When you need good advice, where do you go? A friend, a mentor, a self-help book, Google?
There’s a time and a place for each of those: If you’re hiking a new trail, you’d probably find what you need in a guidebook. If you want to make homemade ice cream, you can easily pull up 1,000 recipes with a quick online search. And an experienced friend can tell you the best place to take your car for a repair.
But if you need advice on how to live your life, a quick search isn’t going to cut it.
There was a man who lived about 3,000 years ago who also knew this. Even though he was a king, he knew he needed help in figuring out how to do this life well (1 Kings 3). So when God said, “ask for whatever you want me to give you,” this king, King Solomon, asked for a “discerning heart.” He wanted wisdom.
God answered Solomon’s prayer and the book of Proverbs is the outpouring of that wisdom.
But can ancient words really speak to us today? In an age of easy answers and quick searches do we still need this wisdom?
Well, if you’ve ever had a friend hurt you, ever been tempted to cheat, ever wondered how to raise a child or tangled with pride, this book has something to say to you.
In the coming weeks, we’ll talk about where wisdom comes from, the value of wise friends, the way to use your money wisely and the importance of wise words. This book, right in the center of your Bible, has more to say to you in modern-day life than you might imagine.
What can the book of Proverbs teach us today? Let’s find out.