PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart” (Proverbs 7:2-3 KJV).

God’s emphasis in Proverbs is repetition. We learn by a number of things. We learn by association. If you want to learn what one thing is you can associate it with another thing, you can get the picture. If you want to know what God is like, you can study the creation. The Godhead is revealed in the Creation. He associates it with something you do understand. When someone says something that you don’t understand, they will often say, “Well, it’s like this . . .” We can learn by experience. It is said that that is the best teacher. Just doing a thing, teaches you. A teacher can say, “If you do such a thing, this will happen,” but until you actually do it yourself, you don’t really know if it will happen. We also learn by repetition, and the method of instruction in Proverbs is repetition.

“. . . keep my words,” in other words, keep them in front of you. Go to where there is good preaching. They are like a good savings account, “lay up my commandments with thee,” or put them up for a rainy day. Memorize those promises, that way when tragedy comes, you’ll have something to lean on, something to fall back on. When temptation comes, you’ll have a shield to stand behind. “Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world” (I Peter 5:9 KJV).

When God tests you, like He tested Abraham, we have a promise to fall back on: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:13 KJV). “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 KJV) is a good promise to fall back on when God tests us.

“Keep my commandments, and live,” we are encouraged to learn the Word and to keep the Word to protect us from harm. In the passage before us, had Israel kept the commandments would they ever have ended up like they did in Hosea? No. In the New Testament, if we study the commandments and live by the commandments—what will they do for you? They will put you under the Law, and when we put ourselves under the Law—we sin. “And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death” (Romans 7:10 KJV). It becomes the thing that slays you, for “the wages of sin is death.”

In Proverbs, the Old Testament Jew had moral commandments, rituals and feasts to atone for his sins. So, by keeping those things he would live.

“. . . and my law as the apple of thine eye,” children are the apple of the parent’s eye. This is saying that the Law is the most cherished thing that they have. There is nothing better than the “apple of my eye.”

Daily Bible study is necessary if we are going to begin our day with the right attitude and the right spiritual diet. Proverbs has 31 chapters, and most months have 31 days, so let’s read a chapter of Proverbs a day and see what God might have for us. As the Lord leads, share with us what God has shown you in a special way and by His grace let us build up a devotional repository. Let’s keep our knives and forks handy for some daily bread! Ideally, a chapter or two of Proverbs will fit in nicely with a good plan of reading our Bibles through each year.

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