My Attempt at Proverbs!

Proverb:1:1: The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
Proverb:1:2: To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
Proverb:1:3: To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
Proverb:1:4: To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
Proverb:1:5: A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Proverb:1:6: To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
Proverb:1:7: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverb:1:8: My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
Proverb:1:9: For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
Proverb:1:10: My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Proverb:1:11: If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
Proverb:1:12: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
Proverb:1:13: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
Proverb:1:14: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
Proverb:1:15: My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
Proverb:1:16: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
Proverb:1:17: Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
Proverb:1:18: And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
Proverb:1:19: So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
Proverb:1:20: Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
Proverb:1:21: She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
Proverb:1:22: How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
Proverb:1:23: Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Proverb:1:24: Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
Proverb:1:25: But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
Proverb:1:26: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
Proverb:1:27: When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
Proverb:1:28: Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
Proverb:1:29: For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
Proverb:1:30: They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
Proverb:1:31: Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
Proverb:1:32: For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
Proverb:1:33: But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

I am going to attempt to do 31 Days of Proverbs, explaining all 31 Chapters to the best of my ability at a pace of one per day. At least, that is my goal! I will be basing my writings on those of Gloria Copeland and her book “Hidden Treasures”.

The book of Proverbs was written by Solomon, inspired by God and almost immediately we are told why:

“That people may know skillful and godly Wisdom and instruction, discern and comprehend the words of understanding and insight. (1:2 AMP)

The greatest blessing God has given us through this Wisdom is the understanding and insight that will allow living on earth as though we were already in Heaven. When you choose God and his ways you are immediately at an advantage in life. We are able to live in the kingdom of God today, we don’t have to wait. We are “citizens of heaven” (Philippians 3:20, NIV) and meant to live in this earth with the blessings and power of God. 

When we were born we were born with His spirit living inside of us, to teach us and direct us. We are no longer just in this world but in His world as well. When we accepted Christ as our Lord and saviour and became born again we were removed from the kingdom of darkness and entered into the kingdom of Light-Jesus. We can only truly work in Gods kingdom if we use His Wisdom- His way of doing and being right! 

Unfortunately, if you don’t use the Wisdom, or Word, of God that is readily available to us as believers you will continue to live the same life you did before you were born again. Making positive changes in your life using his Wisdom and word is the only way to truly experience heaven, both on earth and in the afterlife. 

Many people don’t know how to live for God. They WANT to live for God, but it is definitely not easy to pick up the Bible and find what you need when you need it. It can even become daunting and frustrating. If you are anything like me, you struggle to remember the scripture verbatim and struggle even more with recalling the chapter and verse numbers. The goals, however, is to carry on and work diligently to bring His Word to life in your own life. It’s okay to know hardly anything about God’s Word. We are born not knowing how to spell or do math, but as we practice we learn and soon enough the Word of God will not only be flowing freely from your lips, but it will also help to dictate your morals and values in your daily life. As soon as you start to learn more, co-operating with Him to overcome your problems will become simpler. His Word will immediately begin change in your life for the better. 

The book of Proverbs gives us “instruction in wise dealing and the discipline of wise thoughtfulness, righteousness, justice and integrity (1:3 AMP). 

God created earth to be a copy of heaven and one day this will be done. The earth was created by the word and the wisdom of God and it responds to the word and wisdom of God. Prayer is powerful and that is because God created us in his image. He did not will sickness upon nor did he create war or strife. Those are human errors that can be attributed to Satan manipulating us and trying his best to turn us from God. 

Experience isn’t necessarily the best teacher. The best teacher is God our Father. He has laid before us a book of how to live righteously (to be right with God) yet so many of us struggle to find our own way and ignore what is black white and sometimes red laying before us begging to be read and applied to our living. God tells us what works and we can be like Moses and the Israelites and wander through the dessert for many years or we can just listen to Gods word, strengthen our faith and obtain those promised riches now, no matter what your age. The Proverbs are not meant for a certain age or group of people. They teach ALL of us the Wisdom we need to have in order to be strong in our faith, our lives, and in Christ Jesus. “The wise also will hear and increase in learning, and the person of understanding will acquire skill and attain to sound counsel [so that he may be able to steer his course rightly] (v .5 AMP)

Where do we start in our quest for godly wisdom? God tells us EXACTLY where to begin “The reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord is the beginning and the principal and choice part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence]; but fools despise skillful and godly Wisdom, instruction, and discipline (1.7, AMP). Walking in the fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom. In fact it is the only place to start! Without fearing the Lord you do not hold yourself accountable for your actions to a higher power. Handing over your life to the lord after living a life for yourself isn’t an easy thing to do, but when you fear the Lord and know that you can only be saved through him things become clear. You know that the only way to have a happy life is to allow God to guide you where you need to be. The more you change your life to line up with God’s Word, the more honor you are giving God in your life. “For them that honor me I will honor” (1 Samuel 2:30) I often remind people in my life, and myself to praise God daily, because without giving thanks and praise you become unappreciative of all that we have been blessed with in such abundance. What more could you want? God knows what you could want and need and when he sees fit He will supply you with everything, for that is the covenant he created with us when Jesus died on the cross to save us from this world.

Choosing to follow your own path and not what He says causes the foolish to “eat of the fruit of their own way (1:31 AMP)

Greed “takes away the lives of its possessors” (v.19 AMP). This is why God tells us to not covet or lust. These actions can take over our sound minds and quickly create all kinds of problems in your life, including your marriage, your relationship with your children, and God himself. I am sure greed is something we have all experienced at some point, the biggest thing is to NOT act on it, no matter how tempting. Stay strong in the Word. Allow yourself to ask God for forgiveness and move on. Mistakes will be made, we are human. 

It is encouraging to know that “Wisdom cries aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the markets” (v20 AMP)

Wisdom does not hide from us. She screams out for us in the streets wanting us to hear her voice and turn to God to live a life of Wisdom.

Proverbs 1:25-32 gives a clear idea of what happens to those who do nothing with Wisdoms counsel. When their “panic comes as a storm and desolation (v27) and they finally turn to wisdom for help, they’ll find out that they have to “eat of the fruit of their own way and be satiated with their own devices” (v 31). Although they seek wisdom early and diligently they will not find her (v28). That’s the way sin is. That is why god tells us not to do it. He warns us that “the backsliding of the simple shall slay them, and the careless ease [self-confident] fools shall destroy them” (v 32).

"But whoso hearkens to me [Wisdom] shall dwell securely and in confident trust and shall be quiet, without fear or dread of evil” (v 33)

Gloria Copeland’s Wisdom for Today

Honor God is every choice or decision you make today. 

Make the quality decision, “Whether it seems easy or difficult, I will do what the Word says.”

Tell the Lord today, “Show me where I’m wrong. Reveal to be the things I need to know”
In most of this writing I have reworded it and added and subtracted to my liking. There are, however, some sentences that I needed to use the way the original author wrote them as she described things in a way I could never do. For more of Gloria Copeland’s books or to read her original work please go to http://kcm.ca and purchase the book “Hidden Treasures Abundant living in the riches of proverbs”