February 25 – Protective Wisdom (Proverbs 4:1-9)

“Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.”(Proverbs 4:6)

IN WORD:
Godly wisdom protects. This verse is clear. But from what does it protect us? Disease? Calamity? Conflict? Perhaps not always, but sometimes these are the results of unwise choices. Most of all, godly wisdom protects us from the self-inflicted disaster of superficial decisions. It keeps us from sacrificing ourselves to the deity of self-will.
Samson is one of the Bible’s most tragic heroes (Judges 13-16). Dedicated from before his birth to the service of God and endowed with superhuman strength, the man was captive to his own fleeting impulses. This deliverer was bound because he developed an early pattern of satisfying his passing urges at the expense of long-term goals. Lack of wisdom held as a helpless captive the strongest man on earth.
So it is with us. We are called to make life-changing decisions — whom to marry, what career to pursue — at an early age, when we are barely, if at all, equipped to make them. Many have made mindless choices and devastated their future because of a simple lack of wisdom or good sense. With all the resources of the eternal God at our fingertips, we often decide things with our own finite minds. And as we age, we must make repeated choices that will affect our own lives and the lives of those around us profoundly. The sooner we learn godly wisdom, the safer we will be. Wisdom protects us from futility.

IN DEED:
We are given a very brief amount of time on this planet. But what we do here can have eternal impact on ourselves and others. We must invest our time. We must invest our resources. We must direct everything at our disposal toward an eternal Kingdom. Without God’s wisdom, years are wasted. We make self-defeating decisions. We squander opportunities to serve God and bear eternal fruit. Why should we never forsake wisdom? It’s a matter of self-defense. It protects us from a world of evil, and it protects us from ourselves.

“Time is short. Eternity is long. It is only reasonable that this short life be lived in the light of eternity.” -Charles Spurgeon-