His Relationships
Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
Proverbs 14:16 “A wise man fears the Lord and shuns evil, but a fool is hotheaded and reckless.”
Proverbs 15:33 “The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.”
A wise man’s relationship to God is important because we know that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:20 “Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?” It is almost as if Paul is saying to the wise man of the world that if he is so wise then come and give us the solutions to the problems that we are faced with in the world today. They have no real solutions! Why? To begin with, it’s because they have the wrong world-view.
According to the book of Proverbs a man is wise, because of his fear of God and he has God’s view of the world, what we call a “Biblical Worldview.” A Biblical Worldview is laid out in the first 10 chapters of the book of Genesis which brings out the creation, the fall of man, and God’s solution with the redemption of man. This is why the wise man in his relationship to God has the right foundation to bring solutions to the problems of the world today.
The wise man of Proverbs is a man that acknowledges God; that God is exactly who He says He is in His written Word. Because of this he trusts in the Lord to direct his steps and makes his decisions to follow God’s ways, laws, commandments, statues and decrees. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5
The problem that we have today is that we depend upon man’s knowledge and experience and not God’s character and revelation. Like the book of Proverbs brings out, there is a way that seems right to a man, but it leads to death. We see this in the 20th century with the rise and fall of fascism, communism as well as humanism “isms” have been responsible for over 150 million deaths. This is the result of man’s wisdom without God.
The wise man according to Proverbs is also a man who heeds instructions and does not despise the discipline of the Lord. Because he knows that the discipline of the Lord is leading him not only in a prudent life, but a life of doing what is right, just and fair.
One other aspect of a wise man according to Proverbs and his relationship to his Lord – is his quickness to confess his sin. He knows this truth that he “who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”
The wise man according to Proverbs is a man that knows that God is slow to move from the seat of mercy to the seat of judgment, but move He will. The wise man has a healthy fear of his God. He rests in the truth that when he confesses sin and rebellion that God is quick to move from judgment to the seat of mercy.