“3 Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Then you will win favor and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
”
I really struggled to pick out one section of this Proverb this morning; it is rich with wisdom! Sticking close to the theme of engaging our world as Christian leaders I was struck by these particular verses. My first career was in youth ministry and we had a saying that we must “earn the right to be heard” by high school students – not an easy crowd to earn respect and trust with!
The wisdom of Solomon suggests the key to earning favour in the sight of God and man is love and faithfulness. It seems fairly straight forward; love people and be faithful to them and they will respect you and be open to your instruction. But what does it mean to love people? Those of us who are parents struggle mightily with how to express love in discipline. To love does not mean to accept all behaviour; love demands discipline and correction. We need look no further than down to verse 11 of this very chapter to see that God himself, disciplines those he loves!
But what does it look like for us to lovingly discipline those around us? How do we provide correction and discipline for employees, friends, coworkers, etc. in a manner that displays love and faithfulness? What does wisdom look like in this situation? Leadership is not easy – Solomon instructs us to let love and faithfulness never leave us; to display them on the outside of ourselves and embrace them on the inside and then we will win favour with God and man.
The second half of this short section of Proverbs 3 is a famous passage of scripture that probably rolls off our tongues quite smoothly; but have we really embraced its truth? Lean not on your own understanding, trust in God and His wisdom in all your ways. Do not be wise in your own eyes!
The rest of this chapter provides us with examples of God’s ways: honouring the Lord with our first fruits, living without fear of sudden disaster (timely!), not withholding good from those who earn it, and not accusing others for no reason. The final one is difficult in our family, we are constantly pointing fingers at each other.
Verse 22 says God’s wisdom will be life for us! Are you experiencing this life?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Have you made intentional decisions to let love and faithfulness to all people never leave you? What does that look like in practice? In what areas of life do you find it most difficult to not lean on your own understanding, but to truly trust God and his wisdom? Share your thoughts below.