and esteem them more highly than themselves.
2. God loves those who tell the truth, in love.
3. God loves those who give and promote life.
4. God loves the heart that focuses on all the good things that can be done for others.
5. God loves the feet of those who run to do good, bringing healing and deliverance to others. In fact, He Himself will take a towel, kneel down before them, and wash their feet, as we saw Jesus do for His disciples, giving them peace wherever they go.
6. God loves those who are a good and just witness, those who speak the truth under oath, regarding what they have witnessed.
7. God loves those who encourage and empower others to become their best, in unity, in Christ.
Proverbs 7: God's word is a treasure and always there when we need it to make wise decisions. Keep the word of God as precious, just as we do our own eyes, protecting them from all harm.
Proverbs 8: Now Solomon speaks to his "sons": the blessings which come from obedience to the Word of God, even as Jesus, the Wisdom of God, elaborates in Matthew 5. "Blessed, (happy, fortunate and to be envied) are those who keep my ways." [AMPC] "Hear instruction and be wise. Do not refuse or neglect it." In fact, "watch daily, waiting at the posts of my doors" and you, by implication, will find life and favor from the King of kings.
Cross references: Psalm 119:1-2; and Psalm 128:1-2, and Luke 11:28
Especially precious to me are the words of Psalm 128:3-4 "Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the innermost parts of your house; your children shall be like olive plants round about your table. Thus shall a man be blessed who reverently and worshipfully fears the Lord." [AMPC]
Insight:
The concept of a Paradise Garden is probably familiar to most. In case you do not know: In a square Paradise Garden, the evergreen trees are planted on the edge, inside, and against the wall.
Inside these trees, are the fruit trees, planted safely, where intruders cannot steal the fruit.
Then inside these, are the herbs, flowers, vegetables, and so on, protected provision, grown in the shade of the fruit and the evergreens, away from the scorching sun, and closer to the water source.
And inside, at the center of the square, is the water fountain with its rivers going in the four directions, north, south, east and west.
Fruit trees have within them the exponential, unlimited, and ever increasing potential of an orchard within each fruit, bearing a harvest which simply must be shared. From each harvest not only comes the family meals but also that which can be produced as byproducts of the fruit. Olives, olive oil; fruit, fruit preserves, etc., etc. In God's Garden, the potential and the provision is unlimited, and ever increasing, and constant, irregardless of the seasons.
Rahab was relegated to the outer wall of the city of Jericho, with a room that had a roof upon which she dried flax, which I perceive she used for linen making. God saw her heart, and despite her world-given position, God placed Rahab at the center of His plan. He saw in her heart a desire to make linen for the righteous. He gave her the honor of being in the ancestry of Jesus, His Own Son.
God's Bride is given a place at the center the House, like the pupil of His Eyes, the place of Godly Vision in all directions. She is protected, and removed from all invasive harm. No evil or death can penetrate that which is continuously godly, living, and evergreen.
Revelation 22:15 "Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."
This is the heritage of the godly, the righteous who reverently worship God Almighty, our Sovereign Lord and King.
Proverbs 9: Wise men don't know everything. They can also be instructed, and must be receptive to it, so they can become even wiser. A righteous man can be taught and become even more learned. Listening to God's word and learning His ways multiplies our days, and increases our years.
Multiplication: cause to increase exponentially
Increase: become or make greater in size, amount, intensity, or degree.
Proverbs 10: When God blesses, only great joy comes with it.
