Living Well

Allan Moseley

Description

Wise proverbs stick with us and help us navigate life.Our financial decisions might be guided by "a penny saved is a penny earned," or we might remember not to be lazy from "the early bird catches the worm."God has given us a book filled with such memorable wisdom--the Old Testament book of Proverbs. In Living Well, you'll look at a different topic in each chapter and learn how Proverbs can guide us to live wiser, more God-honoring lives. Whether in our finances or our relationships, our approach to work or play, following the way of wisdom is often countercultural, but always best. Living Well gives us the blueprint for such a life--starting with God's own wisdom from the book of Proverbs.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Old Testament
• Judaism
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Lexham Press
• Date de parution: 16 septembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781683590118
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 5 Mo

Extrait

LIVING WELL
God’s Wisdom from the Book of Proverbs
ALLAN MOSELEY
Living Well: God’s Wisdom from the Book of Proverbs
Copyright 2017 N. Allan Moseley
Lexham Press, 1313 Commercial St., Bellingham, WA 98225
LexhamPress.com
You may use brief quotations from this resource in presentations, articles, and books. For all other uses, please write Lexham Press for permission. Email us at [e-mail] .
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV ® Bible ( The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ® ) ( ESV ), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations marked ( KJV ) are from the King James Version. Public domain.
Scripture quotations marked ( NASB ) are from the New American Standard Bible ® , Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations marked ( NIV ) are from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION ® . Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked ( YLT ) are from Robert Young’s Literal Translation. Public domain.
Scripture quotations marked ( TLB ) are taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Print ISBN 9781683590101
Digital ISBN 9781683590118
Lexham Editorial: Jennifer Edwards, Rebecca Florence Miller, Abigail Stocker, Lisa Eary, Elizabeth Vince
Cover Design: Christine Christophersen
Back Cover Design: Brittany Schrock
CONTENTS
Preface
Introducing the Book of Proverbs
PART ONE: LIVING WELL IN OUR RELATIONSHIPS
Chapter 1: People Skills
Chapter 2: Our Powerful Words
Chapter 3: God’s Wisdom for Women
Chapter 4: God’s Wisdom for Men
PART TWO: LIVING WELL IN OUR HEARTS
Chapter 5: The Foolishness of Anger
Chapter 6: The Strange Disease of Pride
Chapter 7: Holiness, Happiness, and Health
PART THREE: LIVING WELL IN THE WORLD
Chapter 8: Dollars and Sense
Chapter 9: Work: “A Very Sacred Matter”
Chapter 10: Seduction of a Simpleton
Conclusion
Scritpure Index
PREFACE
I n 2003, A. J. Jacobs published a book entitled The Know-It-All . That book was based on his experience of reading through the Encyclopaedia Britannica in one year. He read all forty-four million words on thirty-three thousand pages. Mr. Jacobs, a journalist by trade, now knows all sorts of minutiae. He knows that the British tried to tax clocks in 1797 , that absentee voting is very popular in Ireland, and that there is a heated controversy over who invented the accordion.
Mr. Jacobs personifies “the information age.” We have access to more information than any former generation. However, access to information is not the same as the development of wisdom. Just ask Mr. Jacobs . His vast reservoir of knowledge hardly made him wiser, and he admits that it did not make him smarter. Mainly, it made him annoying to his family. His wife started fining him for every fact he mentioned that wasn’t relevant to their conversation. 1
In contrast with that, God has given us the biblical book of Proverbs to teach us knowledge about life. The information in Proverbs is not for the purpose of filling our heads with facts, but to help us live successful lives. The contents of the book of Proverbs are not up-to-the-minute factoids; they are lessons about living that have endured for three thousand years. Furthermore, they express not merely the opinion or wisdom of people, but God’s revelation. At times God’s wisdom runs against the wisdom common to human beings. Sometimes it confronts it head on. When it does, it seems radical to us.
What is the worth of God’s wisdom? Proverbs 3:13 says, “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding.” The verses that follow describe the great worth of God’s wisdom by means of a series of comparisons. First, wisdom is valuable . Verse 14 says, “The gain from [Wisdom] is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.” Verse 15 begins, “She is more precious than jewels.” That’s an amazing statement. God’s wisdom is worth more than silver, gold, and jewels. Solomon, who wrote most of the Proverbs, had plenty of silver, gold, and jewels. He was a rich man. But he wrote here that wisdom is more valuable than all of that.
A second word that expresses the value of wisdom is incomparable . The second part of verse 15 says, “Nothing you desire can compare with her.” Think of the thing you desire most. Whatever it is, its worth doesn’t compare with the worth of God’s wisdom.
Third, wisdom is beneficial . Verse 16 of Proverbs 3 states the following about wisdom: “Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.” So, if you want long life, riches, and honor, learn God’s wisdom. Verse 17 says, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” The word for peace is shalom . That word, usually translated “peace,” was used to refer to more than the absence of conflict. It also referred to wholeness and well-being. When we walk in the way of wisdom, we are in a position to receive many benefits that would not be available to us if we lived foolishly. The benefits include a longer life, more wealth, peace with others, and peace within ourselves.
Fourth, wisdom is powerful . Proverbs 3:19 says, “The L ORD by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens.” Using his wisdom, God created the universe. When we go to God to receive his wisdom, we’re accessing something that is powerful. If God used his wisdom to create the vast and intricate universe, certainly his wisdom will make a great difference in our lives. Never doubt the worth of God’s wisdom.
So, we begin our encounter with the book of Proverbs by emphasizing how valuable the wisdom contained in this book is. Years ago I told God that I wanted to seek his wisdom in the book of Proverbs. I asked him to give me wisdom from his word. So I read through the book of Proverbs slowly, and I categorized every verse according to its subject. I isolated over forty subjects addressed in the book of Proverbs, like interpersonal relationships, handling finances, marriage and parenting, anger, and the use of speech. Through the years, I have returned to that list of verses many times for guidance in my life. Over and over I have read what God’s book of wisdom has to say, and it has been an immeasurable help to me.
I wrote this book because my friend Elaine Funderburk suggested that I do so. One of G. K. Chesterton’s friends made such a suggestion to him once too. In the resulting book, Orthodoxy , he commented, “It was perhaps an incautious suggestion to make to a person only too ready to write books upon the feeblest provocation.” 2 When Elaine reads this book I hope she does not conclude that her suggestion was incautious! I am grateful to Lexham Press for their encouragement and help in producing this volume, especially to Jennifer Edwards and Abigail Stocker for their editorial suggestions. I am also grateful to my family for their patience with me as I wrote, sometimes sequestered away while on family vacation. I’m also grateful for Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where I teach, and the people of Christ Baptist Church, so many of whom live the words of this book.
The themes herein were chosen because of their prominence in Proverbs and their relevance to living in today’s world. In the introduction, I attempt to prepare readers to benefit from the book of Proverbs by providing some necessary background information. The balance of the book is divided into three sections. Part 1 pertains to living well in our relationships. In this section, I look at the people skills the book of Proverbs helps us develop and at how our words powerfully affect our relationships. Since so many of our relationships are affected by how we think about masculinity and femininity, we’ll also consider God’s wisdom about manhood and womanhood. Part 2 pertains to living well within our own hearts, because Proverbs imparts so much wisdom about defeating anger and pride, and developing joy. Work, money, and sex are also major parts of our lives and culture, so in Part 3 I address the wisdom in Proverbs related to those subjects.
I hope that reading this book will result in a continuing journey to seek wisdom as if we were seeking silver or gold. Such a journey will make us a success in the best sense of that word. At times the journey will take us in a radically different direction from those around us. But if we follow the path of God’s wisdom we will live well, because we will look at everything in our lives through eyes that have been enlightened by divine wisdom.
INTRODUCING THE BOOK OF PROVERBS
W hen I was in high school, the youth group in my home church went on a mission trip. On the way home, the bus stopped at a mall, and I bought a little book entitled Poor Richard’s Quotations . The book consisted of quotes from Poor Richard’s Almanac , edited by Benjamin Franklin . That almanac featured proverbs. When I bought the book, I had no idea how much I would enjoy reading those proverbs, rereading them, and thinking about them through the years. It’s been many years since I first read that book (how many years will remain a safely guarded secret), but I often think of those proverbs.
The reason I remember proverbs I read so long ago is that they are so closely related to everyday life. For example, when I’m visiting in someone’s home and I face a variety of foods that do not look especially appealing, I remember, “Hunger never saw bad bread.” The meaning of the proverb is clear—when we’re really hungry, anything will taste good. “Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor” has prodded me to remember to be grateful and satisfied with w