Month: August 2021

Proverbs 2:12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things.

This promise that the Lord will deliver you from the way of evil people is based on the condition of hearing the Word, seeking knowledge, gaining wisdom (Jesus), studying the Bible, going to church, and such. Believing in Jesus is, of course, a wise thing to do. Faith in the gospel of Christ “delivers us from evil,” as we pray according the Lord’s Prayer.

Delivering from evil does not mean that “bad things” won’t happen, for we live in sinful, fallen, cursed world, but we will be delivered from the evil of the bad things. The eternal evil thing that we are delivered from is the “killing of both soul and body in hell.” This we should fear. From this evil Christ delivers us. Therefore, we believe, we pray, we fear not, we “fear” (believe) only God.

When we know the Bible and believe the Gospel we have Wisdom, or eternal life within. Then the promise is that we are delivered (defended, protected) from the way of the evil man. The evil man is the unbeliever who is without God and lives the way of the world. Wisdom delivers us from that Way of Life. Thank God for that promise, for the way that seems right to a man ends in death, eternal separation from God.

Psalm 1 is our guide: “Blessed is the man that…standeth not in the way of sinners…but his delight is in the law of the Lord…and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.” Medition on God’s Word is a great way to avoid the evil way. The way of the world and of the flesh is always with us, but there is another Way. It is Jesus. He delivers.

Proverbs 2:11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee.

The condition for this promise is still “hearing the Word and seeking knowledge of God.” If you are in the Word, then you gain discretion and understanding; discretion and understanding will preserve you and keep you. Discretion and understanding are synonyms for Wisdom: wisdom is Jesus and faith in Him. Wisdom is knowing the way to live, and then saying the things that give a blessing and dong the things that are good for others.

This godly lifestyle comes from faith in Jesus, which comes from hearing the Gospel. Then we have wisdom (discretion and understanding), which is Jesus’ life. We learn from the Law what is right and good, then we are convicted of sin for failing to do it, then we repent and receive forgiveness, then we are motivated and empowered by the Gospel and the Spirit to actually do it right.. The Gospel is the power to do the Law and become better people. This is wisdom and sanctification.

Jesus is the wisdom of God and our sanctification. First Jesus forgives and saves. Then He makes us better people. The promise is that the discretion and understanding of the Law and the Gospel will preserve us and keep us in the one true faith now and forever. This is the good life.

Proverbs 2:8, 9 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

There is a path and a way. It is the same thing, though a path connotes narrowness, the way connotes width. The image of a path and a way is of a picturesque nature trail that makes the journey pleasant, but it also has a purpose and leads to a glorious destination. Both the journey and the destination is one great promise: we have eternal life now and it is the goal to which we are headed.

This is a continued promise based on the condition: if you seek after knowledge, if you seek first the kingdom of God, if you love God and want Jesus more than anything, if you hear and receive the Word of God, then the Lord puts you on good path.

The good path is Jesus. Jesus is the way. He does not just show you the way. He is the way, and He is the end goal, He is the life. He is your life. The path or the way is a metaphor for life as it is lived out step by step through time. Jesus is that path, the good path, the right path, the narrow path, the only path. He promises that He will be the path, that He will keep you on the path, that He will find you when you stray. He will “preserve the way of his saints.”

A further promise is that The Path will be just and right and wise and good for you. Because of God’s precious and very great promise we will seek the Lord and His Kingdom first, last, always and only.

Proverbs 2:7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk up rightly.

The conditional promise continues on the condition of seeking after knowledge. “If you cry after knowledge and understanding and seek her as a treasure, then you will be closer to being “the righteous” and to walking “uprightly.” To those people the Lord lays up sound wisdom and He is buckler to them.

There is a blessing to being accounted righteous and then living according to the righteousness we have been given by grace. It is more than just pleasing God and being accepted by Him; it is having wisdom and a protective shield (the Lord is our shield). When we put on the spiritual armor we take up the shield of faith to quench the flaming darts of the evil one. We walk uprightly when we walk by faith. He is our shield and we are safe, delivered from evil.

Jesus is the wisdom of God, who is laid up for us. Believe these twin truths: we are not as wise as we think we are: the Fall into Sin has made us stupid; we are wiser than we think we are for we have God’s spirit, God’s life, and God’s wisdom within us. It doesn’t get any better than that! “Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not on thine own understanding.” Without God, our understanding is faulty.

The desire for wisdom is an inbred desire in every human ever since Eve: “the tree was to be desired to make one wise. [Genesis 3:6]” This is the deceit and lure of the “world.” Instead, we may eat of the other tree, the Tree of Life, which is Jesus. Then we have the desire fulfilled. Believe the promise: you are wise, if you look to the right tree.

Proverbs 2:5, 6 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

God promises wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. These words are synonyms with some nuanced differences. We need wisdom, indeed, we crave it. How wonderful it would be to make the best decisions and then carry them out! But this wonderful promise is conditional. The “if” clauses preceding this promise are summed up in the activity: Listen to God. If you receive my (Wisdom’s = Jesus’) words; if you listen to wisdom (Jesus); if you apply your heart to understanding; if cry after knowledge; if you seek it as treasure, then you will be wise, know the right things, and understand them.

In other words, hear the Word of Law and Gospel and life will be better. Promise. Hear the Law so that you know what to do. Hear the Gospel so that you have the power to do it. Do everything you can to know the Word of God, and thereby you know the Lord better.

When Jesus lives with you, you have an intimate knowledge of God, who is always good and right. When Jesus lives with you, you have an understanding of what is really beneficial and harmful, helpful and hurtful, blessing and cursing, good and bad, right and wrong, life and death. When Jesus lives with you, you have the wisdom to know how to apply the best thing at the right time to the right people in the right way. That would be superhuman, but that is what Jesus, the Wisdom of God, is for us: a real undefiled human.

Proverbs 1:33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

This a conditional promise: if you listen me (wisdom = Jesus), then you will live in safety be at ease from fear of evil. The “me” who is talking is Wisdom, or the personification of wisdom. Wisdom is Jesus, who is the Wisdom of God. The Father says, “Listen to My Son.” Jesus says. “Listen to my words.” The word for listen is “hearken,” which includes both hearing and doing, as Jesus says, “He who hears my words and does them is like the man who built his house on the rock.”

The promise is for those who listen to Jesus, pay attention to His Word, and actually obey and do them. Their lives will be safe and secure and they will be “quiet from fear of evil.” Evil does not mean pain, suffering, problems, trials and tribulations; it means eternal death and separation from God. The Christian who has heard the Law and Gospel of God and obeys it (believes in Jesus) is delivered from the eternal evil of the bad, or good, things that happen to him. Bad things will happen to children of God. The question is not “Why?” The question is, “How do I respond?” The “hearkener” will trust God anyway and believe that He is always good, no matter what.

The Wise Man listens to the Law, is convicted of sin, and repents. He then listens to the Gospel, is convicted of God’s grace and forgiveness, and believes. That man dwells safely and is quiet from fear of evil. He knows how to pray “deliver us from evil,” and he trusts the Lord to hear his prayer.

Proverbs 1:23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

Proverbs is a book of conditional promises: if you do this or that, then this or that promise comes to you. Wisdom is speaking here. If you listen to me and do what I say, then I, wisdom, will pour my spirit unto you. Jesus is the “Wisdom of God;” Jesus is the Word of God; Jesus is God. God says, “Listen to him!” When Jesus is transfigured the voice of God proclaims, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to Him!” The OT says listen to wisdom; the NT says listen to Jesus. It’s the same thing.

The Lord will reprove us through the Law. We need to listen to the word of Law and turn, which means, repent and believe the gospel. All who believe in Jesus have received the poured out Holy Spirit. The Spirit creates faith in Christ and faith receives the Spirit.

Jesus pours the Spirit who teaches the meaning. The Spirit convinces us of Sin, so that we turn; He convinces us of Righteousness, so that we may be justified; He convinces us of Judgment, so that we do not fear the accusations of the devil for the prince of this world is judged.

We enjoy the promise of the poured out Spirit, who lives and rules in our hearts to give us practical wisdom for daily living and lead in the way everlasting. As our live-on guide He makes the words of Wisdom known to us. 1 Corinthians 1:30: “Christ Jesus became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

Job 36:11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

The problem that the Book of Job wrestles with is whether or not piety brings material prosperity and earthly pleasure. The book gives the lie to that conventional wisdom. The answer is a resounding NO! There is no direct cause and effect correlation between the two. However, Elihu is still pressing the point, implicitly accusing Job of not obeying and serving the Lord. Since Job is suffering such great loss it must be that he has not repented of his sins. In the end Job got it right and the friends did not speak what was right about God.

Meanwhile, the conditional promise Elihu speaks of here is still true spiritually and eternally. If we could and would obey God, then we will have prosperity and pleasures. We can’t and we don’t. But Jesus obeyed the Father for us, living a righteous life and dying an innocent death. He gives us His life and death by grace and we receive it by faith. Therefore, we enjoy spiritual prosperity and eternal pleasures now and forevermore.

When we believe this Gospel Promise we wallow in the riches of His glory from which God will supply every need of ours, and we revel in the spiritual pleasures of the Kingdom of God. This prosperity and pleasure is not fleeting, as the world’s wealth and thrills are, but deep, abiding, and eternal.

Job 33:30 [God worketh with man] to to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living.

The resurrection promise is at the core of all the promises, all our hope, and all of life. We know with absolute certainty and without a doubt that we will rise again in the body at the Last Day, because Jesus already did, and we are United with Him by faith. There is bodily resurrection hope in this promise about being brought back from the pit. Although the body is not mentioned here, the resurrection of the body is a basic Scriptural promise. “The Pit” is the grave into which the dead body is placed, either literally or symbolically, if the body is disposed of in some other way. “An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs (pits) will hear his voice and come out [John 5:28].”

The second aspect of this promise (to bring back from the pit) is the conversion of the sinner from spiritual death to spiritual life and faith. When a sinner believes in Christ he is brought from death to life: “Whoever hears my word and believes…has passed from death to life [John 5:24].” The sinner without Christ is dead in sin, without God, and in the Pit. But by faith we are alive to God. We see the light.

Thirdly, we may apply this promise to our everyday lives. At times the Christian may get down in the dumps, or “in the pits,” for many different reasons. These so-called “little deaths” are caused by sin, either by a specific sin or by general sin in the world. Through the gospel the Lord will deliver us from these “little pits” and bring us back into the light of life. So we pray: “Good Lord, deliver us. Bring me back.”

Job 33:28 He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.

This promise through Elihu is based on the condition of repentance, as the previous verse says, “if any say, I have sinned.” If you say you have sinned and perverted that which was right, then God will deliver you from the pit and your life will see light. In simple words: Repent, and You will be saved from death and darkness. Jesus saves from eternal death and gives eternal life to all. Repentance and faith receives the gift of life and light.

Elihu is trying to convince Job that he should repent (“say, ‘I have sinned’”), for some sin is obviously the cause of his suffering and the loss of his health and prosperity. Elihu is wrong in applying this principle specifically to Job, but he is right in proclaiming this truth generally to all people: Repent and be delivered. Every human needs to repent daily, for daily we sin much, and everyone needs deliverance from death and darkness daily, for Christ delivers daily. We don’t let a day go by without making an “altar call.” The Spirit leads us to the cross, where we kneel and repent of sin and receive forgiveness of sin.

God daily and richly forgives all my sins. He delivers my soul from going into the pit. “The Pit” is a place eternal death and darkness and utter separation from God. From this deliver us, good Lord. We may be deceived into thinking that hell is on earth and some days we are “in the pits,” but we are wrong. For that is nothing like the eternal lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels. A “taste” of hell, or heaven, is nothing like the real thing.

My life will “see the light.” And this light is nothing like the sun or anything we have ever seen. The soul sees this light now by faith, but then we have the promise of beholding face to face the blinding (actually, eye-opening) light of the glory of the love of God. This is the promised outcome of repentance and faith. Behold it now.