A Complete Guide to Godly Wisdom: 17 Wisdom Precepts from the Perfect Father Proverbs 1-9

By Richard Van Yperen

In general the Old Testament book of Proverbs provides a compendium of seemingly random succinct universal truths about godly wisdom. However, chapters 1""9 offer a coherent curriculum that teaches the reader how to acquire wisdom and build one's life on a foundation of eternal values. Ostensibly, this curriculum is taught by a father to his son over the course of the first nine chapters. Beginning his instruction by declaring "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline." Solomon, the author of these chapters, introduces a father narrator who offers seventeen "My son" wisdom instructions to his son. While these seventeen wisdom instructions involve a father instructing his son, they teach universal wisdom truths for "attaining wisdom and discipline" (Prov. 1:2a), that have intrigued readers of all ages for thousands of years. Godly wisdom and discipline are rare in our broken and fallen world. As such, godly wisdom and discipline offer us priceless insight and discernment that "is more precious than rubies and nothing you desire can compare. . . . With [wisdom] are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity. [Wisdom's] fruit is better than fine gold . . . [and] choice silver" (Prov. 8:11, 18) In other words, wisdom is a treasure to be sought. Every son or daughter naturally yearns for wise parental guidance and, in particular, the healthy parent/child relationship that is essential for a child to become a thriving adult of integrity. Because parents were once sons or daughters who were influenced by their parents who were once sons and daughters, it makes sense that a parent learns how to guide and instruct a child through his/her own experience as a son or daughter. Because from generation to generation brokenness and sin can distort and disrupt parental instruction, Solomon's timeless God-given fatherly wisdom curriculum provides much needed essential wise counsel from the perfect Father.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781644585757

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A Complete Guide to Godly Wisdom

17 Wisdom Precepts from the Perfect Father Proverbs 1-9

Richard Van Yperen

Copyright © 2018 by Richard Van Yperen

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Cover Design: Henriette Alexander from a fragment of her painting Heaven Glimpse

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Lesson 1: Voices—Proverbs 1:8–33

Lesson 2: If/Then—Proverbs 2—the Rule of Consequences

Lesson 3: Dos and Do Nots—Proverbs 3:1–12, 21–35; 4:1–5, 10–27

Interlude: Teaching Moments

Lesson 4: Prudence—Proverbs 3:11–20; 4:6–9; 5:1–23

Lesson 5: Poor Judgment—Proverbs 6:1–19

Lesson 6: The Immoral Woman—Proverbs 6:20–7:27

Lesson 7: Wisdom’s Call—Proverbs 8:1–36

Lesson 8: RSVP—Proverbs 9:1–18

Contents

Dedication

For my mother, an incredible woman of faith, prayer and godly wisdom.

Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also…Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. (Proverbs 31:28, 30)

Testimonials

Understanding the context and relevance of godly wisdom from the book of Proverbs with an awareness of the significance on your life is what this book is all about. The book helps you recognize both the specifics and the flexibility of the concepts shared while inspiring you to take a fresh and sustaining look at pursuing godly wisdom.

Duane Moyer, 7 Mindsets

Social Emotional Learning Director

GAME CHANGER! Richard provides practical guidelines for concentrating your thoughts and emotions on what God desires from you. His book is a call to action. If you answer that call, your life will have a far greater impact on serving others and leading others to eternal happiness.

Darren A. Petersen, Ed.D.

Superintendent of Schools

Montvale Public Schools

Eat honey, my son, for it is good; honey from the comb is sweet to your taste. Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 24:13–14 (NIV)

Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it costs all you have, get understanding.

Proverbs 4:7 (NIV)

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path.

Psalm 119:103, 104 (NIV)

Acknowledgments

The idea for this book began with a group of men most of whom worked in education. We met Friday mornings at 6:30 a.m. to sift through biblical passages hunting for applicable wisdom for the challenges we faced in our homes, as husbands and fathers, in the classroom and on the athletic fields as teachers and coaches. I am deeply grateful for those men who joined me to fervently pursue knowledge and understanding of godly wisdom over a period of several years becoming the original Wise Guys. Thank you Darren Petersen, Michael Mullin, David Vanderbush, Paul Higgins, Ted Evans, Kevin Graves, Bill Oswald, Dennis Dalelio, and the late James Grasso.

Additionally, I am grateful for what I learned from other men who got up early and met with me on Saturday mornings in the ensuing years to study scripture and mine godly wisdom.

My wife and I are thankful for the couples who joined with us to discover and apply biblical truth through small group studies over the years.

A special thanks to the most recent Wise Guys who met with me this past year for 23 Monday mornings at Atlanta Bread in Cumming, Georgia. Their feedback and encouragements inspired the many final edits I made in my manuscript. Thank you Casey Jones, Jarrod Stiff, Corey Draper, Ryan Atkinson, Hugh Dover, Tim Goldsberry, Brandon Deeb, Scott Grogan and Chris Willis.

I am grateful to Fred Everett, Darren Petersen and Duane Moyer for reading my manuscript and offering feedback.

A big thank you to Gloria Tenewitz who diligently read and reread each page providing essential edits.

Curt Trotter and John Woodall were kind enough to interact with me about my insights from the first nine chapters of Proverbs.

I am honored that my cousin and professional artist Henriette Alexander designed the cover.

And to my wife, Doreen, who patiently and lovingly supported me in this endeavor.

Preface

I have been told that despite the presence of a delete button on your keyboard, you can never really delete the memory on your computer’s hard drive. In my mid-40s I learned that that is also true for human memories. Suddenly, when I least expected it, I was blindsided with a past that I thought I had successfully deleted by believing lies I had told myself. In that moment, I experienced not only the horror of what I had done but also the shame of other memories of sins I had worked hard at deleting. It drove me to my knees in tearful confession.

That was the beginning of my search for much needed godly wisdom. One result of that search has been my practice of making the book of Proverbs a part of my daily devotional reading. Conveniently, because there are thirty-one chapters in Proverbs, it has been my practice to read each day a Proverbs chapter that corresponds with the calendar date each month.

Almost without fail, I continue to discover something new every day. For example, recently, after reading Proverbs chapter 21 once a month, twelve times a year for at least twenty-two years, I found Proverbs 21:21 as if it had just appeared for the first time in the text.

He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.

This verse astounded me! I underlined righteousness and love and meditated on what it means to pursue right living while loving God and others. What am I pursuing in life? How should I rearrange my pursuits so that I don’t miss experiencing life, prosperity, and honor?

In general, the book of Proverbs is a collection of wisdom statements rather than a coherent narrative. However, the first nine chapters of Proverbs is formatted around seventeen My Son precepts from a father sharing wise instructions with his son. As I read and reread these chapters over the years, I saw myself as the son being addressed and instructed by the Father.

I suspect that every child naturally yearns for wise parental guidance and, in particular, the healthy parent-child relationship that is essential for a child to become an adult of integrity. Parents were once children who were influenced by parents who were once children. It makes sense that a parent learns how to guide and instruct a child into adulthood through his or her experience as a son or daughter. Because from generation to generation brokenness and sin can distort and disrupt parental influence, Proverbs 1–9 provides a curriculum for parents who did not receive wise intentional instruction and guidance.

My monthly immersion into Proverbs has given me wise counsel from the perfect Father, which led to a decision to facilitate a men’s study group that we named Wise Guys. What we discovered in that group study has prompted my desire to share Solomon’s timeless God-given fatherly wisdom in this book.

I recommend that you read each chapter with your Bible opened up to Proverbs. I have provided the address of chapters and verses for each section so that you may read and experience God’s word before reading my words. Biblical quotes are from the NIV Study Bible.

Introduction: Proverbs 1:1–7—Purpose and Theme

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel (Prov. 1:1).

According to scripture, Solomon’s wisdom was from God (1 Kings 4:29) and he was wiser than any other man (4:31). God’s gift of a wise and discerning heart (1 Kings 3:12) was the result of Solomon’s acknowledgment that I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties (1 Kings 3:7b).

Imagine God inviting you to ask whatever you want Me to give you (1 Kings 3:5b). Solomon was about twenty years old when he became king and realized he was ill-equipped for ruling. I know that when I was in my twenties asking for discernment between right and wrong would have been well below health, long life, good looks, affluence, intelligence, and recognition, on my request list.

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for [a discerning heart]. So God said