Study Introduction

Because I aspire to be healthy, I noticed that the phrase “health to your bones” was a reoccurring phrase in several Proverbs, scattered throughout the book. And I thought…wouldn’t it be interesting to look at all the Proverbs on a specific topic together, side by side! And get a fuller picture of what the book says on a particular topic. For example, wouldn’t it be interesting to look at what Proverbs has to say about money, or marriage, or making decisions, or health?!

And so my own personal study began along with the idea for this series.

I know many people who will read a chapter of Proverbs every day, along with whatever other Bible reading they are doing. They do this to add a practical measure of wisdom to their daily activities in life.

It’s my prayer that we glean insight into the different topics that we look at and endeavor to apply the truths to our lives.

Proverbs are part of the Wisdom writings of the Bible, along with Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Job, and some Psalms. Additionally, some have considered the Song of Solomon to be in this category.

The term Wisdom as we will see it portrayed in this study means the ability to make godly choices in life. It has nothing to do with IQ, smarts, or intelligence.

This is Wisdom for Life

The Proverbs deal with the problems we face in our personal lives: problems with interpersonal relationships; with our relationship with God; with moral principles; with our attitudes toward possessions; and with other topics. Interestingly, they make no distinctions between what we might consider to be secular activities and sacred ones. This teaches us that God is the God of the whole earth who exercises authority in every aspect of life. He cares about every aspect of our lives, no matter how common or ordinary they may seem.

That’s what makes the Proverbs Wisdom for Life

Wisdom literature tends to focus on people and their behavior, how successful they are at making godly choices and whether or not they are learning to apply God’s truth to the experiences they have. It is not so much the case that people seek to learn how to be wise, but rather they seek to become wise, to develop wisdom in the activities they go about in life.

The purpose and the motivation for studying the proverbs can be found in Proverbs 1:1-5

Proverbs 1:1-5
1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: 2 for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; 3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; 4 for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young— 5 let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance – for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.

The purpose is to grow in Godly wisdom and allow it to influence how we live our lives.

This makes the Proverbs a source of Wisdom for Life.

We can gain this wisdom by listening, by adding and by being open and teachable to guidance.

The teachable one is one who is humble enough to know they don’t have all the answers, they are humble enough to listen to someone else, they acknowledge they still have much to learn, and they are open to guidance.

Join us each Sunday morning in our Study of the Proverbs: Wisdom for Life