I took a class last semester at Harding called Israelite Poetry. The class mostly centered around Proverbs and I can tell you that I learned more in those seven or eight days reading Proverbs than I did in that entire class. That just speaks to the power of the Holy Spirit revealing scripture when and how He pleases.
The biggest thing that I learned is what Proverbs is not. I always thought that it was a list of sayings that taught you how to gain wisdom and how not to be foolish, but it doesn't read that way at all. The only times in the book that the writer speaks about something that brings wisdom are when he talks about the fear of the Lord and knowledge of the Holy One (1:7; 9:10; 16:6). All the other parts of the book are merely saying what wise men and foolish men look like. That opens up so much more. Now it isn't a how-to book. It's a picture of what your life should look like inside the context of fearing the Lord. It showed me that everything matters. Not just reading my Bible and talking about God, but things as small as being diligent in my work and raising my kids right are important. It makes sense too. God should be glorified in everything I do, even the smallest things (1 Corinthians 10:31). This is the picture of a Christian. One who looks more and more like Christ so that His Name is praised. That's what I saw in Proverbs.
With that said, Proverbs says a whole lot about the character of God. The thing that absolutely jumped out at me was His control. This might be the most telling book when it comes to God's control. 2:6; 3:9-10; 9:11; 10:3, 27; 16:3-4, 9, 11, 33; 19:21; 20:24; 21:1, 30-31; 30:5. All of those are amazing truths about God's sovereignty and control, the ones I want to focus on are 16:3-4, 33; 19:21 and 21:1. These things just blow my mind that they are so blatant here in this book.
First 16:3-4, "Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble." This ends all debate about Romans 9. In Romans 9 Paul asks all these rhetorical questions about whether God creates some men for destruction. All the arguments I have heard are that Paul never definitely says "yes" to any of these things. Well guess what? The writer of Proverbs definitely says it. "The Lord has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble." If you believe that the Bible is true it is very hard for you to get around this passage. God creates men for the purpose of destroying them with His wrath. Plain as day.
Now 16:33, "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord." God controls physics to do what He wants. Is this really that hard to believe? The Creator of our universe and all of its rules, bends them when He pleases so that His purposes are upheld. He decides what comes up when dice are rolled. That is amazing! Again, there is no way of getting around this. It makes me think of Acts 2, when they cast lots to see who the new twelfth disciple should be. I always thought that was weird, but when you have the knowledge that God decides how the dice fall, it is pretty easy to put that decision in His hands.
19:21, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." Wow. Again. A man will decide that he is going to do something, but if God doesn't want it to happen, it's not going to happen. I'm not sure how much more clear you can get. God is in control over what happens. I'm not trying to argue just for argument's sake. I think this matters. It matters to me what my God is like.
21:1, "The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever He will." Now this takes all of this a step farther. Before this everything was outside of us, but this has to do with our desires and thoughts. The heart of a king is controlled by the Lord. This is obvious. I'm sure most of you know that in the Hebrew culture (and many other ancient cultures from what I've heard) the heart was the center of everything. There's a reason you don't hear much about the brain in the Old Testament. They believed that everything flowed out from the heart. Not only was it the physical center of your body, but the emotional and intellectual center as well. So if God is holding that in His hand, he is pretty much in control is He not? Again, I am just reading this off the page and trying to put it in simple terms. God directs the hearts of people like a stream. Our desires go where He wants them to go.
All of this is very good. It is good because it is God and we know that He is good. I don't understand all of it, and I probably never will. But I care. I care because I love God and the more I learn about Him, the more I love Him. I am very confused by people who say that doctrine is not important to them because they love God and that's all they care about. A lot of people tell me they are relational people so they have trouble reading the Bible. They'd rather just pray. Let's put this is human terms for a minute.
God: "Let me tell you about this great thing that I did for my people."
Me: "No I'm really not interested. Here I'll just tell you everything I want to be better about my life."
God: "Do you want to know some of the things that make me happy and give me joy?"
Me: "No not really. That would probably take up too much of my time. Here I'll just tell you all my problems for today."
God: "I've got some directions for the way that I want you to live. Will you listen to them?"
Me: "No. Some people might get mad at me for misreading what you say so I just don't want to hear it."
That's what it sounds like to me when people say they don't care about those things that divide. I do care. I care because I love God. I love everything about Him and it makes me happy to learn more about Him. So while you might not agree with the things that I believe about God's character, don't tell me that you don't think that it matters. God's personality, His likes and dislikes, the history of what He has done, they all matter.
There are a lot of other great things in Proverbs. As I said before the fear of the Lord is all over. Joy is everywhere and things that make God and other people happy. There is even some emphasis on scripture and some talk of God's wrath. The most obvious thing though was God's control. That's why I expounded on it so much. Read Proverbs. It's not too long and it's not really hard to follow. There are a few verses that I just didn't understand what they were trying to say. Hopefully some of my work on Greek and Hebrew (obviously Hebrew for Proverbs) will help clarify some of those things. But for now, read and pray that God reveals His Word to you. It all comes from Him. Proverbs 2:6, "For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding." I hope this was encouraging and challenging. I love you guys. Message me if you want to talk. I can't wait to start Ecclesiastes tomorrow.
All for His glory,
Mitchell
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