PROVERB PRACTICALS  

 

Prov 22:19,20,  That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.  Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,

Bow down thine ear!

You hear the words of knowledge!

Apply thine heart!

Thou keep them within thee!

They shall be fitted in thy lips!

This book is written to me, personally.

It is not written to a group. It is not designed to get group response.

It is not going to make a group more spiritual.

The message of this book is designed for individual response.

Jesus did not say to Nicodemus, All you Pharisees must be born again.

No! His message was personal to Nicodemus alone. Ye, Nicodemus, must be born again!

God does not save groups! He only saves individuals, one by one!

The book is written to me by God as a gift from God to help me to trust in God.

God has not left me alone to discover truth but he has revealed truth about himself so that I may safely place my trust in him.

Eternity is at stake here and God does not expect me to indulge in a gamble of my soul.

He provides all that I need to insure the safety of my soul.

He provides all that I need to insure that if I put my trust in him my trust is not misplaced.

I do not have to wonder about eternity because this book tells me everything I need to know to insure a place with God throughout eternity.

This book is designed to give me assurance of my relationship with God

He has provided this book so that I may know every duty and obligation that I have to man, but more importantly every duty and obligation I have to God.

He says in this proverb  I have made known to thee this day, even to thee, that thy trust may be in the LORD.

Why is the Bible written?

The Bible is written that my trust may be in the LORD.

The LORD is trustworthy and he provides the Bible to me to reveal his trustworthiness to me.

He does not expect me to have a blind trust in him.

He does not desire that I blindly trust in anyone.

But he gives me this book that I may have confidence in him.

In order to perform any duty right, I must have confidence in him.

This book enlightens me to renounce self-confidence.

It tells me not to lean to my own understanding.

It tells me my understanding is flawed and I must trust in the only one whose understanding is totally complete and never flawed.

I must trust in the one who sees every facet of every face of every problem or situation.

I must trust in the one who knows the way and sees where each way leads and directs my way.

I must trust in the one who provides the mirror to compare the results of righteousness to unrighteousness and convinces that the results of unrighteousness is destruction.

He protects me from lessons learned from experience by teaching me to trust in his word alone.

This book provides that which I need to reject experience as my teacher and to accept the word of God as my teacher.

This book convinces me that the world's adage of "not knocking something it if you haven't tried something" is an evil adage.

I don't have to try every kind and every brand of evil way because this book tells me that the wages of sin is death.

Experience is not the best teacher, Jesus Christ, God's word, is the best teacher.

No other book tells me that.

I have made known to thee this day, even to thee, our proverb says.

Until I hear the word of God as addressed to me alone I do not hear the word of God.

It is addressed to me and applies to me particularly.

I must take it personally or I take it not at all.

It does not fulfill its function as God intended if it is only poetry, literature, or history.

It is poetry, literature and history but the study of it for those purposes alone is vain.

Any who indulge in that effort is simply on the broad way that leads to destruction.

This book is designed to bring fruit into the barns of God.

And if no fruit results from its use, then its use is in vain.

It does no good on the bookshelf, in the motel drawer or on the end table next to the bed.

God expects it to bring confrontation, to bring a clash.

He expects it to produce conflicts, controversy, friction, strife and dissension.

He has not designed it to be a book that keeps one comfortable, restful, relaxed, or complacent.

If that is all it does for you then it is not being used aright.

It is designed as the only reality of life, all else is distorted, perverted, warped and twisted.

It is the only book that tells me the truth about my heart.

It tells me I cannot trust my heart and that my only trust that results in truth is trusting in God.

It is designed to make me face myself and see myself as God sees me.

A sinner who is excluded from the presence of God, lost, undone, without hope unless outside help comes.

Unless outside help comes I am hell bound because God is Holy and God heareth not sinners.

It tells me that someone who is Holy must intercede for me because I, as a sinner have no standing with God.

It levels with me, it does not try to win me with falsehoods and flattery.

Proverbs 22:20,  Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge,

God challenges me to judge his word.

He challenges me to test his word and see what excellencies his word is.

Find other word that provides the excellencies that his word provides in counsels and knowledge.

His word has value far above the glittering things of this world because his word provides the words to live by,

to make prudent decisions,

to determine our behavior,

to understand our way to heaven,

to know God and his Son Jesus Christ.