Using as a base of study today Windows of Wisdom by Stephen Olford.
Proverbs 8:32-36 (ESV)
32 “And now, O sons, listen to me:
blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
34 Blessed is the one who listens to me,
watching daily at my gates,
waiting beside my doors.
35 For whoever finds me finds life
and obtains favor from the Lord,
36 but he who fails to find me injures himself;
all who hate me love death.”
The Proverbs are a bunch of wisdom sayings. If we play attention to them, they can help us to better live lives pleasing to God.
Today the author is telling us to keep God's ways, to hear his instruction and to not neglect what we are hearing. We need to be wise in our life.
If I look at the rest of the chapter I see that God created wisdom.
23 Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
and so we are wise to seek after wisdom, blessed if we do what is wise. Part of doing that is to listen to instruction and then the heed what we hear. If we don't we are not wise. Being wise is a necessity in life...it brings us the favour of God, it brings us to truly living life.
What the alternative to seeking after wisdom? We end up injuring ourselves and loving death. Not something I'm keen on. :)
But seriously, what does this mean for practical living. I know lots of people who don't love the Lord. And they seem to be living lives of contentment. I know that in the end, if they fail to find God then they will suffer the second death, they will end up in a place of punishment. Is this what the author is talking about? I don't get that impression. This lack of seeking after wisdom seems to have a more immediacy about it.
God set up the world in such a way that seeking after wisdom should be a part of life. As believers we know that true wisdom comes from seeking after the things of God. So if people don't love God or think of him as a part of life, then they are missing out on something vital in life. So perhaps this is what the author is talking about. If people don't pursue what should be a natural part of real living, then what's the point really? It's like an unseen injury to themselves that only becomes truly apparent when they die.
Olford touches on this in his meditation;
He talks about how we are blessed (happy) if we seek after wisdom and do as wisdom says. We are happy if we seek (like children) to learn and then to do what we have learned. And all those who don't seek after wisdom are being self-deceptive and don't truly have happiness.
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