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Life is easier when you have the Book of Proverbs at your disposal. My life has not been the same since I started reading Proverbs over 13 years ago.
Proverbs 1:2 – “Their [proverbs] purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise.”
It is hard for me to put into words how much the Book of Proverbs has changed my life. I began reading the Bible at about 11 years old, thanks to the encouragement of a Sunday School teacher. I became completely fascinated with the stories of the Old Testament, the Psalms of David, the miracles of Jesus, and event the “acts” of the Apostle. One thing it took me time to appreciate though was the Proverbs of Solomon.
The little nuggets of wisdom never seemed to appeal to me until I was 15 years old. Up until this point, I had a sovereign respect for God that would cause me to pray at times, read my Bible at others, and even sometimes choose to be holy. The best way to explain my Christian experience as an early teen was mediocre and full of compromise. Not passionate and purposeful. This all changed when I began to read Proverbs.
It was sitting in a Bible class at Christian School that I was first exposed to the infinite value of this book. Learning the intention of proverbs is to make me wise, successful, and equipped with the knowledge of God was an invitation I could not ignore (Proverbs 1:1-7). I realized that God was standing in the streets of my life and shouting for me to stop and give Him a hearing through this book (Proverbs 1:20-33).
It only took me three chapters for Proverbs to change my life, and launch me into an entirely different existence as a believer. The clear call of chapter one, the universal application of truth in chapter two, and the epic poetry of chapter three opened my eyes to world I was unaware of before, and a relationship with the Holy Spirit that had escaped me until this point.
Proverbs 3:14-15 – “For wisdom is more profitable than silver, and her wages are better than gold. Wisdom is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her.”
This is the verse that taught me to purse God. Before this I knew how to receive from God, and knew that I was to “try” to be obedient. When I read the words, “nothing you desire can compare with her” something clicked for me. What was I desiring? What is it that I really wanted out of life? After thinking about it, I realized even though I considered myself a Christian, God was not even close to the top of the list of things that I desired. This confronted the self-righteousness and hypocrisy that I had lived with, and was the sad side-effect of learning about God, without developing a desire to pursue God. I learned to know God without pursuing Him, and therefore didn’t know him at all. I was only collecting the postcards that others were sending me from their travels with Him.
That day began my pursuit of God, my relationship with him, my sanctification as a believer, the beginning of life long habit of applying scripture to my life to solve problems, and even the beginning of receiving one of the most precious treasures I have in life – the rhema. I would say that I would not have a relationship with the Holy Spirit without the Book of Proverbs. I cherish every verse of this book with the deepest and gratitude to God. I love Proverbs!