Proverbs 9:8. Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. What’s the main difference between the scoffing fool and the wise man? The wise man can take reproof, but the scoffer cannot. The wise man loves the one who holds them accountable, but the scoffer hates the one who tries to confront them. The wise man humble receives instruction, advice, constructive criticism, but the scoffer rejects all help and input. The bigger the fool the more they are entrenched in their own way of thinking. Wisdom uses criticism to teach us, but the scoffer will have ..read more

Read Psalm 54. 1O God, save me by your name, and vindicate me by your might. 2O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth. 3For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves. 4Behold, God is my helper; the Lord is the upholder of my life. 5He will return the evil to my enemies; in your faithfulness put an end to them. 6With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you; I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good. 7For he has delivered me from every trouble, and my eye has looked in triumph on my enemies. Yes, this pray ..read more

Proverbs 9:1-5. 1Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn her seven pillars. 2She has slaughtered her beasts; she has mixed her wine; she has also set her table. 3She has sent out her young women to call from the highest places in the town, 4“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” To him who lacks sense she says, 5“Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Wisdom is throwing a house warming party! She has built her house and invited all the simple to come to her banquet to drink of her wine and eat of her bread. Only the gospel reveals the full implication of what it means t ..read more

Read Psalm 52:1-4. 1Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The steadfast love of God endures all the day. 2Your tongue plots destruction, like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. 3You love evil more than good, and lying more than speaking what is right. 4You love all words that devour, O deceitful tongue. The evil mighty man that David calls out here is no mere caricature. He has a specific person in mind here – Doeg, the Edomite, who at King Saul’s command murdered Ahimelech the priest for helping David. Maybe you can envision a specific person from these verses as well. A boss who would cu ..read more

Proverbs 8:34. Blessed is the one who listens to me [Wisdom], watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. The image Solomon is using here is of someone waiting outside the door for the other person to get home. Have you ever waited in anticipation for someone you love to get home, or maybe for a beloved friend to meet you somewhere? You couldn’t wait for them to arrive. You keep checking over and over to see if they are here yet. That’s how the Proverbs see us watching and waiting for God’s wisdom. Waiting is essential in the Christian life. We are literally waiting for Christ’s retur ..read more

Read Psalm 51:14-19. 14Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. 15O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 16For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. 17The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. 18Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem; 19then will you delight in right sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings; then bulls will be off ..read more

Proverbs 8:33. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. Is there anything in your home that you have neglected? A plant? Your garage? Your own health? One of the worst things we can do in life is to neglect the wisdom of God. To neglect means to not pay any attention to something, to not care about it, or to stop doing it. What happens when you neglect brushing your teeth? What happens when you neglect eating healthy foods? What happens when we neglect your work, or your children? Bad things, of course. The New Testament’s warning is even more intense. Hebrews 2:3. How shall we esc ..read more

Read Psalm 51:5-9. 5Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 6Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. 7Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. 9Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. David is preaching the gospel to his secret heart by recalling these two truths: The absoluteness of his sinful state and the absoluteness of God’s forgiveness. David isn’t basicall ..read more

Proverbs 8:32. And now, O sons, listen to me [Wisdom]: blessed are those who keep my ways. The word blessed here can also be translated as happy. Are you happy? Hopefully you are. God wants us to be happy. He wants us to flourish, and enjoy life. Thomas Jefferson said that we all have inalienable right to “pursue happiness.” But that’s not what God says. God says “pursue wisdom” and when you do, you will find happiness. Here’s one of the most important lessons every person must learn: If you chase after happiness you will never be happy. Why? Because we simply can’t make ourselves happy, and n ..read more

Proverbs 8:30-31. 30then I [Wisdom] was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, 31rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man. Every ancient culture has a story about how the universe began, a cosmology if you will. The Bible is one of many ancient cosmologies, sharing some similarities with all of them. But the Bible’s creation story is also radically different from every other creation story, especially when we consider Proverbs 8 alongside Genesis 1 and 2. How so? First of all, in every other creation story ther ..read more