In chapter 5 of the letter that Paul writes to the Church in Ephesus, he explains our desperate need to understand and submit to the will and wisdom of God. Why? Because navigating life in this dark and corrupt world is impossible without the wisdom of God. Paul writes this because he lived his life deeply immersed in the wisdom literature of the Hebrew Bible – the Old Testament.
Over the four weeks of January 2024, we will journey into one of the prominent wisdom literature books of the Hebrew Bible: Proverbs. The book of Proverbs is a compilation of time-tested wisdom that brings life to the one who implements it and disaster for the fool who shuns it. Its 31 chapters are written to describe the wise person and the foolish person, then to try to persuade the person who has yet to decide which one he or she will embrace to land on the side of wisdom.
Proverbs had been described as “goads and nails.” What does that mean?
(1) A goad is what a shepherd uses to keep his or her sheep from straying away from the right path – to keep the sheep from drifting into foolishness that could eventually endanger their life. We all know how foolish sheep – we – can be. Proverbs gently, but with beautiful and strong rhetoric, pushes us toward life-giving wisdom and away from life-endangering foolishness. Only the fool believes they do not need wisdom. That’s why we need the goad.
(2) Nails refers to the fact that you and I need a solid, sturdy foundation on which to build our lives. In 1 Corinthians Chapter 1, Paul reminds us that Jesus IS wisdom – the incarnation of all that leads us into life. In the gospel of Matthew, Jesus Himself also teaches that the wise person is the one who builds his house (life) on the sturdy foundation of a rock, not sand.
Join us as we discuss and deliberate the instruction, correction, and joyful implementation of God’s wisdom in our lives.