Proverbs Chapter 1

• Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; 
• 2 To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; 
• 3 To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; 
• 4 To give subtlety to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. 

To seek the right kind of knowledge is good. To desire knowledge for the wrong reasons is not so good. 

Adam and Eve were deceived and persuaded by Satan to disobey God by offering them the wrong kind of knowledge. This knowledge promised to them was the knowledge to be like God knowing good and evil. This knowledge took away their innocence and defiled all of mankind.

Knowledge puffs up and brings power. To desire knowledge so that one might excel above others is the wrong desire. 

To desire the knowledge of God is the right desire especially when you want to be like God in character but never in power. We must always desire that God be in control and have sovereignty. We must never desire to act in the place of God for our own glory. This is what Satan did in his rebellion. We must do the opposite and seek the knowledge of God for the right reasons. To live righteously and to live in obedience to God. 

Before the gospel and the coming of Jesus Christ, mankind had to rely mostly on his own will power and knowledge of God's word. After Christ we have access to the power of the Holy Spirit which is available to all who have believed and have been "born again" by the spirit of God. Now we have access to the right kind of knowledge that will result in the saving of not only our own souls but those that hear us. 

• Proverbs 1:5 A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: 

We can understand if we have the right motives. Solomon desired wisdom so that he could rule righteously and lead his people in the ways of God. Unfortunately later in life, his many wives turned his heart away from God. Before this occurred however, he wrote down many good things that we can read and understand. He was the wisest man in the world at one time but lost it all in the time of temptation. 

So no matter how much wisdom we achieve, we still are subject to temptation, but through the power of God and love for Him, we can overcome and not fail.

• Proverbs 1:6 To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. 
• 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. 

We have forgotten this. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of true knowledge. When we leave off the fear of the Lord, we get into knowledge that distorts the truth.

That is how we got the theory of evolution. People forget that its only a theory. I'm not a person who opposes science. I believe scientific knowledge that benefits mankind are gifts from God and true science will not oppose God. However when theory becomes truth in the minds of those that blindly trust in science, and scientists study with a motive to prove their own pet theories rather than get at the truth, then they are no longer scientists but proponents of political agendas.

True scientists will not fear discovering new possibilities and theories. It's when they become so close minded that they don't consider that they might be wrong, is when they cease to be true scientists. Science is exciting if it stays open to all possibilities and scientists are not afraid to admit former findings were wrong. Perhaps in a few years they may discover something entirely different than what is believed today. Deep in my heart I truly believe they are starting to doubt evolution and one day it will be totally debunked. 

• Proverbs 1:8 My son, hear the instruction of your father, and forsake not the law of your mother: 

This of course would be godly fathers and mothers who instruct in righteousness. 

• Proverbs 1:9 For they shall be an ornament of grace unto your head, and chains about your neck. 

To inherit a godly upbringing is a blessing in deed. To keep the truth in one's heart and not depart from it, will produce fruit and everlasting life to all that are influenced by that truth. 

• Proverbs 1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, consent not. 

Follow not a multitude to do evil.

• Proverbs 1:11 If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privately for the innocent without cause: 
• 12 Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: 
• 13 We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: 
• 14 Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse: 

Do not join with any group that wants all income to be kept in one place. Cults do this and sometimes have people give their whole paycheck and turn it over to the leaders. This takes away one's ability to be independent and walk away if they find themselves into something that is evil. This is why cults want people to forsake their financial independence. A true godly church or group will never force, intimidate or coerce its followers to give or forsake family obligations and only to be loyal to the group. 

Why is that? Because a true church should be trusting in God alone for their survival. They should be trusting in God for their increase. They should be concerned with eternity and the saving of souls not power on this earth. A true church does not have to threaten, intimidate and force giving. Having money will never be enjoyed if we have to rob someone else to have it. Stealing and using force in any way is not the way to achieve wealth.  It will destroy us in the long run. 

• Proverbs 1:15 My son, walk not in the way with them; refrain your foot from their path: 
• 16 For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. 

This means any gang or group that kills the innocent. A few false religious cults also end up killing innocent people. 

• Proverbs 1:17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird. 
• 18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privately for their own lives. 
• 19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which takes away the life of the owners thereof. 

To kill, steal and destroy to obtain financial gain is not worth it in the long run. One will spend eternity in hell and profit nothing from living this way. There is no reason to even cheat in business, to outwit someone else, to use unfair competition to get ahead if one's trust is in the Lord and diligently trusts the Lord for all increase. I've never seen God let any faithful believer down yet. We usually get ourselves into trouble when we forsake our trust in God. 

• Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom cries without; she utters her voice in the streets: 
• 21 She cries in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she utters her words, saying, 
• 22 How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? 
• 23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. 

Turn to God and seek His knowledge, love His ways and seek His salvation. Then He will pour out His spirit upon us and we will inherit eternal life. 

• Proverbs 1:24 Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 
• 25 But ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 
• 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; 
• 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 

When we choose the so-called good life in this world and ignore the life in the spirit God gives to all who believe, it will be to our own destruction and our own peril. Even now we have help. We have Jesus who came to die for our sins so that simple faith in Him causes us to receive the Holy Spirit which enables us to have power over the desire to sin. 

• Proverbs 1:28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 
• 29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 

Many are doing that today. They are going deeper into things that are vain and do not last. To live for this life only is vain. To prepare for eternity which lasts forever is the greater importance. This life is a short span compared to eternity. 

• Proverbs 1:30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 
• 31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. 

God really doesn't have to send judgment, our own evil ways will devour us. There is a moral law of reaping what one sows which comes upon both the just and the unjust. For instance if one has a habit that is unhealthy and harms the body, they will most likely die from that habit. If one has is given to road rage and drives unsafely, he is most likely to die in a wreck or become crippled for life. If we live in constant sexual sin and do not exercise the restraint God sets in the bounds of marriage, we open ourselves up to disease. This is why disease is so widespread. 

• Proverbs 1:32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 
• 33 But whoso hearkens unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. 

This doesn't mean that we never have bad happen to those that trust in the Lord but they are delivered from the fear of evil. God never allows them to go through more than they can handle. In the end is eternal life which no evil can ever befall them again. - Dorna Chambers