Eld Chew Chong Kiat

Travel on a Course of Wisdom (Proverbs 4:20-27)

The writer of the book of Proverbs was Solomon, who asked God for “understanding to discern judgment” and God gave him “a wise and an understanding heart;” so that there was none like him ever since (1Ki 3:11-12).

He takes the place of a father (Prov 4:1) to instruct his sons to be wise, just as he was instructed by his father and mother (v3-4). He tells them that wisdom is the most profitable gain in life and gives the reasons (v5-13). He advises to shun the path of wickedness which is the way of darkness and speaks in contrast of the path of the just which is the way of light (v14-19).

Then in v20-27, he outlines this path of the just - The Course of Wisdom.

INTRODUCTION

Most of us have undergone a good number of courses in life. Some are useful and some are not. They all have one thing in common - only good for this life under the sun.

There is a course for life that we often do not give diligence to pursue, and it is a lifelong course. This course is only for those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour. This is not a course on doing good Christian works to earn salvation. However, all those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Saviour must traverse on this course as an evidence of their salvation.

God is the author of this course, and He is the instructor by the person of the Holy Spirit, the energiser, and the enabler. God alone is the beginning of this course, without Him, we who are believers cannot get enrolled on the course; and He alone is the Keeper, without Him we will fail. He is our wisdom, without Him we will have no direction and light to the path in this course and will miss the way. There is much danger and many deceptions as we sojourn on earth. The god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, seeks to veer us off the path. And unless God’s instruction manual guides us and His Spirit illumines and strengthens us, and His power keeps us from the enemies of our soul, we will crash out of this course and fail. From Proverbs 4:20-27, we shall trace this Course of Wisdom from its beginning, its development in the soul and its fruits.

I. ITS BEGINNING (v20) - My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.

To begin the course, one must be attentive. Obviously, if we sleep through a course, we cannot profit from it. To “attend” means to prick up the ears to pay attention, like an animal to its surroundings, ever prepared for any lurking danger.

To “incline” the ear is to take the posture of a disciple sitting at the feet of God most wise and to listen carefully to what God says to him. Only when we give such attention can the word of God enter into the heart.

II. ITS ESTABLISHMENT (v21) - Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.

And once we understand what is said, we need to make sure that we do not lose what we hear. To do so, we are to keep our eyes on it, so that these words are not lost from view: “Let them not depart from thine eyes.” But they are to be “frontlets between the eyes” (Deut 11:18). And we are to “keep them in the midst of thine heart”. To “keep” means to guard properly by placing a hedge about (as with thorns) to prevent what is inside from being lost. When we safely keep the counsels of God in the soul, wisdom is established within our soul.

III. THE NEED FOR VIGILANCE IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THE COURSE OF WISDOM (v23,26) -
      23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
      26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.

Once we begin in the course and are established upon the right foundation of the Word of God, we will need vigilance to ensure that we stay on course.

The word “keep” in v23 means to guard. It is different from the word “keep” in v21 which means to keep in so that you will not lose what is IN it.

The word “keep” in v23 means both

1. to guard to ensure that nothing bad enters in, i.e. to keep out what is bad, and
2. to watch that nothing evil from within comes out.

The world and the Evil One seek to corrupt our minds to conform to the world and not to the mind of Christ. We need to guard against this.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer 17:9) and “from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” And Jesus said, “That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.” (Mr 7:20-23) Hence it is needful to also guard the heart to ensure that nothing evil from within proceeds out to defile us.

The King James translators added a note “above all keeping” to the phrase “with all diligence” to tell us that above all the keeping and guarding that we do in life, of possessions and health and the like, we are to make the guarding of our hearts our priority, “for out of it are the issues of life.” We therefore need to be most vigilant in order to maintain this course of life.

We need to ponder the path of our feet” (v26a), which means to make level or smooth the path, to roll it flat, so that we will not stumble our feet or be hindered in this course; and likewise let all our “ways be established”, prepared, secured and made ready. If this course is our priority, we will do so.

IV. EVIDENCES THAT WE ARE ESTABLISHED ON THIS COURSE (v24) - Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.

1. The Man travelling on this Course has Clean Lips; negatively put here as “put far away a froward mouth, and perverse lips”. What comes out of the mouth will be edifying and godly. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” (Eph 4:29) The child of folly is known by his words: by his words he is condemned. The wise man is known by his tongue: by his words he is justified (Mt 12:36-37). “If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain.” (Jas 1:26)
2. The Man travelling on this Course is Resolute in the Path (v27) - “Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” He will not turn again to his past follies [Ps 85:8], like a dog back to its own vomit. He will not take the way of sin because it is easier and the path of least resistance or pleasure. He will stay on course, for he knows that is the way of peace and happiness. He has learnt by experience the temporal pleasures of sin and its bitter and miserable after-taste brings only death.
3. The Man travelling on this Course Looks Right On (v25) – “Let thine eyes look right on and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.” To look right on in front means to fix your eyes on Christ. A runner whose eyes are looking right on straight before him will run straight. The moment he begins to look to the left and right, he will veer off course. Fix your eyes on the prize that awaits the winner and be not tempted to depart from the biblical course. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:2)

V. THE ISSUES [or Fruits] OF THE COURSE (v22,23) - Issues in life and health -
     22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
     23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

The end of this course is eternal life and physical health. This was promised literally to the wise and holy under the Old Testament national witness, but now in the New Testament the issues of heavenly wisdom are only spiritual: -

1. a blessed and abundant life on earth in Christ Jesus, and
2. everlasting life beyond, where there is no more pain, sickness and death.

What a blessed course indeed. All believers are automatically enrolled into this course when they accept Christ as Lord and Saviour. Now believers need to be established in it and grow in the grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. Let us who are truly born again be vigilant to keep to the course and not to turn out of the way. Let us joyfully finish this course and enter into perfect joy with the only wise God, our Saviour Jesus Christ.