Series: Wisdom That Works
Message: What This Book Accomplishes
Preacher: Jenniffer Ogden
Reflection: Mark Witas
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Jessyka Dooley
Live Beyond: J. Murdock
Live Purpose: Emily Ellis
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 1:1-7 in The Message (MSG). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: Proverbs 1:3 says, “for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair.”
As I write this I’m somewhere above the United States on a Southwest Airlines flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles, connecting to my Portland home. One of the perks of flying Southwest Airlines is free TV for those of us who need something to pass the time because of a severe case of writer’s block (but that’s another story).
My choice on this particular flight was to watch the Players Championship (a PGA golf tournament). I know, I know. For some of you, watching golf is like watching grass grow or paint dry. But I love it. The combination of mental and physical coordination it takes to do well in golf, the amount of money one errant stroke can cost a professional player, is pretty entertaining to me.
In this particular tournament a golfer from Spain named Jon Rahm was leading the tournament and heading very confidently into a first place purse of over $2 million. And then . . . Rahm found himself in the sand on a par 5 on the back nine (remember, he was in the lead). His caddy, Adam Hayes, gave Rohm the best advice a caddy could give in this situation—he told him where to lay up and how that could keep him safely in the lead. His tee shot had gotten him in trouble and he needed to play it safe so that he could keep the lead. When Rahm ignored the caddy’s advice, the camera caught the caddy’s face. The carrier of the bag rolled his eyes and shook his head, but kept quiet. Even the commentators in their trademark whispering voices couldn’t believe that Rahm was forgoing the great advice of the caddy.
Rahm lined up for his shot and, predictably, hit the ball into the water, taking him out of the lead for good. He threw a little tantrum, cursed (catching the TV crew by surprise—I’m sure there will be an FCC fine in there somewhere) and virtually ignored his caddy for the next couple holes.
Most of the time, for me anyway, pride is the greatest obstacle for taking good advice. The antidote for this, his humility and trust. Am I humble enough to receive good advice? Do I trust the people that I surround myself with to receive their advice with humility? And if I don’t, will it cost me two million dollars? OK, probably not the last one, but my prayer for me, and for you, is that we will receive the kinds of good advice that will make our time on this earth productive for us and for those around us.
Recalibrate: Why is pride such a stumbling block? What makes it the most tempting temptation?
Respond: Pray that God will strip us of our pride and have us live by wisdom and humility.
Research: Read Pride and Humility by Serge Kahili King.
Remember: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline” (Proverbs 1:7).
Mark Witas is the lead pastor at Sunnyside Adventist Church in Portland, Oregon.
Take a walk through your neighborhood. Point to your child’s ears and ask them what can they hear. Point to your child’s eyes and ask them what they can see. Point to your child’s nose and ask them what can they smell. As you walk, talk about all that you can see and hear and smell with your child. We can see and hear and smell the world around us. Choose today to listen and look for all that is good.
How was school today? Did anyone tell you what to do? I’m sure your teacher or parent explained an assignment or helped you with a question or a problem. How did it make you feel to get help? Sometimes it makes us feel really good, and sometimes it can make us feel silly that we didn’t know the answer. The Bible tells us we should never feel silly to learn more. Proverbs 1:5 says, “Wise people should listen and learn even more.” Wise people ask for help when they don’t know the answers. Is there something you’ve wanted to ask God for help with, but haven’t been brave enough to? Ask Him out loud right now!
A few weeks ago, an apartment complex around the corner from Andrews University in Michigan caught fire late at night. My friend Ethan was at the apartment when he smelled smoke and jumped into action. He was on the second floor and the fire was on the first floor. In order to get to safety, he needed to run to his right and down the stairs. But Ethan had another plan. Knowing it was late, and the neighbors may be asleep, Ethan ran to his left. Rather than run for safety, he ran past every door on the second floor and knocked loudly until someone came to the door. When they opened the door, he shouted, “Fire!” and helped everyone get to safety. Thanks to Ethan, no one was injured that night in the fire. When he was asked why he risked his own safety to help others, his response was shocking. He said, “It was a simple decision. If I didn’t say something, then everyone else would be unsafe. So I changed that.”
In Chapter one of Proverbs, Solomon says, “give prudence to the simple” (Verse 4). This means to use caution in the simple things. Here, Solomon is really talking to the young people—to you! Sometimes there are some things you don’t know yet because you haven’t yet had the time or space to learn those lessons. But sometimes, it’s simple to know what to do. Ethan had never been in a fire, but somehow he knew what to do. And he kept it simple. Unless he did something about it, nothing was going to change. So he changed that.
What is something simple you can contribute to the world? How did you learn how to do that thing? Why do you think doing that thing (rather than not doing that thing) would be valuable? What usually stops you from doing that thing when you feel the need to do it? How do you think you’ll react when you are called on to do something big?
I almost always have tried to push the boundaries. From elementary school to high school (and even here and there in college), I push the boundaries with my teachers when it comes to talking in class. My friends and I would count how many times the teacher told us to be quiet in high school biology class. Sometimes is was as many as 40 times in a 30-minute class period! Once, in senior Bible class, I was telling my friend Jonathan about a dream I’d had the previous night. My teacher told me to stop talking, so I did. For about 30 seconds. And then I proceeded to finish telling my dream. Apparently my teacher was having a bad day and I ended up getting kicked out of Bible class! But you see everywhere we go there are boundaries. It is easy to view boundaries as being restrictive, but they can actually help us to become better versions of ourselves. Think back to the Garden of Eden: in a perfect paradise, a place void of sin, there were boundaries. God told Adam and Eve they could eat from any tree except for one. Was that restriction placed in order to limit their freedom? No! It was so that they could experience freedom. Proverbs 1:3 says the purpose of Proverbs is to teach people to live disciplined lives. It is easy to view “discipline” as restrictive. However, it is an important component in our walk with God and can actually help us experience freedom and become better versions of ourselves. What are some parts of your life in which you need to place boundaries?
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.
Emily Ellis is a senior studying theology at Walla Walla University in College Place, Washington.