Why Be Wise?

So, page 31 in the green book, if you're a note taker, we are in a sermon series through the Book of Proverbs in this month of March.

We've had four sermons so far in the series, and you can catch up on all of them on the website or the podcast.

Sermon number one, E1, was called the foundation of wisdom, which defined wisdom and then grounded wisdom in the fear of the Lord.

In the second message, we looked at what it means for wisdom to come into the heart and come out of the heart.

We looked at the heart, the feed, the flow.

In the third sermon, wisdom in our words, we surveyed the broad wisdom of the Book of Proverbs on the topic of words and the fact that the tongue has the power of life and death.

Words are a portal to pain or a portal to promise.

And last week, Jonathan unpacked for us the reward, the risk, the aroma and the gift of friendship, which brings us to today, the fifth sermon in our Proverbs series.

Throughout this series, we've been working with a definition of wisdom, which looks like this.

It's got three parts.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

And knowledge rightly applied is wisdom, and wisdom leads to life.

That's the definition we've been coming back to again and again.

And as you look at the Book of Proverbs, that definition for wisdom could apply in almost any area of life.

For instance, on the topic of money.

This is what the Proverbs say about money.

God blesses the righteous with wealth.

Foolish behavior leads to poverty.

The wealth of fools will not last.

Poverty is the result of injustice and oppression.

Those with money must be generous.

Wisdom is better than wealth.

And wealth has limited values.

These are all the verses which talk about money across the Book of Proverbs.

I didn't collate them, by the way.

That's from a commentary that collated them for me.

If we were to take the topic of women, kind of a weird thing to say, but Proverbs does talk about women a lot, as in the adulterous woman, which of course could be flipped to be the adulterous man.

But this is the wisdom of the Book of Proverbs on women.

All these verses give wisdom for how to live well in the way that we relate to the opposite sex.

When it comes to words, this is the wisdom on words.

This is every verse in Proverbs that references the way that we use our words.

And so, we could spend a lifetime collating wisdom for every area of life.

But beneath it all is this deeper question, why be wise?

Why be wise in the first place?

Like you have, you could think of it as second order wisdom, which is wisdom for words and money and relationships and marriage and vocation.

All this kind of wisdom.

But beneath all of that is first order wisdom, which is the desire for wisdom in the first place.

Because if you don't have a desire for wisdom, you could read for the rest of your life and it will make no difference to you.

Why be wise is the question today.

Why not just say, wisdom schmizdom and let it rip?

Just live the life you want to live.

That's sort of the mantra of our time.

You do you and let me be me.

Why be wise?

As we come to our final message in the Book of Proverbs, that's the place that we're going to end.

Why be wise?

Three reasons.

Because it's commanded, because it's good for you, and because it's who you are.

Why be wise?

Because it's commanded, because it's good for you, and because it's who you are.

So firstly, why be wise?

Because it's commanded.

We see this in the very first verse of the passage that Ruth read for us, Proverbs 3 verse 1, My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my, what?

Commands in your heart.

Why be wise?

Because it's commanded.

We see this idea of the command of wisdom in a lot of the really most famous Proverbs.

So Proverbs 4 verse 23, we looked at three weeks ago, Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it.

Guard your heart is a command.

It's in the imperative mood in the Hebrew language that it was originally written in.

Likewise, Proverbs 3, 5 to 6 is a verse that many of us are familiar with.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways, submit to him and he will make your path straight.

Trust in the Lord is a command.

Submit to him is another command.

This is, I think, kind of an underrated aspect of wisdom, that we think it's only invitation to the good life, and it is.

But there's also an imperative.

Wisdom is commanded of us.

In the study of ethics, this is called deontological ethics.

You don't have to remember that word.

Deontological ethics comes from the Greek word, deon or day, meaning necessity, duty.

Deontological ethics are about acting in a certain way because I'm commanded to.

It's about duty.

It's about responsibility for action.

And that's one of the three broad ethical theories in the world today.

So deontological ethics.

We see this play out in two ways.

Firstly, in a secular sense.

So secularism is the removal of God from the equation.

Now, if there is no God, then what is the highest command above us?

The law.

The law of this country.

If there is no God, the highest command above humankind is the law of the particular country or state that they live in.

So that means that we stop at a stop sign because that's the law.

Even if no one was to be harmed by going through, I mean, we do stop at stop signs, don't we?

We stop at stop signs because that's the law.

We don't go over the speed limit after midnight when no one is watching because that's the law.

We don't run red lights at 3 a.m.

because that's the law.

Regardless of the consequence, this is an ethic from command.

So in a secular sense, what do you do when there is no law guiding your action in a particular area?

Whatever you want.

And that's what our world says, you do you.

So when it comes to stopping at stop signs, I'll submit to the law.

But when it comes to how I use my words or how I relate to other people, how I express my sexuality, I'll do whatever I want, is what our world says.

When there is no command above us, then we are free to do whatever we want, in a secular sense.

I would suggest that the research is pointing to the fact that that is not working out for us as a society.

There's a lot of research coming out that Gen Z, which is my generation, the one coming up, and Gen Alpha behind me, and Gen Beta, who is just being born now, Gen Z is the most anxious generation on record, according to a lot of factors, the most lonely generation.

This world view that we can do whatever we want, we can live the life we live, there is no higher authority apart from the law of our country, is not working for us.

Psalm 14 verse 1 says, The fool says in his heart, there is no God.

That's secularism.

In contrast, Proverbs 1 verse 7 says, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Which brings us to the second way that deontological ethics play out, and that is for a Christian, we believe there is a higher command than the law of our country, and that is God.

And so the wisdom of Proverbs is this type of command.

It's not command of government, but command of God, which means we are obedient to the wisdom of God.

Why be wise?

Because it's commanded.

So guard your heart because God commands it.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart because God commands it.

Use your words to bring life in other people because God commands it.

Why be wise?

Because God commands it.

The problem is, that's how you make a Pharisee.

Do you remember in the Gospels, the type of person, the group of people that Jesus came into conflict with more than anyone else was the Pharisees.

And it wasn't because they were disobedient to the law.

In fact, Jesus was so gracious and loving to those who were disobedient to the law.

The Gospel of Luke calls them the tax collectors and sinners.

Jesus was in conflict with the Pharisees, not because they were disobedient, but hyper obedient to the law.

The Pharisees had such a fear of the Lord, such a reverence for God, and they thought the way that they would express that is through complete fidelity to His law.

And so they would honor the commands of God.

In fact, more than that, they would build a fence of human tradition around the law and honor that.

And all the while, they are missing the heart of the God who commanded these things in the first place.

And so Jesus comes into conflict with these types of people because they miss the heart of the God who makes the commands.

This is my one or two obligatory Dallas Wheelhead mention of the sermon.

Dallas Wheelhead has this idea in his book, The Divine Conspiracy, called The Pharisee Fallacy.

Try to say that ten times quick.

The Pharisee Fallacy.

And it's this idea that the Pharisees make their aim, the keeping of the law, as a way to get to God, but they miss the God who made the commands in the first place.

So the Pharisees put all their effort into obeying the command that they don't actually understand the heart of justice and love that God is trying to bring about in his people.

And when you read the Sermon on the Mount, in one sense, the whole thing is a critique of the Pharisee fallacy.

Remember, Jesus says, you've heard that it was said, shallow command level adherence, don't murder, but then he takes it to the heart.

He says, no, it is about not murdering, but it's about not being a person who fosters contempt.

Jesus was pushing back on the Pharisee fallacy.

Remember, the Sermon on the Mount opens with the Beatitudes.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn.

Nine Beatitudes.

And then we read in Matthew 23 what is called the woes.

And they are anti-Beatitudes.

The Beatitudes say, blessed are.

Jesus says in the woes, woe to you.

It says in Matthew 23, woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees.

You hypocrites.

You are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.

In the same way, on the outside, you appear to people as righteous, but on the inside, you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

The Pharisee fallacy is outward command level adherence without inner transformation.

And that is not what God wants for us.

So why be wise?

Because it's commanded.

Yes, but that's not the whole picture.

Which brings us to the second reason.

Why be wise?

Because it's good for you.

Proverbs 3, my son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands.

So there is command.

Verse 2, for, because, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.

Why be wise?

Because it's commanded and because it's good for you.

Solomon says, wisdom will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.

Wisdom is good for you.

It will prolong your life.

In the study of ethics, this is called consequentialist ethics.

So deontological ethics, ethics of command, of duty.

Consequentialist ethics is ethics that consider the outcome of our actions.

So we should be wise because the consequence will be good for us.

If you're familiar with utilitarianism, that's a kind of a subtype under consequentialist ethics, which is the greatest good for the greatest number.

We're talking about a way to live that cares mostly about what happens.

And Solomon says, if you live a wise life, it will be good for you.

It will result in health and flourishing.

This, I think, is another underrated aspect of wisdom.

Jesus said in John 10 verse 10, the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

I think sometimes we have this conception that the non-Christian is the one that gets the good life, and we get the kind of boring life that we live forever, but life here won't be so good.

That is completely contrary to the picture that the Bible paints.

The picture of wisdom is that the fear of the Lord turned into right living lives the best life.

It is the best life to know God.

And that's just in a way self-evident, that when you use your words to bring life, it's a good life that you end up living.

When you are generous with your money and then God provides for you so you can be more generous with your money than God provides, it is a good life.

When in our relationships we invest in meaningful friendships where we can speak the truth and love to each other, it's a good life.

Wisdom leads to the flourishing life.

So why be wise?

Because it's good for you.

In our age, which is saturated with self as the top, this is quite an easy piece for us to pick up.

All of us want to live a flourishing life.

Solomon says the pathway to the flourishing life is wisdom.

Why be wise?

Because it's commanded and because it's good for you.

The question is, how those two things fit together?

What if obedience to God's command takes you in a different direction to obedience with what is good for you?

This is the question at the heart of the Euthyphro dilemma.

The Euthyphro, I think it's pronounced the Euthyphro dilemma.

This is from a work of Plato before Jesus' time.

Plato wrote this work, this dialogue called Euthyphro.

And in Euthyphro, Plato imagines this interaction between Socrates, who was Plato's teacher, and a man called Euthyphro.

And they're on the steps of the temple, about to be charged with crimes.

Socrates for corrupting the youth of Athens, for which he was found guilty and he had to drink the poison cup of legend.

But Euthyphro was bringing charges against his own father.

And so Socrates is having this conversation with Euthyphro and saying, Why are you convicting your father?

Surely, that's not good to convict your own father.

But Euthyphro says, No, I should.

He did wrong.

And so they have this discussion.

And the essence of Euthyphro's dilemma is, Is something good because God commands it?

Or does God command it because it is good?

So let me say that again and try and make that a bit more clear.

Is something good because God commanded it?

Or does God command it because it was already good?

So if something is good because God commands it, that makes goodness arbitrary.

Because today, God could say, do not murder, i.e.

not murdering is good.

But tomorrow, God could issue a new ten commandments that says murder, in which case murder would be good.

So if something is good because God commands it, goodness is untethered and arbitrary.

But if God commands something because it is already good, then that goodness is independent from God.

And that goodness is really the God that we worship.

And God is independent from goodness.

So what we're talking about here, just to...

I'm seeing a lot of confused faces.

Let me bring it together.

What we're talking about is why would you live a wise life?

Because God commands it or because it's good for you.

Now, it's fine if those two things line up, but if they pull you in different directions, you have to know which one to go with.

And I think the classical Christian answer to this question is that they come into the same place.

God is goodness, and goodness is God.

The reason that the Euthyphrode dilemma doesn't work in the world is that they think of goodness as a separate thing from God.

But in Christian theology, it's a doctrine called divine simplicity.

And divine simplicity is that God...

It's not that God has power as equality, and he has love, and he has goodness, but that God is those things.

There is no such thing as goodness that is separate from God.

And there's no God that is separate from his goodness.

So the answer to the Euthyphrode dilemma for us is, if you pursue a true relationship with God, it will result in true goodness.

And if you pursue true goodness, it will result in a true relationship with God.

Because God is goodness.

God is goodness.

So why be wise?

Because it's commanded and because it's good for you.

The problem is, when being wise is not good for you.

We see this in our passage today, Proverbs 3, My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.

What happens when they don't?

Verse 3, Let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

What happens when you don't?

What happens when you follow all the wisdom of Proverbs and it does not lead to the good life, but it leads to a life of suffering?

The problem is, wisdom does not always and absolutely lead to the good life.

The righteous go hungry and the wicked prosper.

You know, Proverbs is so black and white.

Proverbs says, if you do this, you'll be blessed.

If you do this, this will happen.

It's completely black and white.

And then you flip the page from the Book of Proverbs to the next book of the Bible, the Book of Ecclesiastes, and the teacher in Ecclesiastes just throws a bucket of gray paint on the world.

And he says, meaningless.

Everything is meaningless.

Proverbs says, do this and this will happen.

But the Book of Ecclesiastes says, you work your entire life, living the most disciplined and wise life, and then you die.

And your money goes to someone who didn't work for it, and then they die.

Everything is meaningless, is the Book of Ecclesiastes.

Side note, we're going to study the Book of Ecclesiastes in August, which is going to be very exciting and very depressing.

But the relationship between these two books is critical for us.

The Proverbs gives us the general principle of wisdom, that the wise life will be good for you.

But then, Ecclesiastes is the necessary counterbalance that says we do live in a broken world, where bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.

And ultimately, it's all meaningless, is the conclusion of Ecclesiastes.

So why be wise?

Because it's good for you most of the time in general.

And yet we know, living as we do in this part of the story, that the story does have a happy ending.

When we think about the story of the Bible, we know that Jesus won and Jesus wins.

Jesus brings his kingdom into the present.

When you read the Gospels, every teaching, every parable, every deliverance is the kingdom of God coming in and through Jesus into the world, that future kingdom brought into the present.

That means that now we live in what we often call the now and not yet, which means we live in the darkness of this night and yet in the light of the resurrection morning.

And so for us, wisdom can lead to life.

It does lead to a life that is good, and yet there is brokenness in this world.

And so we live in the tension, we live in the tension between Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.

But one day, those two things will be reconciled.

So why be wise?

Firstly, because it's commanded.

Secondly, because it's good for you generally most of the time.

And thirdly, because it's who you are, Proverbs chapter 3, verse 3.

Let love and faithfulness never leave you.

Bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.

Why be wise?

Because it's who you are.

This verse here in Proverbs is, I think, a direct allusion back to Deuteronomy chapter 6, verse 3.

Moses says, hear Israel and be careful to obey.

So there's command.

Be careful to obey so that it may go well with you.

There's consequence.

It will be good for you.

And that you may increase greatly in the land flowing with milk and honey just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors promised you.

Now the next bit is the Shema, the holy prayer of Israel, which I think I quote on average once every two sermons.

So you're familiar with this.

Deuteronomy 6.4, Moses says, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

These commandments, there's a commandment piece, that I give you today are to beware on your hearts.

Impress them on your children.

Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

Notice the crossover in language between Deuteronomy 6 and Proverbs 3.

The vision of the Bible is not only that we be wise because we're commanded to, and not only that we be wise because it will be good for us, but that we be wise because that is who we are.

The language of Deuteronomy 6 and Proverbs 3 is that wisdom would be written on our hearts.

It would be so deep in us that it's not outside, but it is within, that we would be formed into people of wisdom.

Now, in the study of ethics, this is called virtue ethics and is the third of the three main ethical theories.

Firstly, you have deontological ethics, ethics from command.

You have consequentialist ethics, ethics from the outcome.

And then you have virtue ethics, which is all about the type of person you are and are becoming.

In virtue ethics, the main question is what did God say?

It's not what did God say and it's not what will happen if I do this, but who am I becoming?

What would the wise person do?

And I think we see these three fit together really interestingly in Proverbs chapter 26 verse 4 to 5.

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.

Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.

This is directly contradictory wisdom.

Do not answer a fool according to his folly, answer a fool according to his folly.

So if we take a deontological approach, meaning an approach from command, we will be utterly frozen when we come to this passage.

Do I answer a fool or do I not answer a fool?

And if we take a consequentialist approach, we will be trying to predict what's going to happen if we do or do not answer the fool.

If I answer him, is he going to be made more wise or am I going to become more like him?

And you're doing these kind of mental gymnastics.

But the third option is that God has put these two pieces of wisdom together to invite us to reflect and be formed into a wise person who knows when to apply each one in the stuff of life.

That's the point of these proverbs that seem to have a rough edge when you hold them against each other.

They form you into a wise person.

Command doesn't work with stuff like this.

Consequence doesn't work, but virtue, formation does work.

That's the point of the wisdom of proverbs, to invite us to reflect on God and the nature of His world and be formed into wise people.

The problem is, we don't want to take the time to be formed into wise people.

It takes a lifetime of formation that we can't be bothered generally.

The wise life is so much easier when there's a clear command to follow.

Do not murder.

As angry as I am with this person, there's a very clear command not to murder, so I won't murder.

Of course, Jesus makes it trickier when he says don't even hold contempt for another person, but the command is clear, and the wise life is also much easier when the consequences are predictable.

If I speak words of death to another person, I'm probably going to have a tough relationship with this person, so why don't I not speak words of death?

Wisdom is hard and slow when it is about the formation of persons, and yet that is what God is after.

He wants to form us into people with wise character who can live and operate in this world as Jesus would.

That's the way it was always meant to be.

We go right back to the start of the story of the Bible.

Remember Genesis 1, 27, God created male and female in his image.

In the image of God, he created them, and God blessed them.

He gave them a job, humankind.

He said, expand, not literally this, but this is my summary, expand the order of Eden into the chaos outside the garden.

The vocation of humankind in the beginning was to bring that beauty and delight which is in the garden of Eden and expand it.

And so, of course, the man and woman are going to have to procreate to have more people so that we can rule and reign over this earth as God intended.

That was the way that it was meant to be, but God was going to teach them wisdom slowly.

If you don't believe me, that God wanted to teach wisdom slowly, how did God bring the animals to Adam to name them?

One by one.

It's like God is dealing with this teenage Adam, and he brings this thing with a massive long neck, and he says, what do you want to name this?

And he says, giraffe, and he goes, good.

And then he finds this little thing with a weirdly long nose, and he gives it to him.

What do you name this?

And he says, aardvark.

And God's like, okay, that's not great, but we'll try again next time.

God is forming wisdom in Adam and Eve, slowly.

That was always the plan.

The problem is, humans have never wanted to take the time to be formed in wisdom.

Do you remember what it was that Eve, the woman saw in the tree?

It was good for food, pleasing to the eye, and desirable for gaining wisdom instantly.

And so she took an eight.

And in a second, the eyes of both of them were opened, and they had a form of wisdom.

But all that wisdom did was show them that they are naked before a holy God.

God's invitation was to learn wisdom slowly.

It's not that God wanted puppets who were stupid and dumb and unwise their whole lives.

But God wanted to walk in the garden with his creatures, his human beings, and teach them wisdom.

But human beings didn't want to wait to be formed in wisdom.

And that is still true of us today.

So in that moment, as you know, Genesis 3, the world falls apart.

The brokenness in our world today is because we didn't want to slow down and learn wisdom at God's speed.

So what did God do?

Did he zap down to earth right in front of a cross on a hill called Calvary, jump up on that cross really quickly, and then go back up to heaven?

He came as a baby in a teenager's womb and lived 30 years of obscure life in a backwater town called Nazareth in Galilee.

30 years, Jesus learnt wisdom slowly and slowly.

You know, in the Gospel of Luke, you have a few scenes of Jesus in his childhood and teenage years.

Luke 2 verse 39, When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

And the child Jesus grew and became strong.

He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was on him.

And then later, when he's 12, Jesus goes to the temple.

And then at the end of that story, we see the conclusion.

Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

Jesus, God himself, did not come to earth as a fully formed wise mature man.

He came as a baby and learnt wisdom for 30 years until his ministry was launched.

I find that insane.

Jesus is reversing the effects of the fall in taking time to learn wisdom.

And then at the end of the gospels, what we see after the death and resurrection of Jesus, Jesus stands on a mountain and he blesses his disciples and he sort of reinstates the mandate that God gave all of creation, the humans in Genesis 2.

So think of Genesis 2.

Remember, God blessed them, said, be fruitful.

Jesus said to his disciples, Matthew 28 verse 19, therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you.

In other words, bear the image of God, expand the order of Eden into the world, grow the kingdom of God.

And then this is the clincher, surely I am with you always to the very end of the age.

That is the promise that he is with us.

That was always the promise.

God walked in the garden with his creation, forming wisdom.

That's why Paul says in Galatians 5, so I say walk by the spirit, walk by the spirit.

This is slow and methodical, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

He walks with us.

And then the Bible ends in Revelation 21.

John writes, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, look, God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.

They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

Why be wise?

Because we walk with God, the way that it was always meant to be.

God wanted to walk with us in the garden and slowly form wisdom, but we didn't want to take the time.

But Jesus came down and he showed us how to do it.

And so our passage finishes in verse five.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

In all your ways, submit to him and he'll make your path straight.

Do not be wise in your own eyes.

Fear the Lord and shun evil.

This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.

Wisdom comes from walking with God.

Notice the relational language.

Don't trust yourself, but defer to God in relationship because we walk with him.

And so as we come now to the final like minute and a half, 90 seconds of our Proverbs series, why be wise?

Why bother caring about what we do with our words and our relationships and our friendships and our money?

Why be wise?

Because it's commanded.

But yet the commands don't just follow them alone.

There's problems.

Why be wise?

Because it's good for you most of the time.

Generally, why be wise?

Because it's who you are.

And yet many of us don't want to take the time to be formed in wisdom.

Ultimately, because we walk with God and he walks with us.

If you trust Jesus this morning, you have the Holy Spirit of God in you, forming you in wisdom, walking with you.

Why be wise?

Because it's commanded, because it's good for you, because it's who you are, and because we walk with God.

So to bring it all back to where we started, Proverbs 1 verse 7.

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

So as a church, as we have finished the Book of Proverbs, dramatic gesture, actually that's false.

Let's keep the Bible open and walk with God, with this thing.

Let's be a community of persons being formed in the wisdom that God wants to put in us, in and through his Spirit.

By his Spirit working in you, let's live wise lives.

Let's bless each other with our words.

Let's give our money away and see if God won't bless us back.

Let's be wise, because our God walks with us.

Let me pray.

Lord Jesus, we thank you for the way that you came to earth to save us.

We were lost in our sin and dead in our transgressions.

And yet you came to earth and you lived a long and slow life.

And it ultimately led to the cross where you took our place.

You died our death and rose again that we might have life.

And that we might receive the gift of the Father, the Holy Spirit.

And so I thank you for that gift that dwells in all of us this morning.

And I pray as we go from this place that you would make yourself manifest, make your presence manifest, Lord.

Help us to walk by the Spirit, to learn wisdom.

I pray this week that you would bring to mind in our moments of temptation the wisdom of Proverbs, that we would walk with you, that we would be formed in your image, Lord.

Our desire is to glorify you above all things and to do that through the type of person that we become, the person that you are making us.

So help us, Lord, in Jesus' name.

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