"Emma, don't touch that." Emma you're going to get boo-boo if you touch that." "Emma that's hot." Our first winter n Chile I pulled out the kerosene heater and Emma was just learning how to walk. I remember clearly explaining to my daughter who wasn't even two how if she got too close to the heater, she would get burned. Many would argue that you can't reason with a two year old or that there is no way she could understand the implications of getting too close to the stove and getting burned. But believe me, she got it and she got it quickly with no burns or boo boos or accidents. I took Emma over to that heater almost every day or whenever I saw her eyes glaze over with curiosity for I don't know how long. I would reach down grab her little hand and put it up to the flame. OBVIOUSLY not burning her but showing her what "hot" meant and "OW!" how it would hurt if she left it there too long or got too close. I instilled a healthy fear of that "glowing monster" that so peeked her sense of something new and I never had to think twice, if she was going to get too close. Emma would go to great lengths to avoid the heater because I had taught her its dangers. Sometimes words are enough to teach our children great life lessons.
I wish telling her what could happen if she does such and such a thing were enough and that this was the easiest form of learning but now eight years old (going on nine) I have to admit it's one of the weakest teaching method. I wish it were not so and so did Solomon when he left his words of wisdom for his children in Proverbs. That is why it is not merely enough to read God's word with our children but to talk about it, give personal experiences of its truths, live it out with them and commit it to memory.
Chapter one is the introduction to many words of advice Solomon would give yet having read Proverbs many, many times through I have to sit back and laugh because they are a summary of words and phrases he'd repeat over and over again kind of like those phrases I repeated to Emma in teaching her to not go near that heater.
In chapter 1 we get a plain and simple, cut and dry summary of consequences to those who listen and those who don't. The wise young man and the foolish man we'll hear about so much throughout his teachings. He first tells us what could be if the fool had listened v. 23 "... if you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you."
This is what Solomon would have his children know. What more can we ask out of life than to know the very thoughts of God and His perfect will for our lives. All we have to do is listen. To those who choose to be foolish and despise God's corrections, as most of us do, though the consequences are equally clear vs. 31-32 "they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. 32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them."
In verse 33 he wraps it up though and introduces a book filled with the path to longevity, peace, honor, and God's protection and blessings, "but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."
So the first lesson taught in a young person's quest for wisdom is fear the LORD, to listen, and take heed to God's corrections v. 5 &7 " …let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance- The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge…"
Proverbs 1 (New International Version)
Prologue: Purpose and Theme
1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2 for attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young-
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance-
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools [a] despise wisdom and discipline.
Exhortations to Embrace Wisdom
Warning Against Enticement
8 Listen, my son, to your father's instruction
and do not forsake your mother's teaching.
9 They will be a garland to grace your head
and a chain to adorn your neck.
10 My son, if sinners entice you,
do not give in to them.
11 If they say, "Come along with us;
let's lie in wait for someone's blood,
let's waylay some harmless soul;
12 let's swallow them alive, like the grave, [b]
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
13 we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder;
14 throw in your lot with us,
and we will share a common purse"-
15 my son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;
16 for their feet rush into sin,
they are swift to shed blood.
17 How useless to spread a net
in full view of all the birds!
18 These men lie in wait for their own blood;
they waylay only themselves!
19 Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
it takes away the lives of those who get it.
Warning Against Rejecting Wisdom
20 Wisdom calls aloud in the street,
she raises her voice in the public squares;
21 at the head of the noisy streets [c] she cries out,
in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:
22 "How long will you simple ones [d] love your simple ways?
How long will mockers delight in mockery
and fools hate knowledge?
23 If you had responded to my rebuke,
I would have poured out my heart to you
and made my thoughts known to you.
24 But since you rejected me when I called
and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand,
25 since you ignored all my advice
and would not accept my rebuke,
26 I in turn will laugh at your disaster;
I will mock when calamity overtakes you-
27 when calamity overtakes you like a storm,
when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind,
when distress and trouble overwhelm you.
28 "Then they will call to me but I will not answer;
they will look for me but will not find me.
29 Since they hated knowledge
and did not choose to fear the LORD,
30 since they would not accept my advice
and spurned my rebuke,
31 they will eat the fruit of their ways
and be filled with the fruit of their schemes.
32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them,
and the complacency of fools will destroy them;
33 but whoever listens to me will live in safety
and be at ease, without fear of harm."
