Proverbs: Words to Live By!

Proverbs is an Old Testament book that collects over 350 ancient sayings (or proverbs).  Many of these proverbs are traditionally attributed to King Solomon, the son of King David.

Solomon was famous for his wisdom.  In 1 Kings 4:29-32, we read:
   God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.  Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.  He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations.  He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five.

Solomon also has a cool hotel named after him in Israel.  Here it is:

The Book of Proverbs is an effort to pass along practical wisdom to people, especially young people.  We can learn how to live by trial and error, or we can learn by taking the advice of others who came before us.  The Book of Proverbs is a great collection of that advice!

Wisdom: Where does it come from?  How do we get it?  Proverbs 9:10 teaches: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. "  In Proverbs, wisdom is often personified as a woman ... Adrienne liked that! We see an example here in Proverbs 1:20: "Out in the open wisdom calls aloud, she raises her voice in the public square."

Our youth nominated a number of proverbs this morning for a Wesley Award.  Here are the nominees:

Jake nominated Proverbs 15:2 -- "The tongue of the wise adorns knowledge, but the mouth of the fool gushes folly."

Adrienne picked Proverbs 27:19 -- "As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart."

Nick  picked Proverbs 19:15 -- "Laziness brings on deep sleep, and the shiftless go hungry."

Alex chose Proverbs 20:17 -- "Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel."

Jack selected Proverbs 19:4 -- "Wealth attracts many friends, but even the closest friends of the poor desert them."

Wes went with Proverbs 6:6 -- "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! " (I think Wes just likes the word "sluggard"!)

Laura Jane  selected Proverbs 12:4 -- "A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones."

And the winner of the Wesley Award for Best Proverb goes to ...

Proverbs 16:16, which was nominated by Matt:
 How much better to get wisdom than gold,
to get insight rather than silver!

Next week, we will select the Wesley Award winner for Best Story from Genesis!  Post a comment to nominate a story, then check in with us on March 18 to see what story won!