Proverbs -- Chapter 2
God is the supplier of real practical holiness (v1-8). He is the means and the end. He is the dispenser of transforming power, for both character and practice. This is why the writer of Hebrews, after preaching to himself and his readers on growing up spiritually, finishes by saying, "And this we will do, if God permits" (6:3).
Notice also the promises attached to the command to get wise -- all of the "if then" statements in the early part of Proverbs 2. God says that those who come to Him on His terms will "understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God" (v5); because it is "the LORD who gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding" (v6). There is more to true life-altering learning than diligent study. There is God, rewarding our right but flawed diligence with gifts eternal. The world has many Bible scholars who don't know the first thing about what the Bible means by what it says. They study and study for a lifetime but still can't see Jesus as God's sent Savior (cf Jn 5:37-42). Knowledge, apart from God's grace, makes a person arrogant, not holy (1 Co 8:1).
Related to this is the reality that apart from God's Word we know nothing rightly. That is, we know not the thing's connection to God and therefore know not it's true purpose. Since it is God that created all things and so gives them their proper meaning, we remain blind to the greater realities apart from God's written revelation. There are at least two ways for Christians to see the world: 1) As God's creation that He employs in His revelation as a thing happens to fit the lesson currently being taught. 2) As God's creation designed to be employed in eternally valuable lessons God is teaching. I believe the second understanding is the sound one. For example, when we see in the Scriptures that Jesus, by using children, teaches us how we come into His kingdom, I assume He designed children to teach that lesson, and not simply makes use of them secondarily (Mt 18:1-6). When the Apostle Paul wants us to understand the meaning of marriage he connects it to God's eternal purposes for the church (Ep 5:22-33). I take from this that God designed the marriage union to teach us about the union between Himself and His bride (Is 54:5). When Jesus wants to teach us not to worry He points us to the way birds feed and the way flowers grow (Mt 6:25-34). When He wants to teach us about how He cares for us He makes use of a flock of sheep and their shepherd (Jn 10). And of course the Old Testament is filled with particular designs with their full meanings known only much later when the New Testament is being penned -- things like the tabernacle, the temple, the sacrificial system, the priesthood, the Sabbath, the Law of Moses, feast days, particular characters (Melchizedek, for example), etc -- things which were only shadows and types and pointers to the coming Substance (Col 2:16-23; Ga 3; He 8-9).
I notice too in Proverbs 2 that God is shown to be
active. He is storing up sound wisdom for the upright and shielding those with integrity and guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of His saints (v7-8). Deism is wrong. God is not passive. He's the most active of all beings. His activity is the foundation of all activity. Without it, there would be nothing else (Col 1:17; He 1:3). The second two-thirds of the chapter reveal His activity of preservation, deliverance, blessing, and judgment. Yes, God is busy; busy with
us, among other things. What a wonderfully comforting thought. And His Son said that He would always be with us, even until the end of the age (Mt 28:20).
