This week, we started a new memory verse for the spring season. Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” If you haven’t been able to memorize the longer passages we’ve done so far for memory verses, now is a great time to start!
We can better understand what this verse may mean for Lifespring when we understand Proverbs 22:6 in the context of the book of Proverbs as a whole. Thankfully, the main themes in Proverbs are laid out clearly in the first seven verses of the book. One especially helpful verse is verse 4 that says that the purpose of Proverbs is “to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth.” The book of Proverbs was meant to train up the “simple.” What is meant by simple here is not those who are intellectually weak, but people who are untrained in righteousness. In other words, Proverbs is meant to train up the immature so that they can be taught in wisdom.
Another important theme in Proverbs is the difference between wisdom and foolishness. The contrast between the wise and foolish is one of the strongest themes in the book that comes up over and over again. Proverbs talks about the difference between wisdom and foolishness in very stark terms. Wisdom and foolishness don’t just happen by chance in a person’s life. We either choose wisdom, or choose foolishness. It’s a deliberate choice we make. Proverbs 1:20-22 says it like this,
“20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice; 21 at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gates she speaks: 22 “How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?
Notice how strong the imagery and language is. Wisdom is crying aloud in the streets, raising her voice, speaking out. In contrast, the simple love being simple, they delight in scoffing, and they hate knowledge. The encouragement here is to choose to hear the cry of wisdom and turn away from foolishness.
So what does it mean to live a life of wisdom? Proverbs 1:7 gives us a good idea. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Living a life of wisdom has a lot to do with the fear of the Lord.
What does it mean to have the fear of the Lord? One way to understand it is to think about the idea of holiness. In a nutshell, the meaning of holiness is to be “set apart.” This is why objects like those in the tabernacle could be called holy, and why the people of God are called a “holy nation” in 1 Peter 2: 9-10. To be holy means to be set apart.
Growing in the fear of the Lord means to grow in allowing God to be “set apart” in our lives. It means that God is no longer treated as so ordinary and familiar. We don’t allow ourselves to become too casual with God and too laid back. Instead, God sits so high above every other aspect of our lives, and is so set apart, that God becomes a priority high above everything else. God is so set apart from the ordinary and familiar in every other part of our lives, that God’s name becomes the name above all other names (Philippians 2:9). When our daily habits and patterns begin to show this more and more, we’re growing in the fear of the Lord.
Lifespring, in this next season, let’s grow in the fear of the Lord. May God become a higher and higher priority in our lives, through every decision we make. May we always choose the way of wisdom, and train up the next generation in the same way.