Episode Details

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I give you thanks for the new day before us. I praise you for your steadfast mercies on this new day. I praise and thank you for your marvellous word. In the reading of your word this morning, O Lord, please feed my soul. Unite my heart to fear your name. Lead me in the way everlasting, please quicken my heart and strengthen me for the challenges to come in the day ahead. Merciful God, I am weak, but you are strong. Please lead me not into temptation this day, but deliver me from the evil one. Please give me a greater measure of wisdom that I may live wisely before you. And may your kingdom come, may Christ reign in my heart, and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.

Reading

Proverbs 1:1

The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel:

To know wisdom and instruction,to understand words of insight,to receive instruction in wise dealing,in righteousness, justice, and equity;to give prudence to the simple,knowledge and discretion to the youth—Let the wise hear and increase in learning,and the one who understands obtain guidance,to understand a proverb and a saying,the words of the wise and their riddles.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Meditation

“The proverbs of Solomon…” (Prov 1:1a).

The very first question we need to consider is simply this: What is a proverb? In verse 1 the book begins with the following words: “The Proverbs of Solomon…” What, then, is a Proverb? Well to start with in this series of devotions, we’re going to walk through the main characteristics of a proverb. Firstly, a proverb is a short saying. For example, in Proverbs 10:1 we read: “A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish son is a grief to his mother.” Here we find a short, self-contained unit of thought – this is a proverb. Secondly, proverbs are also memorable sayings. In Proverbs 11:22 we read: “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.” That is very vivid and striking imagery! Here’s another one: “Like a dog that returns to his vomit is a fool who repeats his folly” (Prov 26:11).

Be ye doers of the word…

Given that the proverbs are both short and memorable, it would seem clear that they are especially intended for memorisation. So, let’s set ourselves the goal to memorise the proverbs. Perhaps that sounds like an intimidating challenge, and yet in Psalm 119:11 we read: “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” God wants us to store his word in our hearts, and I’m convinced that he wants us to prioritise the psalms and the proverbs in this task of scriptural memorisation. And why do I say that? I say that because both of these collections were designed for that purpose. On the one hand, the psalms are designed to be sung, and songs are, among other things, easily to be memorised. Colossians 3:16 says that we ought to go about our business in life “singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” This thankfulness arises in the heart as we sing from the heart. Proverbs, though not designed for musical accompaniment, are also by nature designed to be memorised – for they are short, self-contained, memorable sayings. So then, the challenge for us is there: let us seek to memorise the proverbs.

Now having laid that challenge and application out, we ought then to ask: How? Without an answer to that question, most likely we will fail. How then might we go about memorising the proverbs? Let me lay out a few possibilities. To begin with, you might set yourselves to carry just a single proverb with you at a rate of