Happy 2018! With the start of a new year I'm going to try to return to the original purpose of my devotional blogging, which was to give readers some brief scriptural insights to carry through the day, but also to do so in a way that can be imitated. Ideally, I'd love to see others take up this same habit in the new year. So I'm going to try be shorter and more to the point (which for me is sometimes a challenge!).
Observation: The book is announced as a collection of Solomon's proverbs, and lists their purpose, including "gaining instruction in wise dealing, justice and equity." And the beginning of knowledge is "fear of the Lord."
Application: I appreciate Solomon's words that wisdom doesn't just exist for its own sake but for "wise dealing, justice and equity." That really can be applied to all our learning, but especially learning from God's word. Jesus gave the great commandment, which sums up all others: love God, and love our neighbor. So the question I come to any text with is: how is what I'm reading going to help me better do that? Not every piece of learning is about just and ethical conduct, of course. But everything we learn that teaches us more about our place in the universe can give us a better perspective with which to pursue justice and love.
One final insight to go forward with: We can't learn anything until we admit we don't know everything. I think that's hard to do sometimes. Proverbs says again and again that not wanting to learn is itself a sign of foolishness. So the beginning of wisdom is "fear of the Lord", acknowledging that before God, we are small, weak, and short-sighted. This can "clean our slate", so to speak, to open our minds for what God can teach us.
Prayer: God, help me to be humble. Help me see the vastness of what I don't know, so that what I learn may benefit not just me, but my neighbor and the world you love. Amen.
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