Build/Establish/Fill Your House. (Proverbs 24:3-4)
Listen Here:
‘The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; 20 by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew’ (Proverbs 3:19-20).
By wisdom, by understanding, by knowledge, the LORD created the earth, the heavens, and the seas. Those were His three building blocks.
Wisdom
Understanding
Knowledge.
Wisdom, understanding, and knowledge. The three agents, the three building blocks that the LORD used to create the earth, the heavens, and the seas - to create creation. That’s what we looked at and talked through Tuesday, and today I want to add to it. And the reason why I want to add to it is because these verses I’m about to read to you from in Proverbs 24 are far too similar and have such a strong & in my opinion beautiful connection.
Proverbs 24:3-4 reads,
‘By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; 4 by knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches’.
By wisdom a house is built, by understanding it is established, by knowledge it is filled.
Wisdom, understanding, knowledge. The same three agents, the same three building blocks from Proverbs 3, in the same exact order.
Now it must be said, that understanding and knowledge are synonyms for wisdom. Solomon’s use of understanding and knowledge in Proverbs 3 and here in Proverbs 24 is what is known as ‘synthetic parallelism’, which is a fancy term that means each word escalates the importance and the meaning of the previous. In other words, Solomon is using synonyms of understanding and knowledge in relation to wisdom to escalate its importance to the Lord and also to us. And we see that escalation in the result of wisdom found in our verses today and on Tuesday.
Verse 3 says, ‘By wisdom a house is built…’, and then escalates the building of a house to the ‘establishing’ of that house, by saying at the end of verse 3, ‘and by understanding it is established’.
Then Solomon gets more specific: not just is the wise believer’s house built and established, but also that by knowledge the rooms are filled.
From the house being built, to established, to then its rooms being filled with, as verse 4 concludes, with ‘precious and pleasant riches’.
And all of ‘escalation’ so to speak is very similar to what we saw Tuesday, how by wisdom the LORD founded (or built) the earth and that ‘by understanding he established the heavens’; and then ‘by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew’ (Proverbs 3:19-20). In other words, by God’s knowledge he filled creation. The end of that verse has everything to do with water and what does water do? It fills empty spaces.
So it's the same pattern and the same sequence in Proverbs 3:19-20 and Proverbs 24:3-4 all escalating the importance of wisdom to the LORD and also to us.
-
So what is your house built on? And is it established? Is it filled?
Clearly our households ought to be built on, established, and filled with wisdom.
But that’s not always the case.
In a physical sense there are many who build houses only to see them fail to be established, to crumble and ruin in harder times. Think of a beach house that wasn’t built on stilts, so when the waves get higher and rougher, the house is carried away with it. Or in a more hyperbolic sense, think of Charles Bridges’ analogy of a snow-palace built in the winter. Though it stands for a little while, that thing is gonna melt come summer.
So not only must our homes be founded and built on wisdom, they must also be established in it.
And I could go on & on about the physical implications of these verses, but I’m more concerned about their spiritual implications.
You see,
The household is to a family what the heart is to a man.
The home is a dwelling place for family and the heart is a dwelling place for good or for evil.
The house is the foundation from which life flows out of for the family, and it is no different with our heart. Proverbs 4:23 says ‘keep the heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life’.
That means we must be careful with who we let dwell in and sit on the throne of our hearts. We must be careful with what we build & establish as the foundation of our lives, because ultimately that is what will fill it, and that’s what we see in Proverbs 24:3-4.
So think about it.
Is the foundation of your life wisdom?
Is your life built on and established in wisdom?
Can you say that your heart is consecrated to wisdom, to the LORD, and that the inner chambers of your heart are filled with Him?
Can you say they are filled with all precious and pleasant riches?
Can you see the value of wisdom more clearly now? I don’t think it can be overstated. I want my life to be built on and established in wisdom. I want my life to be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Remember Proverbs 2:10, I want wisdom to ‘come into my heart and knowledge to be pleasant to my soul’. Yes. Yes please. I want that. And I’m certain you reading do too.
-
So what does that look like practically? What does it mean to build, establish, and fill your life with wisdom?
I think it starts with giving God you’re first.
Ultimately that’s what the foundation is right? The first, the beginning of the house? So why not give God the beginning of your day? And I mean beginning.
What if God had your first thought, first word, what if He truly was your first?
I think that’s what it means to build your life on wisdom. It is the daily decision of making Christ your solid rock, your firm foundation. And then I think being established in that is by doing that consistently. Lay the foundation and then build upon it. Brick by brick day by day. Craig Groeschel says it's what we do consistently that matters. Build your life on Christ consistently, & then the result I truly believe is filling. It is the filling of the Lord’s Spirit in your heart, greater manifestations of its fruit in your life. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness - those to me are all precious and pleasant riches.
If you entreat yourself with wisdom, and then entrench yourself in it, going from built to established, your rooms in your house, those chambers of your heart, will be filled with precious and pleasant riches.
I hope that was encouraging this Friday. A little nerdier than normal but still so important!
Lets value wisdom more greatly together. Lets pursue wisdom more earnestly together.
I love you all.
God bless.
