This month Derek and I had the blessing of taking 108 jr and sr high school students to camp Estes in Colorado. It was really put on my heart to go. So much so that I quit my job so I could go. Man, did God move big during that week. We saw students giving their lives to The Lord for the first time and many rededications. But God didn't just move in the students, he moved big in the leaders too.
During camp God allowed me to feel just a portion of the love he feels for these students and it was overwhelming—I was on the brink of tears for most of the day. But what I wanted to share is that The Lord put the book of Proverbs on my heart. So today I begin an in depth study of the book. To make sure I get to the heart of it I'm only going to do 1-2 verses per day.
Objectives (after this you should be able to):
Differentiate between a worldly proverb and a biblical proverb
Identify why Proverbs was written
Identify who Solomon was
Here is today's verse (I am using the NIV quest study bible):
"The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:" Proverbs 1:1
At first I thought "that's it? What does God want me to learn from that?" But then I remembered how critical context is and realized that we are building our foundation today.
First of all- what is a proverb?
Wikipedia says that a proverb is a "concrete saying, popularly known and repeated, that expressed a truth based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity."
Dictionary.com says that a proverb is:
"noun
1. a short popular saying, usually of unknown and ancient origin, that expresses effectively some commonplace truth or useful thought; adage; saw.
2.a wise saying or precept; a didactic sentence.
3.a person or thing that is commonly regarded as an embodiment or representation of some quality; byword.
4.Bible. a profound saying, maxim, or oracular utterance requiring interpretation."
My study bible defines a proverb as: "a truth condensed into a few words and stated in a memorable fashion with application to a variety of situations in life."
So what makes a worldly proverb different than the proverbs we see in the Bible?
We know the source (King Solomon—but ultimately God)
Why study proverbs at all?
To see how Godly wisdom merges with real life (as we will see inverses 1:2-6).
Who was Solomon?
As the verse states he was the King of Israel and the son of David. Solomon was the third and final king of Israel before they split into the Northern kingdom of Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah. You can read about his rise to the throne in 1 Kings 1:5-53. Solomon ultimately began to worship other false idols and fell away from the Lord which led to the split of the Northern and Southern kingdoms.
Solomon was most known for his wisdom. He prayed for wisdom specifically in 1 Kings 3:4-9. And we see the result in 1 King 10:24" And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind."
To sum it all up:
A biblical proverb is a short expression of divine wisdom meant to help us in our daily walk.
Proverbs was written to show how Godly wisdom merges with real life
King Solomon (son of David) was gifted divine wisdom from God.
