PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.” (Proverbs 3:22 KJV).

And then, if you do these things described in verse 21, then will we have this promise:

“So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.” (Proverbs 3:22 KJV).

You recall that in verse 21, we are told to “keep sound wisdom and discretion.”

What you could probably get out of verses 19-20 is the Trinity: wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. If you worked hard enough at it. Jesus Christ is wisdom personified in chapter 8. You really don’t know anything spiritual until you get the Holy Spirit. Just figure how to connect understanding with the Father, and you could get the Trinity—if any are so inclined.

In the Old Testament sense, verse 22 is speaking of health to the body. It is speaking of the physical reward of wisdom. The Holy Spirit used soul and body interchangeably, such as in Genesis 12:13 where it says: “. . . and my soul shall live because of thee,” so, “life unto thy soul,” is speaking of physical life.

“. . . and grace to thy neck,” is character. It will give you grace, convictions, it will teach you things and you will be able to walk uprightly. As a person gets old, that neck begins to bend down. The effects of sin and the wages of sin begin to wear upon the body so that there is no grace in the neck anymore, it is stooped. Character and conviction will give a Christians grace in the neck, give them stature, so that even though they are old—they will be respected. “. . . grace to thy neck,” is like an ornament. A lady puts on a necklace, as the Bible speaks of giving more honor to our uncomely parts, as the neck is just a lump of flesh. A lady puts something on it to draw attention to it, to bestow some honor upon it. Wisdom will put a necklace about your neck of and understanding and protection.

“So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.”

A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough today to last him for the next six months or take sufficient air into his lungs at once to sustain life for a week to come. We must draw upon God's boundless stores of grace from day to day as we need it.

- D. L. Moody

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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