PROFITING FROM PROVERBS – 1/7/2022

King James Bible | 1/7/2022 | pilgrimsprogress

[Pilgrim's Progress]

“My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee” (Proverbs 7:1 KJV).

[Pilgrim's Progress]

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, don’t really know if it will happen. We also learn by repetition, and the method of instruction in Proverbs is repetition.

“My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee” (Proverbs 7:1 KJV).

“. . . 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.

Now, we’ve already seen that Proverbs is a lot of repetition. The Word takes it for granted that we do not remember everything we hear, so it says it over and over again. That’s one way we learn—through repetition, through association, and experience—so he says again, “My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.” In 3:8 it says that if we “keep my commandments, and live” (vs. 2), “It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones” (3:8).

Even for a Christian, this is true, for “if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Rom 8:13 KJV). Words to the wise is sufficient.

“Bind them upon thy fingers.” A book is bound, and we talk about that being the Bible. “write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman” (Proverbs 7:3-4 KJV). In other words, get as close as you can as you would to your own family. “That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words” (Proverbs 7:5 KJV).

“For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house, In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night” (Proverbs 7:6-9 KJV). Here, by the way, are the four watches in the night and they have something to do with the second coming which we will see when we look at Proverbs 7:9 “Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning” (Mar 13:35 KJV).

[Pilgrim's Progress]

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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