Pr. 2: Wisdom is Life

Proverbs 2:12 "Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse..."

This second chapter of Proverbs makes me think that Psalms and Proverbs are very tightly connected. In Psalms, David solely relied on God to preserve his life. In Proverbs, it appears that wisdom, resulting in the choices a man makes will preserve his life. Through God. So it's all about life. Don't you get the sense in reading Psalms and Proverbs that God is a God who wants his beloved people to have life? And not just breath in their lungs, and blood in their veins, but true, safe, abundant, blessed life?

The language in the second chapter of Proverbs is all about protection. A shield, a victory, guarding, protecting. But wisdom is a conscious pursuit. It doesn't appear that God just tosses wisdom on a person, and suddenly that person is giftedly wise. In just the first two chapters, God makes it clear that a man's own discernment is critical for acquiring and properly using wisdom.

The world wants to seduce men, and the world makes a lot of things that are in truth dark seem wholly "ok" to pursue. I think that's why the object lesson of adultery is so powerful here in verses 16-19. On the surface, it seems victimless. Even approved. But who is man "cheating on" in sin? Not the one whose paths lead to destruction. God is the one who is disregarded and rejected when unwise choices are made. Wise people see through these "options," they are the ones who manage to avoid the net spread in full view of them (Pr. 1:17).