
Proverbs 1
Have you ever tried to help a child put together a toy train track? There are so many pieces and in the end they are supposed to make a complete track. Some of the pieces make sense and, well, others are like that onion ring you find in an order of fries. No instruction booklet is included, so you are on your own. You attempt to put the train track together yourself based off of what you think it looks right. If you are like me, the end result is a train track with very strange turns and a dead end. It is not the complete figure eight as pictured on the box. If only the factory had sent some sort of instructions, then perhaps you wouldn’t be in this fix.
In Proverbs 1, we learn from that, “the beginning of knowledge is the fear of the LORD”. It tells us that only fools despise the wisdom and instruction that they receive. The Bible offers us so much instruction on how to live our lives. Proverbs tells us to walk in the way of wisdom and here we are told that to be knowledgeable we must look to God. He is the foundation of knowledge and only through Him and the heeding of His word can we hope to access true wisdom.
It is encouraging to know that, unlike the factory and the toy train, God gave us an instruction booklet. He didn’t expect us to just figure it out, but God gave us His word so that we may have wisdom and know Him. Sometimes, though, when we are going through hard times, it can be difficult to remember to go to Him and His word for guidance. Like with the train, the instruction booklet may not have been included, but I could have Googled it. Sometimes we get so caught up in the moment that we forget to look for wisdom and instruction.
-Hannah Deane
Today’s Bible reading passages can be read or listened to at BibleGateway here – 1 Kings 15-16 and Proverbs 1