The Sayings of My Father
I’m excited to begin processing the Book of Proverbs with you.
You might be wondering, “What is Proverbs about?”
From the start, Proverbs has a few goals: to explain to God’s people why wisdom is so desirable, to explore the many facets of wisdom—and to help us understand how to become wise!
You can read the ESV Introduction to Proverbs. It does a great job setting the historical context and giving an outline.
Yet, I am finding more.
Proverbs takes me beyond knowledge for living. It takes me deeper. It takes me to heart of the Father’s love for me—and for you!
Why? Because Proverbs begins with a father speaking to a son; pleading with the son to walk the path of a proper life. Behind each “saying” that we will read, is the deep desire of a parents love for their child.
All of us have different experiences of our dads and moms. For some it’s positive. For others it’s non-existent or worse, negative.
As I begin Proverbs, I asked myself, “What sayings of my father do I remember?”
Here are a few:
1. “I’ve heard ducks like you quack before”—he usually said this when one of us would make an absolute pronouncement, such as never again dating after experiencing a broken heart as a teen.
2. “Be careful what you wish for, you might get it”—he often said this after I, in an exasperated voice, would wish for something like a completely different life (yes, again as a teen).
There were also a few stories he told of his experiences.
1. Selling Liberty Magazine for a nickel during the depression and giving the money to his mom for food.
2. The fact that his grandparents lived in a one-room house with a dirt floor—and it was the cleanest floor on Three-Mile Harbor Road.
3. Manning the rail in World War 2, as the captain of his ship put them on a collision course with a torpedo. Why? So, if need be, the torpedo would sink their ship, rather than a larger more valuable ship.
My dad was amazing—not perfect—but amazing.
He loved certain people and activities, but, when it came to our behavior, he had a serious side.
I wonder now, if his seriousness, was because this depression-era-kid had emerged a man after fighting in a war that saved the world from a despot the likes of Hitler, and then gone on to have a family.
I have often thought of the world he grew up in. His macro-world was one that sent him into World War 2. His micro-world was one of family and business and church. His is that first generation that sent kids to college—always his goal—a better life for his kids.
Perhaps your experience with your earthly father is not as positive. If so, try and identify that adult in your life who cared for you, and wanted you to make great choices for yourself—that is Proverbs.
Its heavenly author is God the Father. His heart is that his kids have a better life—actually the best life.
He too has an earthly experience. He knows firsthand the temptation and destructive powers that are lurking about to ruin each of us, his children. He has felt pain so deeply and completely, that we can scarce imagine it. He bore all of that for you and me.
In Proverbs, he pleads with us to learn and live the path of Wisdom. His begging is not detached philosophy, but rather the lessons from One who is both the grand architect of this school of life, and the supreme graduate of its college of hard-knocks through the Cross.
When you think of God the Father, what image comes to mind?
What image would you like to come to mind?
Jot these two answers down, and as we read through Proverbs together, at the end, let’s come back and see how, and if, your image has changed.