Introduction

This January we are returning to the book of Proverbs seeking wisdom for the New Year. God designed and created this world with order and purpose, but sin brought disorder to our relationships with God, creation, one another, and even ourselves. Jesus paved the way for a new restored order through His life, death, and resurrection. He has provided a path of reconciliation for all our relationships. Our job is to live out God’s new order. Proverbs shows us how to live with wisdom and order. We begin this year with an invitation to listen well.

Hear and Accept

“Hear, my son, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many” (v. 10).

We have a choice to either hear and accept God’s Word and wisdom or to ignore and reject it. Ignoring the Word is the same as rejecting it. If we accept it, generally speaking, it will lead to a good, long life. This is not always the case, but wise choices usually lead to life, health, and good relationships.

If you buy a new car and ignore all the routine maintenance like changing the oil, sooner or later it will break down. Neglecting your spiritual “maintenance” has consequences too. You can’t simply go through life and do whatever you want and expect to have strong faith and good outcomes in all areas of your life.

What You Need to Know Is in the Word

“I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness” (v. 11).

Life is like walking a long path, not a series of independent scenes. Your choices today influence tomorrow’s outcomes.

• Steps + Time = Direction
• Direction + Time = Destination

We don’t notice most of our steps each day. One step may not take us very far off course, but 10,000 steps in the wrong direction will be significant. A day of foolish choices may not seem like much, but a year of foolish choices will have great consequences. This is true of our steps, our words, our spending, our work, and every area where we have to make choices. Each day we make thousands of small choices and use thousands of words. Will we choose the path of wisdom or the path of folly today? Where will we be tomorrow or next year if we stay on the path we’ve chosen today?

God has given us the road map through His Word. Are we going to pay attention to the map or toss it aside and plot our own course?

Unhampered Steps

“When you walk, your step will not be hampered, and if you run, you will not stumble” (v. 12).

Wise choices are like walking on level terrain. The cumulative effect of wise steps is to smooth out the path before us. Foolish steps lead to rough ground and entanglements in the undergrowth of sin, struggles, and suffering. For example:

• If we use our words wisely and respectfully, over time people will want to listen to what we have to say. But if we talk foolishly and rudely, people will tune us out and ignore us even if we have something important to say.
• If we spend our money wisely, we will find freedom from debt and will generally have what we need. But if we spend money foolishly, we will find ourselves lacking the essentials and increasingly indebted to creditors.
• If we work wisely, we will gain a reputation for reliability and we’ll find more opportunities to seek the kind of work we most enjoy. But if we work foolishly, we’ll be likely to lose good jobs, and be limited in options because of our reputation.
• If we take care of our bodies wisely, we will be healthier and will feel better and will be inclined to maintain an active lifestyle. But if we make a lot of unhealthy choices, we’ll feel worse and won’t have the ability or inclination to start exercising or dieting.

Our choices have a “compounding interest.” Choices become habits, which become a lifestyle, and eventually a lifetime.

What to Do

“Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life” (v. 13).

We must hold on to wise instruction every day. We can’t just intermittently choose wisdom and hope to stay on a wise path.

“Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on” (vv. 14-15).

The path of wickedness may not seem that bad at first. It begins with a foolish choice or two that lead in the wrong direction. We need to decide in advance that we aren’t going to get anywhere close to that path. We may start asking “How close can I get without sinning?” but that’s the wrong question. We should be asking “How far away can I stay from that temptation?” We can all think of times when we’ve allowed ourselves to dabble with temptation and quickly found ourselves in sin. Once we’ve already started down the path it’s harder to change course than we may realize.

A lifetime of foolish and sinful choices not only draws us away from God, but it hurts others as well, and it only gets worse over time.

“For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence” (vv. 16-17).

Choose Your Path

“But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day” (v. 18).

Righteousness grows brighter like the sunrise. One wise choice doesn’t instantaneously change our lives like a light switched on. Righteous living gets easier with time. Steady growth takes time and consistent, wise choices.

“The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble” (v. 19).

Wicked living becomes increasingly dark. After a while you can’t even tell what choices have led to your current problems. Stumbling becomes more frequent and harder to recover from.

Good News

God didn’t leave us to stumble through life on our own. Jesus came down into the darkness to redeem us from our disordered lives of sin. Through Christ we can have restored relationships with God, one another, ourselves, and the creation. We have access to the Holy Spirit to guide us in righteousness and help us to make wise decisions. And we have fellowship with others in the church that can help us to work through what God’s Word says about our particular situations.

“Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12).