Series: Wisdom That Works
Message: Wisdom Creates Community
Preacher: Amy Markoch
Reflection: Mark Witas
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Jessyka Dooley
Live Beyond: J. Murdock
Live Purpose: Kyle Smith
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Proverbs 3:13-35 in the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: “When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet” (Proverbs 3:24)
One of the many things that irritates my wife about me is my ability to put my head on my pillow at night and—in less than a minute—be deeply asleep for the next eight hours. In her words, “Is it possible to admire you and be irritated at you for this at the same time?”
I love sleeping. I can sleep eight hours at night and still, when time permits, catch a thirty-minute nap in the middle of the day. My doctor says, “The fact that you aren’t a coffee drinker and that you have a relatively clean conscience are the two biggest contributors to why you rest so well.”
If I do find myself unable to sleep at night, it’s almost always for mental reasons as opposed to physical ones. In fact, just this last Saturday night I had one of those rare nights when I couldn’t sleep. Earlier in the evening I was at a meeting in my church with a group of people planning a free medical clinic in our town. One of the people brought a bunch of snacks which included a spinach artichoke dip. I put the dip in a small glass bowl and heated it up in the microwave. It was delicious.
After the meeting I was helping clean up when I took the now empty glass bowl into the kitchen to clean it. There was some cooked on dip on the sides of the bowl, so I set it under the faucet and turned the hot water tap all the way on. I walked out of the kitchen intending to return in about two minutes, after the force of the hot water did its job.
That evening, at 3:00 a.m., in the middle of an incredible sleep, I woke up, eyes wide open, in a panic. Yes, I had left that hot water tap on full flow since 9:00 p.m. the evening before. I jumped into my slippers and a robe, ran to my car, broke several driving laws (evidently there’s not a lot going on at 3:00 a.m. on a rainy Saturday night in Portland), and pulled into the church parking lot. I ran into the church with fears of a flooded kitchen floor in my head, inadvertently setting off the alarm on my way in. To my relief, even though the water was still running full force, the drain had done its job. The only damage done was to our water bill and my dignity.
Sleep interrupted, at least in this case, was a good thing. It’s those other late night insomnias that the writer of this proverb is referring to. Broken relationships, bad decisions, unconfessed wrongs. These can haunt a good person until they are resolved.
Living a life in line with the way of wisdom will drastically cut down on sleepless nights because a life lived right, creates a mind at peace.
Recalibrate: If you lose sleep, what is it that keeps you up at night? What can you do to resolve it? How often does it happen to you?
Respond: Pray these words: “Father, work in me to create the kind of life that will grant me peace in my waking hours and sleep in my resting ones.”
Research: Read Softest Pillow: A Clean Conscience by Aakriti Joanna.
Mark Witas is the lead pastor at Sunnyside Adventist Church in Portland, Oregon.
Proverbs 3:24 (TPT) says, “You will sleep like a baby, safe and sound—your rest will be safe and secure.” Wrap yourself and your little one up in a blanket. Snuggle into each other and the warmth of the blanket wrapped around you. Know that no matter how complicated our lives get, when we wrap ourselves in God's wisdom we can rest easy, and sleep like a baby—safe and secure in God’s arms.
Yesterday we talked about how the author of Proverbs referred to Wisdom as a wonderful woman who offers us a long life, riches, and honor. Today, we see that the author tells us that wisdom is kind of like a tree. What do you know about trees? Draw a tree with lots of fruit on it. Proverbs 3:18 says, “As a tree makes fruit, wisdom gives life to those who use it. Everyone who uses wisdom will be happy.” How does a tree make fruit? Does an apple tree have to think really hard to make apples instead of broccoli or carrots? No way! Because it’s an apple tree, it naturally makes apples. When you choose to bring wisdom into your heart and mind, do you think that it will be hard to make wise decisions?
I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. Not all of them have been nice things. But the most memorable compliments are the ones I don’t agree with. Have you ever received a compliment that just didn’t seem right to you? Those are always perplexing because you spend more time arguing in your head about how there is no way the person giving the compliment is right because it just doesn’t seem true. Especially if you have been told the exact opposite for a long time! When someone comes along and says you are smart when other people say you are dumb, it’s tough to believe the one person who says that you’re smart.
It’s also important to think about who is telling you what. If a bunch of bullies at school say you’re lame, and your best friend says you’re awesome, who are you more likely to believe? It can be challenging to block out all the opinions that bring you down simply because there might be more of them. But the value is found in the opinion of someone you trust, not in the echoes of people who aren’t bringing value into your life.
Solomon talks about this in Proverbs 3:18 where he writes that Wisdom is “a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those that keep her close are called blessed.”
How might you grab a hold of your friend Wisdom so she can offer you the compliment of calling you “blessed?” How might hearing that you are blessed change your outlook on life? How might knowing you are blessed change how you are affected by unwise people calling you anything other than blessed?
Do you ever struggle to sleep at night? Studies show that thousands upon thousands of people struggle to fall asleep. Luckily, this has never been a problem for me. When I lay down, I am completely gone. I am blessed in that way; sleep comes very naturally to me. But so many people struggle with falling asleep! It might be in part because bedtime is often the only time people take to sit and think about their life. We go through our days and they are filled with busyness and activity. When we finally take a moment to sit down, suddenly everything hits us. We begin to worry about the future, our families, situations at school or work, and all sorts of other things. Compounding this is the rampant depression and anxiety our generation faces—much greater than in generations past. People are scared. So how do we have sleep that is sweet? How do we live true to this verse in Proverbs 3 which states that we will not have fear when we lie down? This kind of peace comes through following the wisdom of God. So many people are trying to figure out the best way to live life. There are so many theories and ideas about what a good life looks like. Yet Scripture gives us exactly what we need for the journey of life. So here is my advice: Take the time to learn the path of wisdom found in the Bible. When we apply the wisdom of the Bible to our lives, we will spend less time in fear and worry, and more time in peace.
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Jessyka Dooley is assistant youth director for the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists in Denver, Colorado.
J. Murdock is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church in Boulder, Colorado, where he focuses on youth and young adult ministry.
Kyle Smith is the associate pastor of youth and family ministries at New Haven Adventist Church in Overland Park, Kansas.