Focal passage: Proverbs 1:7-19
Kneeling down to be eye-level with my five-year-old, for what must have been the world record for “Having the Same Conversation Again,” a frightful realization hit me. This is what my parents must have felt like with me. As I explained to her (again!) how in God’s good plan, he gave her parents to keep her safe and teach her how to live rightly, I couldn’t escape the feeling that we might be having this conversation yet again, probably in 10 minutes.
As a loving father, I want to teach her so she can thrive. I want to spare her unnecessary suffering. I want her to navigate life well, treating others with indiscriminate respect and kindness and bringing glory to God.
“Hear my son, your father’s instruction, and forsake not your mother’s teaching,” Solomon pleads. There is a way to live that is good. Knowing how to change a lightbulb is useful, but Solomon aims to teach us how to live in the light.
If wisdom is rightly applying knowledge, there can be no more essential starting point than knowing and fearing God – the humble, respectful fear of being face to face with someone so much greater than yourself.
Our God is a loving Father. He wants to teach us and give us flourishing lives. In giving us Himself in Jesus, He has made it possible for us to live lives of true wisdom. Wisdom will spare us the painful consequences of foolish decisions. Yes, this may keep us out of jail, but more than that, it brings a life of joy and purpose in knowing and serving God.