• NT wisdom literature
• original audience: persecuted, dispersed Jewish believers
• 54 imperative commands
• Wise believers can count trials as causes for joy when they understand God’s power over them and purpose behind them.

• recognition of the nature of trials: certainty, contingency and variety
• reason for the command: knowing…testing…faith…produces endurance
• matter of perspective and not denial

• full effect of endurance
• the purpose/goal of maturity

• if = since
• the generously giving God
• assurance of provision
• ask in faith
• don’t suppose

• Grasp the ultimate goal of wisdom: conformity to Christ to the glory of God.
• Trials tend to traumatize those who value present comfort/security over continual conformity to Christ
• If He is Lord over your experiences, He will not waste your experiences.
• “This is all my hope and peace: nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness: nothing but the blood of Jesus.” (Lowry)

• pastoral letter to a troubled and triumphant church
• Paul spent 18 months in Corinth prior to writing this letter
• objective: unity rooted in the wisdom of Christ crucified
• confirmation of calling (1:1-9) and contention in the church (1:10-17)
• Because Christ crucified demonstrates the complete superiority of God’s wisdom and power to a dying world, depend on it and declare it confidently.

• synonym for the gospel: word of the cross
• disregard results in division and distraction
• failure to address ultimate issues
• contrast: perishing/folly and being saved/power
• supporting OT reference: Isa. 29:13-14
• God’s pleasure in what appears “foolish”

• demand for signs: the spectacular
• demand for wisdom: the intellectual
• a rescue rooted in divine determination
• stumbling block and folly (Deut. 21:22-23)
• foolish wisdom and weak strength
• pulverizes pride (1:31 and Jer. 9:23-24)

• “How soon faith would freeze without a cross.” (S. Ford)
• Dynamic divine determination calls for delighted dependence.
• “Alas, and did my Savior bleed…” and “Forbid it Lord that I should boast…” (Watts)
• “When through the deep waters I call you to go, the rivers of sorrow shall not overflow. For I will be with you, your troubles to bless and sanctify to you your deepest distress.” (Rippon)

• only recorded prayer in Proverbs
• words of Agur (“reverence”) in 30:1-33
• affirmations in 30:1-6: our inability apart from God and God alone as the source of true wisdom

• praying with the intensity of a dying sinner
• two specific requests with one amplification

• remove far from me falsehood and lying (words)
• give me neither poverty nor riches (possessions)
• amplification: feed me with the food needful

• exemplary prayer
• full…deny…desertion
• poor…steal…desecration

• Knowing that God is the sole and all-sufficient source of wisdom, depend on His provision and desire His glory.
• Prioritize dependence on God.
• Pursue the glory of God.
• Connection to the NT and to Christ: Matt. 6:9-13
• “All the way my Savior leads me, cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial, feeds me with the living Bread…” (Crosby)

• context: prohibition about the way of the wicked in 13-22
• metaphor of physical eating
• beneficial consumption

• medicinal and magnificent (16:24)
• pleasing the palate of the soul

• the connective “so”
• outlook and appetite
• cause and consequences
• internalization and endless delight

• Nourish your soul with the honey of God’s word.
• A honey “salad” from the Psalms: 19:10, 119:41-48, 119: 97-104
• connection to Christ: Hebrews 12:1-3 and John 4:34
• “Sing them over again to me, wonderful words of life. Let me more of their beauty see, wonderful words of life.” (P. Bliss)

• ascription
• escalation

• internal control
• sovereign contingency

• paired with verse 32
• concord over consumption

• wise slave and shameful son
• possession over position
• omnicompetence of the ultimate Tester

• the case of the captured ear
• the liar and the mocker and their destiny
• clinging to truth and compassion

• Take your cues about aging from Scripture.
• Focus on finishing well to the glory of God.
• NT connection: 2 Tim. 4: 6-8 and Heb. 12:1-3

• fear of the LORD
• instruction in wisdom
• coupled with humility

• man proposes and God disposes
• the balanced scales of sovereignty
• the practice of self-suspicion
• embracing a precious promise

• comprehensive sovereignty
• arrogance that abominates
• fear and function

• Remember: what matters is what God thinks…
• The right kind of fear will keep you from the wrong kind of function.
• The first destination on the path of pleasing God is dependence.
• Connection to Christ: manifestation of atoning mercy and faithfulness
• “Worthy of reverence, worthy of fear, worthy of love and devotion; Worthy of bowing and bending of knees, worthy of all this and added to these…” (York)

• connection to 14:1-7 and the “how to” response to walking in wisdom
• distinct literary/poetic device: chiasmus (each of 8 verses paired with another)
• main idea: Because wisdom warns of the deceptive nature of appearances, navigate your course by faith and not by sight.

• discernment of the wise
• deception of the foolish

• the wise: making amends and receiving favor
• the foolish: rejecting restitution and receiving judgment

• the private nature of emotional experience
• the reality of mingled grief and joy

• the flourishing upright and the exterminated wicked
• the disaster of the seemingly right way

• Prize the preciousness of absolute truth.
• Cultivate the discipline of discernment.
• Connection to NT and Christ: 2 Cor. 4:1, 13-18
• “…And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight…” (Spafford)

• call of wisdom 1-5
• consideration of wisdom’s existence 22-31
• contrast through personification
• God’s wisdom: perfectly factual knowledge + immediate and perfect situational insight + omnipotent resolve in all its forms
• main idea: Knowing that God’s wisdom brings lasting benefits, value it with increasing intensity.

• unmatched virtue
• incomparable value

• hatred of evil
• giving what She possesses

• benefits for those who love Her
• better than gold which stands the fire-test
• edifying and eternal wealth

• Treasure the revelation of God’s wisdom. Psa. 19:10-11
• Avoid obsession with the vanity and vexation of existence without wisdom. 1 Cor. 3:18-22
• Treasure the incarnation of God’s wisdom. 1 Cor. 1:20-25
• “Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds. Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us. Truths unchanged from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity…” (Getty)

• pay attention
• the internalization of wisdom

• from lip to lip
• from smooth to bitter
• trajectory of death

• avoid association
• impact: economic, social, physical, spiritual

• exclusive fidelity
• exquisite delight

• the LORD’S awareness
• the fatal consequence

• Make sure you get your wisdom from on high rather than from online.
• Connection to Christ: Eph. 5:22-33