This remembers the preamble, the purpose of this book. Verse two, to know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity, to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth, Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Last time, remember that we talked about the big picture of this passage was that we need to be learners, we need to receive instruction. So remember we talked about the wise person is the one who knows that he doesn't know, and so he's willing to learn and he wants to learn. The know-it-all is a fool, and so we don't wanna be know-it-alls. So that was the big picture, but what we're gonna do today, we're gonna go looking more at the details of these different words that are used because I think it would be helpful when we go through the book of Proverbs, you're gonna find these words over and over again. These words appear like prudence and discretion and understanding. They're all aspects of wisdom, and so hopefully it'd be helpful to know more exactly what those words mean. We're gonna start with just the word wisdom, and maybe, I don't think that we've really defined exactly what wisdom is. But before we get there, let me start with this. Maybe this quote will ring some bells for some of you. This is from an article. It says, many parents do not understand why their teenagers occasionally behave in an impulsive, irrational, or dangerous way. At times, it seems like teens don't think things through or fully consider the consequences of their actions. So does that sound familiar? Does that sound familiar? If you're a parent who has raised teenagers or maybe you can think of yourself as a teenager. We were all teenagers at one point. Did you do some really dumb things? Did you do some things that were maybe impulsive or you didn't think about the consequences of your actions? Well, I had this lesson prepared, and then in God's providence, I was going through my car yesterday, and I found this. This is what my kids were doing in school this year, learning about the brain. So this is a hat, but I won't put on the hat. And what this shows us is the different parts of the brain, and near the front is what's called the frontal cortex of the brain. And so this is all labeled, the different things that this part of the brain can do. So look at the, well, you can't see, but I'll read it. The front, it says, understanding the big picture. Understanding the big picture. That's what this front part of your brain does. Logic. Logic is right there at the very front. And then decisions. decisions, which has to do with understanding the big picture. So this is the frontal part of the brain that learns how to make decisions, what a wise decision is, what is logical, and what the big picture is. So back to this article. Adolescents differ from adults in the way they behave and make decisions. Studies have shown that brains continue to mature and develop throughout childhood and adolescence and well into early adulthood. So the frontal cortex of the brain is the part of the brain that controls reasoning and helps us think before we act. This part develops later. This part of the brain is still changing and maturing well into adulthood. So, based on the stage of their brain development, adolescents are more likely to act on impulse. misread and misinterpret social cues and emotions. So think of a teenage girl crying because the guy didn't sit next to her and he doesn't like me and she just breaks down in tears. She's misreading emotions and social cues. They're more likely to get into accidents, get involved in fights, engage in dangerous or risky behavior. Adolescents are less likely to think before they act, to pause and consider consequences, and to change dangerous or inappropriate behaviors. So, scientists can see that it's part of the brain development that teenagers, young adults, find those things difficult to do, to think before you act. Now, I'm not saying that we just blame it all on the brain, that they don't have any responsibility for what they do. You know, if you walk into your teenager's room and he's lighting a fire inside his room, he can't just say, well, my frontal cortex just isn't developed. That's why I'm doing this. And you say, what were you thinking? He said, I wasn't thinking, because I don't have a frontal cortex. So that's not what we're saying. I do, it is interesting, I wonder, if we taught children to be more wise, would their brains develop faster? Would that part of the brain develop more? So is it the chicken or the egg? Does the brain not develop because they're not wise? Or are they not wise because their brain doesn't develop? Well, we won't get into that. But all of that is to say that's one more reason to work hard at making wise decisions. So it's kind of like being in shape. You know, as I get older, It's a little bit harder year by year to be in shape. So do I just say, well, it's just my age, I can't do anything about it. No, it's just one more thing you have to overcome. You have to work extra hard to be in shape. So, especially a teenager or a young adult, They can't just blame it on their brain. This is just one more reason young people, especially, would need to work harder at making wise decisions. Now, the other thing, of course, that we need to remember is that it's not just young people who do dumb things. You don't have to be young to be foolish. Think in Proverbs how many warnings there are to this young man about the adulterous woman. And he says, don't go near her. If you carry fire in your chest, you're going to be burned. Don't go close to the adulteress. Well, we know that there are plenty of people who are not young men, are not young adults, who commit adultery. There are 50-year-olds who commit adultery. And so that's just one example. And you don't have to be young to be foolish. So young people maybe especially have this obstacle to overcome, but all of us need to work on wisdom. So I'm bringing all this up to say, as we come to the definition of wisdom, this is basically what wisdom is. Wisdom is what that article says teenagers are not good at, thinking about the consequences of your actions. So wisdom is thinking before you act and speak. Wisdom is not acting on your impulses, not doing dangerous and risky things. So this is why people do risky things, because they don't think ahead about a possible consequence. So here's the technical definition of wisdom. Again, we've been looking at this for weeks. I don't think we've really defined it, but it's masterful understanding or skill or expertise. So wisdom, and this is, I'm using the definition of this Hebrew word that is used. Wisdom means skill. That's basically the best way, I think, to understand it. And so what is the skill of in the Bible that we're talking about? It's the skill of life, the skill of life. One person says it this way, it's the skill in living within the moral order of Yahweh's world. So you want to live within the world that we're in, and so you need to know just basic life obvious things of consequences that will happen, but also how to live a moral life in the world that God, the true God has created. And so all these people who reject the Lord, ultimately they're not gonna make wise choices because they're defining morality their own way. So wisdom is skill, skill in living within the moral order of Yahweh's world. Now that word, wisdom, is used in different senses in the Bible. So, you can turn to this if you want to, but I'll read it. First of all, it can talk about just a skill in work. So, with the building of the tabernacle, Exodus 28, verse three. 28-3, when God is giving instructions for the tabernacle, to Moses, he says, you shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him for my priesthood. So you can substitute the word wisdom there. I have filled these people with a spirit of wisdom to make garments. So they have a skill at making garments. And then in Exodus 31 verse six, I have appointed Oholaiab and I have given to all able men ability or skill that they may make all that I have commanded you. So, skill in doing work. In the Bible, it's also used as skill in magic. So, Isaiah 3, verse 3, the captain of 50, the man of rank, the counselor, and the skillful magician, and the expert in charms. So the wise magician, what does that mean? Well, it just means that he has this sort of skill of, I don't know, potions and all these things. Doesn't mean that he's using it for good, he's using it for bad, but he has a skill. Of course, in the Old Testament, it's also used for governing, so Deuteronomy 1.13, choose for your tribes wise men. They're wise because they know how to govern. So we're talking about taking this skill and living in the moral world that God has created. One person said it's like God has put grooves in the world. There are grooves in the way that the world works. So there are natural consequences to your actions. And a wise person knows what those grooves are and lives according and not against going against the groove. Another person says, the possession of wisdom enables humans to cope with life and to achieve what would otherwise be impossible. So part of what wisdom, the skill of living, is knowing how to cope with life. When hard things come up, you know how to deal with them. And so in Proverbs, let's look at an example with animals. Look at Proverbs chapter 30. Chapter 30, starting in verse 24. So I'll ask a question after this. How are these animals wise? So be thinking about that. Verse 24. Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise. The ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer. The rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs. The locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank. The lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings' palaces. So interesting, isn't it, that the animals are exceedingly wise. So anybody have any idea how are they wise? Why are they wise? Dick. Yeah, right, so they're not endangering themselves, maybe we could say. Good. Anything else? Okay, so they're... Right. So they're using their time surviving. It's important to survive if you want to make it through life. That's a good principle. But yes, so you have all these principles and proverbs about work, things like this. Well, if you want to survive, you've got to work. You have anything else? They use the abilities and resources that they have. Yes. To achieve their best. Right, they're using their resources. So they're not focusing on their weaknesses, right? So the ant is tiny, so he's not going to go try to kill a bear or something. I mean, maybe a bunch of ants. They do actually kill bears, I don't know. But the rock badger, he's gonna survive by hiding in cliffs. So on and on it goes. So yes, they know where their strengths are, and so they use those strengths to overcome difficulties, to overcome odds. So this is a skill. Notice also that all of these things have to do with consequences. And I'm not talking about the animals, but these definitions of wisdom. overcoming what's impossible, or living within the moral order of Yahweh's world, those all have to do with the consequences of your actions, right? So how do I live a moral life? How do I survive? What's gonna get me killed? These are all things a wise person understands. So that's essentially what wisdom is. Think about the consequences. What will happen if I do this? So, here are some examples. What will happen if you drink too much wine? Well, there's a proverb about that. Proverbs 23, verses 31 to 33. It says, do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder. Your eyes will see strange things and your heart utter perverse things. You see how that's telling you about a consequence that a wise person needs to think ahead about. Don't drink too much or your eyes will see strange things. Or what about this one? Look at Proverbs 19 verse four. 19 verse four. What if all of a sudden you have a bunch of money, and all these people start calling you? Or all these people want to be friends with you? Well, there's a proverb about that. Proverbs 19, four. Wealth brings many new friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend. And then verse six, many seek the favor of a generous man and everyone is a friend to a man who gives gifts. Maybe if you follow sports a little bit, you know this with athletes who 18 years old, they become pros, they become millionaires, and then very soon they become bankrupt. A lot of times it's because they become these millionaires and all these people want to be around them. And so you see how someone who is not wise, someone who can't think through things, might say, well, look, look, all these people love me. All these people want to be my friend. And they don't stop and think, why all of a sudden are all these people calling me? It's because I got a lot of money now. Wealth brings many new friends. So that's wisdom. So we've talked about this before, how do you grow in wisdom? Well, you observe the world, you learn from the world around you, learn from other people's experiences, you learn the word of God. And then one of the main disciplines or tasks that a wise person is gonna do is pause, pause, stop and think about things before we say them and before we do them. Go back to the teenager lighting the fire in his room. What's gonna happen if I light a fire in my room? Maybe something bad could happen, so maybe I shouldn't do this. So that's the main thing that we have to have self-control over, is thinking about consequences. Okay, well let's go to the next word. The next word is knowledge. And back in Proverbs chapter one, this would be in verse four, the second part of verse four. It's also used as a verb in verse two. Knowing wisdom, or two, and then verse four, to have knowledge. So wise people have knowledge. Now you might wanna throw out, how is wisdom related to knowledge? Do you have any idea? Brian? Yes. Right. Right. Or if you're lighting a fire inside your bedroom, if you don't know that the wood in your room is kindling for your fire, then you're gonna be an unwise person, do an unwise thing. So yeah, so can you have wisdom without knowledge? No. Can you have knowledge without wisdom? Yes, right, right. So that's what, in the tabernacle, when using the word wisdom, that's a part of what God meant when he said this, Ohelayev is wise, he's skillful, he knows how to melt gold, right? He knows the temperature and everything to do to get the gold to melt, but he doesn't just have a blob of gold, he also then had a skill of making that gold to look good, to look in the shape of an almond or something like that. Okay, so you have to know so that you make a wise decision. We need knowledge about how the world works, and then you need to apply that knowledge. So I knew someone who had a lawnmower, a sitting lawnmower, and one time she stuck her hand under the lawnmower while it was running. and so she cut the top of her finger. Now, did she know that blades are sharp and that blades will cut off fingers? Of course, she knew that, but she didn't stop and think before she stuck her hand under the lawnmower. So, knowledge is important, but then so is wisdom. Okay, let's look at the next word, understanding. Understanding. Another way to translate that word would be insight. So understanding or insight in verse two. That's what he says, to know wisdom and instruction and to understand words of insight. He basically uses the same word two times in two different ways. So understand words of insight. Now in English, the word insight, we kind of get what that means. It's to see into, to see into. So what, you answered this question, what ways are people insightful? What makes someone insightful? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So insight into maybe people's responses or reactions. Anything else? What makes people insightful? Right. Good. Yeah. Yeah. So insight may be into trends or likely outcomes, possibilities. Yeah, so essentially, when we're talking about insight, we're talking about looking past what might be on the surface, what's not always so obvious. And so in Proverbs, we're talking about life. Life is not always obvious. Life is cloudy, and the future is dark at times, and an understanding person or insightful person sees things that other people might not be able to see. Let's look at one example in chapter 20, verse five. Proverbs 20, verse five. The purpose in a man's heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out So a man with understanding or insight can draw out things that are deep below the surface and the purposes of a man's heart. So I always think about counselors when I think of that verse. You know, counselors, you go to a counselor with a problem. I'm lazy, or I always speak rudely to my wife, or I always just get angry. Okay, well now the question, the real question is why? What are the purposes in your heart that are resulting in the actions, the fruits? And so a wise counselor helps people understand what those purposes are. In Isaiah, let's look at Isaiah chapter 11. We'll just read it. Isaiah chapter 11 talks about the Messiah. Let's look at verse one and two. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, and the spirit of Yahweh shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. Verse two is like right out of Proverbs. It's got all those words in Proverbs. So the spirit of the Lord will be on the Messiah. He'll have wisdom, he'll have understanding, he'll have counsel, might. He has knowledge and the fear of the Lord. So he's a wise man, he's a wise judge. Now look at verse three. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear. So, you see, he's wise because a case is brought before him and he might be able to see something, but he thinks, well, Maybe that's, maybe my eyes are deceiving me. Maybe there's more to the story than what's in front of me. Or he decides disputes by, he doesn't decide disputes by what he hears. So a person comes and says this, but a wise person says, well, maybe that's not the whole story. And so the wise judge wants to know all the evidence, wants to know the whole story, and tries to have insight beyond what is just appearing on the surface. So, Proverbs 9, verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Knowledge of the Holy One is insight. How do you grow to be an insightful person? Knowledge of the Holy One. Understand the world the way that God has created the world and the way that God sees the world. And then you will grow in insight. Okay, well the next word. In Proverbs chapter 1, the passage we're looking at is called Wise Dealing at the beginning of verse 3. One of the things about English translations is sometimes they take the same word and they translate it different ways in different places, and it's hard to know which word's being used. But there, it's translated as wise dealing. The best way, I think, to understand it is good sense. And I think we all know what good sense is, because we know that some people don't have good sense. You just wish people had more sense. But this is part of wisdom, having good sense. So chapter 21. Verse 16 uses the word. He says, one who wanders from the way of good sense will rest in the assembly of the dead. So there is the way of good sense that we want to stand on, walk on. Now, you probably know a more famous proverb in chapter 19, flip over a few pages to chapter 19, verse 14. 19.14 says, house and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the Lord. Here, we're gonna talk about prudence next. That word there in the ESV prudent is the word good sense. A woman with good sense is from the Lord. Praise God for wives with good sense who know how to live wisely in the world. So that's a gift from God. Okay, so now let's look at the next word, prudence, prudence. So a way to understand prudence here is the word shrewd. Shrewd, think about Jesus's words when he says, I'm sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents or shrewd as serpents. Wisdom includes being shrewd. Now you can use your shrewdness in a bad way. And so there are some Proverbs about the bad person who is shrewd. He's scheming to hurt people or to do bad things, but you can use shrewdness to do good things. So chapter 22 verse three, Proverbs 22 verse three. The prudent, The shrewd sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it. So if you're shrewd, you can think about possible dangers and know how to get out of them. And so shrewdness has to do with being realistic. Prudence. That's what prudent means. Be realistic. You can't just be idealistic about everything in life because it's a very broken world. So you have to be realistic. So I go back and think about the young adults with the frontal cortex not fully developed. They are not very realistic about danger. Think about people who do the extreme sports. I don't know why people like skydiving. I never saw the appeal of skydiving. But skydiving or skiing and flying high up in the air hundreds of feet, To me, that's not prudent, it's foolish. See the danger, see all the people with all their broken legs, and hide from the danger. So, that's the idea. And then, hopefully, a lot of people, when they get older, they realize lots of these things are dangerous. Anyway, got two more, discretion. Discretion. How would you define discretion? Anybody want to try a definition? Paul? A great decision at the right time. OK. To make a good decision at a good time. OK, good. Yeah? I was going to say, like that, of speaking, knowing when and what to speak. Right, so a lot of times we use discretion in the sense of how we talk, what we talk about. Good? Anything else? Yeah. Okay, yeah. Caution. Care. Okay, so one person translated it as caginess. That's a British word. I don't know if you know that word, caginess. But think of a cage, right? You have a cage, your mind is a cage. So your thoughts stay in the cage. You have discretion about not doing everything that comes into your head or not saying everything that pops in your head. So that's caginess. So it's the ability to think for yourself. So, in chapter two, let's look at chapter two, verse 11. 11 and 12, we see how we can use our discretion for good. Verse 11, discretion will watch over you and understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil from men of perverted speech. So how do you avoid bad influences? How do you avoid peer pressure? It's through discretion. Because your mind is a cage, you're caging. So someone will say, let's go do this, but You think for yourself. I'm not just gonna go do that because my friend's telling me to do it, or because this adult is telling me to do that. I wanna think for myself about what's right and wrong. So that's what Proverbs means with discretion. And of course, that has to do with how we talk, especially. We don't just react when we talk. We think about what we're gonna say. Okay, well the last word is guidance, guidance. And again, back to our original passage, he uses that word in verse five. The one who understands obtains guidance. And so this is, we wanna be guided in the right direction. We all are guides. You're guiding someone every time you say, I think, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. That's you think, and so it seems that you want other people to think that way. Or you say, we should, or you should, or you should not, whatever. So you are guiding people. We're always being guided, or there are people trying to guide us, and we are guiding each other. And so we need to be good guides, and we need to be guided by good people. Let's look up one proverb, and this will be the last one. Chapter 11, verse 14. Chapter 11, verse 14, where there is no guidance, a people falls. But in an abundance of counselors, there is safety. So we need guidance, we need good guidance, and that often comes through the abundance of counselors. We don't want to be guided by ourselves. We don't even want to just follow one person. We want an abundance of counselors because in that there is much wisdom. So you want to grow in wisdom, one of the things you should do is you should seek out guidance from those who are wise, an abundance of counselors. So, we go through Proverbs, we'll see all these different facets of what it means to live a wise life. Let's pray for God's blessing upon this. Our God, we thank you that you are indeed our guide, even unto death, and that your word especially is the lamp to our feet and the light to our path. Help us, Lord, to continue to grow and to walk in wisdom. Give us skills for living in this world that is difficult and murky. And help us to seek to follow you and obey you. Help us to grow in wisdom and also help us to wisely guide others. We who are parents think of our children and how we want to be wise counselors and guides. We pray that you would help us to do that. We pray that in the church we would all encourage and help one another and that we would find this safety in the abundance of counselors. We thank you for your grace. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to remember these things that we've thought about and studied, and we pray for your continued blessings upon the rest of our time worshiping you. In Jesus' name, amen.