Apples to Apples. (Proverbs 22:4)
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I want to build off of Tuesday’s podcast (Proverbs 3:13-18) from our series called ‘Pursuing Wisdom in Proverbs’. In that episode we talked through verse16 of Proverbs 3, which says wisdom…
‘Holds long life in her right hand, and in her left hand are riches and honor’.
And in that episode we expanded upon that verse by talking about the symbolism given through the hands, and how the right hand emphasized greater blessing than the left, essentially showing us that long life is worth far more than riches and honor.
Now what we didn’t talk about in that podcast, which I want to now, is the connection that verse, Proverbs 3:16, has with Proverbs 22:4.
Proverbs 22:4 reads,
‘The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life’.
Did you catch it? The rewards for wisdom in Proverbs 3:16 are what?
They are riches and honor and life.
And the rewards for humility and fear of the Lord in Proverbs 22:4 are what?
O yeah that’s right. The same things.
They are riches and honor and life.
Words cannot express how much I love this!
Right here in these verses we are seeing the purpose of Proverbs, the theme of the whole book, Proverbs 1:7, ‘the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,’, unfolding. I love it. I love it so much. And I love it here because the similarities in the rewards for wisdom, humility, and fear of the Lord are showing us the similarities between those three things themselves.
What Solomon is doing is he is showing us again and again and again that wisdom, humility, fear of the Lord, they are all strongly connected.
In fact they are so strongly connected that I want to say they are what apples are to apples.
Wisdom is to the fear of the Lord what apples are to apples.
Wisdom is to humility what apples are to apples.
In other words, they are the same thing!
Now maybe it’s better to say they are co-referential, meaning that they refer to the same thing, rather than saying they are the same thing, because that may be a little hyperbolic, but the point is, those three things, wisdom, humility, fear of the Lord, are so so interconnected. You just can’t have any without the other.
You can’t have wisdom without the fear of the Lord.
You can’t have wisdom without a relationship with God.
You can’t have wisdom without humility.
You just can’t. There’s no way.
I’ve used this analogy before and I’ll use it again here: thinking that you can have wisdom without humility, thinking that you can have wisdom without the fear of the Lord, without having a relationship with Him in which you hold a holy reverence for who he is, thinking you can wisdom without any of that, is like thinking you can take on hell with a squirt gun.
It’s foolish. It’s dumb thinking. It is!
You’ve got a better chance of becoming the first President to go to space than of obtaining wisdom without humility and the fear of the Lord!
Again there’s a reason why the rewards for wisdom, humility, and fear of God are the same.
It is because wisdom, humility, and fear of the Lord are very VERY similar. It’s like they’re triplets man.
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Now what does this mean for us?
I think it helps put us into motion. And what do I mean by that?
Well we can talk about pursuing wisdom all we want, and we should, but Proverbs 22:4 helps us realize and reminds us that our pursuit of wisdom must be characterized by humility and fear of the Lord.
If we are to grow in pursuit of wisdom, we also ought to be growing in pursuit of humility and fear of the Lord.
So that’s my challenge to all of you this week: in what ways can you humble yourself, in what ways can you practically live in the fear of the Lord, in aid to your pursuit of wisdom?
Think of one practical thing. I can say for me that includes giving God my first and my last minutes, and that includes seeking to serve others more intentionally.
What would you say that is for you?
I love you guys. Have a wonderful Friday. God bless.
