The key verse in chapter 4 is verse 18: “But the path of the just is like the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” The picture is that of the sunrise (“the first gleam of dawn,” niv) and the increasing of the light on the pilgrim path as the day advances. If we walk in the way of God’s wisdom, the path gets brighter and brighter and there is no sunset! When the path ends, we step into a land where the light never dims, for “there shall be no night there” (Rev. 22:5).
God has a plan for each of His children (Eph. 2:10), and if we walk in His wisdom, we can confidently say, “The Lord will perfect that which concerns me” (Ps. 138: nkjv). Our path may not be an easy one, but it will always be a fulfilling one as we walk in the will of the Father. This involves three responsibilities on our part: knowing God’s Word (Prov. 4:19), trusting God’s providence (vv. 10–19), and obeying God’s will (vv. 20–27).
Knowing God’s Word (vv. 1–9). Some children don’t like to hear Dad say, “Now, back when I was a boy …” but they might learn a lot if they paid attention and listened. He learned wisdom from his father, and now he’s passing it on to the next generation. This is the primary way God has ordained for His truth to be preserved and invested from generation to generation (Deut. 6:3–9; Eph. 6:1–4; 2 Tim. 1:3–5; 2:2; 3:14–17). Children who have godly parents and grandparents ought to give thanks to the Lord for their rich heritage, instead of scoffing at that heritage and abandoning it for the way of the world.
“Get wisdom” (Prov. 4:5) suggests “buy wisdom” because the Hebrew word carries the idea of a commercial transaction. There’s a price to pay if you want to know God’s truth and obey it. “Buy the truth, and sell it not” (23:23). Parents and grandparents can teach us, but only we can receive the Word into our hearts, cherish it, and pay the price to obey it.
The father tells his sons to treat wisdom the way they would treat their mother, sister, or wife: love her, honor her, embrace her, exalt her! The bumper sticker that asks, “Have you hugged your children today?” ought to be balanced with, “Have you hugged wisdom today?” In Proverbs, Wisdom is personified as a beautiful woman who invites us to her lavish banquet, while Folly is the adulteress or prostitute who tempts us to poverty and death. The one you love is the one who will control your life. Embrace Wisdom and you will have security (4:6), honor (v. 8), and beauty (v. 9).
Trusting God’s providence (vv. 10–19). When you receive God’s truth into your heart, God renews your mind (Rom. 12:2) and enables you to think wisely. This helps you make right decisions and experience the guidance of God day by day. God in His loving providence directs us and prepares the path for us. Augustine said, “Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence.” But King David said it better long before Augustine: “You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16: nkjv).
If you are willing to do God’s will, you will have God’s guidance (John 7:17), but if you treat God’s will like a buffet lunch, choosing only what pleases you, He will never direct you. As I’ve said before, the will of God isn’t for the curious; it’s for the serious. As we look back on more than forty years of marriage and ministry, my wife and I can testify to God’s providential leading in our lives in ways that we never suspected He would use.
But God’s children can’t expect God’s leading if they shuttle back and forth between the path of wisdom and the path of the wicked (Prov. 4:14–17). Stay as far away from that path as you can! Don’t enter it! Avoid it! Don’t go near it! Go as far from it as you can! Certainly we must witness to unsaved people whom the Lord brings to us, but we must never adopt their lifestyle or imitate their ways. God doesn’t guide His children when they’re walking in darkness. When you’re living in the will of God, the path gets brighter and brighter, not darker and darker (1 John 1:5–10).
The danger is that we let the lessons of wisdom slip through our fingers and we lose them. “Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go” (Prov. 4:13). Hold on to wisdom the way a child holds a parent’s hand and trusts Mother or Father to guide and protect. God is able to keep us from stumbling (Jude 24) if we’ll keep ourselves in His wisdom.
Obeying God’s will (vv. 20–27). This is a wonderful paragraph to us as a personal spiritual inventory to see if we’re really living in obedience to the Lord. Let’s ask ourselves:
“What comes into my ears?” (v. 20). Whatever enters my ears will ultimately influence my mind, my heart, and my decisions, so I’d better be careful what I listen to. Paul warns us to beware of “obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking” (Eph. 5: niv), and Psalm 1: tells us to avoid ungodly counsel. When people speak, we must be able to identify God’s voice (John 10:3–5, 16) and obey what He says.
“What is within my heart?” (v. 23). Whatever the heart loves, the ears will hear and the eyes will see. When our children were small, no matter where we were driving, they could usually find the ice cream shops and the toy stores; I must confess that I managed to locate the bookstores! “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (v. 23 niv). If we pollute that wellspring, the infection will spread; before long, hidden appetites will become open sins and public shame.
The Bible warns us to avoid a double heart (Ps. 12:2), a hard heart (Prov. 28:14), a proud heart (21:4), an unbelieving heart (Heb. 3:12), a cold heart (Matt. 24:12), and an unclean heart (Ps. 51:10). “Search me, O God, and know my heart” (139:23).
“What is upon my lips?” (v. 24). Whatever is in the heart will ultimately come out of the mouth (Matt. 12:33–34). God’s children must be careful to have “sound speech that cannot be condemned” (Titus 2:8), speech that’s gracious and “seasoned with salt” (Col. 4: nkjv). The ancient Romans, listening to one of their orators, would look at each other, smile, and say, “Cum grano salis”—“Take it with a grain of salt.” But Christians are supposed to put the salt into their speech and keep their words pure and honest.
As we shall see in a later chapter, Proverbs has a great deal to say about human speech; in fact, the word mouth is used over fifty times and the word lips over forty times in the Authorized Version. Among other things, Solomon warns us about perverse lips (Prov. 4:24), lying lips (12:22), flattering lips (20:19), deceptive lips (24:28), and undisciplined lips (10:19). “He who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin” (13: niv).
“What is before my eyes?” (v. 25). Outlook determines outcome. Abraham was the friend of God because he walked by faith and “looked for a city … whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10). Lot became a friend of the world because he walked by sight and moved toward the wicked city of Sodom (Gen. 13:10, 12). Everybody has some vision before them that helps to determine their values, actions, and plans. We would all be wise to imitate David who said, “I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes” (Ps. 101:3), and the writer of Psalm 119 who prayed, “Turn my eyes away from worthless things” (v. 37 niv). If you are “looking unto Jesus” (Heb. 12:2) as you walk the path of life, then keep that posture of faith. If you look back (Luke 9:62) or around (Matt. 14:30), you may go on a detour.
“What is beyond my path?” (vv. 26–27). The Hebrew word translated “ponder” means “to weigh” or “to make level.” It is related to a word that means “scales” (16:11). In his final speech before he drank the hemlock, Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”; Paul wrote, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Cor. 13: nkjv). The Lord is weighing our ways (Prov. 5:21) and our hearts (21:2), as well as our actions (1 Sam. 2:3), and we had better do the same. Life is too short and too precious to be wasted on the temporary and the trivial.
If we’re walking in the way of wisdom, God promises to protect our path, direct our path, and perfect our path.
All folly can offer us is danger, detours, and disappointments, ultimately leading to death.
It shouldn’t be too difficult to make the right choice!