You memorized your favourite verses in Proverbs 3 because of the big decisions you were facing. But the good news is: there’s more to them than that! You are on the way to deep character formation!
The Book of Proverbs is a call to ordinary people who want to to live the good life. The Proverbs read quick and quippy. I tried to read them daily for at least three years of my university days, soaking up what I thought was God’s common sense.
Philosophers engage themselves with the question buried within the Proverbs: What is the good life? But typically our modern philosophers have fewer pithy sayings and many many more long sentences!
The writers of the Proverbs envision the good life as the pursuit of wisdom especially as it is expressed in relationships. They hold up the tension and the dangers of decision making for youth with regard to wanting everything quickly: fast wealth, fast pleasure, fast friendship, fast power.
Here wisdom is not neutral but is active in the world. Wisdom calls out to us and seeks to persuade us.
See, there is no agnosticism in the Proverbs. The vision of a good life proceeds from knowing God who has created the world and established a covenant with His people.
Wisdom proceeds from God but it is the character of a person expressed in life that reveals the cracks in their own character.
The Prelude to Your Favourite Verses
I have loved Chapter 3 for years. It holds a favourite set of verses quoted by myself and many of my friends:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on you own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6, NIV
But the prelude to these verses interests me deeply:
“My son do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Then you will win favour and a good name in the sight of God and man.” Proverbs 3:1-4, NIV
For the past year I’ve been watching the construction of Menno Hall at the corner of University Boulevard and Wesbrook with intense interest. When the hole was dug for the foundation I realized, “Here is earth that has not been observed in tens of thousands of years. Bedrock.”
What is going to be constructed above and in view of everyone requires going down, and down and down to what is not normally observable.
Likewise, what the Lord can construct in a person and through their life requires going down down down.
And there — at the most vulnerable intersections of our lives — He wants love and faithfulness. The neck is in view of others but the heart is only in His view and your view.
Going Deep to The Heart
The “father’s instruction” in the Proverbs says, “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.”
The neck moderates the life giving flow of our lives: what comes in and what goes out. Love and faithfulness creates openness to receive what is good and it generates generosity to give what is good. By contrast we could hang anger, anxiety, and angst around our necks; these will only serve to reinforce a character that is becoming more disordered, selfish, and deceptive.
So, the Proverb Giver goes deeper and deeper to the heart.
The heart is the seat of our affections and will; yet, it is a tablet upon which we may write.
This is an extraordinary vision: at the foundation of our life, at the foundation of our character, we can have a say. We can begin to rewrite the fundamental character of our lives.
But how? Aren’t those scripts set early in our childhood development? Are we hopelessly set because of the presence of or lack of good attachment? Are we doomed to be fools?
The Proverb Giver doesn’t think you are beyond hope. He seems to think you can do this wise thing:
“Write love and faithfulness on the tablet of your heart.”
But how shall we write on the tablet of our heart?
And here is where our favourite verse leads the answer to this question: ”Trust in the LORD with all your heart, in all your ways acknowledge Him…”
Begin with “trusting the LORD.” Take up the fundamental issue of attachment to God, by getting to know the covenant making God and trusting Him. Get to know God; He is full of love and faithfulness. Get to know Him by submitting your way to Him and then by watching Him lay out a path of life before you.
Continue writing by being humble. “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil.” Proverbs 3:7
Keep on writing by being generous: “Honour the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops…” Proverbs 3:9
And, don’t stop writing love and faithfulness on your heart when things are difficult: “…Do not despise the LORD’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves.”
And just in case this pursuit of wisdom seems elusive like Eden’s tree of life, the Proverb Giver reminds us that “By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations…” Proverbs 3:18,19
Whoa! You are not engaged in the transformation of your foundations by yourself! It is God who helps you. It is God who created the foundations of all creation with a wise word, who can set (reset) your foundations too.
Peace, Prosperity, Rest
This “love and faithfulness” approach to life yields “peace and prosperity” Proverbs 3:2. This approach to life generates restful sleep even in a violent world:
“When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down your sleep will be sweet.” Proverbs 3:24
Does love and faithfulness toward God and people generate less worry? Does knowing your life is in the hands of the loving and faithful God generate peace?
Are you in search of the good life? “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the table of your heart.”
We write the story of our heart in our relationships. The Proverbs Giver knows this too. For continuing on in Chapter Three he takes up our relationships with neighbours. A heart of love and faithfulness is grown and proven in the nature of our neighbourliness.
“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”
“Do not say to your neighbour, ‘Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you’ — when you already have it with you.”
“Do not plot harm against your neighbour, who lives trustfully near you.”
“Do accuse anyone for no reason — when they have done you no harm.”
“Do not envy the violent or choose any of their ways.”
Wisdom from Heaven
The Apostle Paul would later write that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ (Colossians 2). James would urge the followers of Jesus to demonstrate wisdom from heaven (James 3). But first he knew that the disordered heart need God’s grace.
Jesus creates love and faithfulness. Jesus establishes His love and His faithfulness in our hearts by grace. This grace provides a regeneration of life, a resetting of our character’s foundation. Both love and faithfulness are a fruit of His Spirit in the life of His people (Galatians 5:21-22).
And, we participate with Jesus in this work. Our commitments with Him give the Spirit access to dig deep and re-form character.
Recently I’ve been thinking about the next 25 years of life with Jesus and in relationships. I surely want love and faithfulness to be set in the bedrock of my character more and more each day I live.
So, I am praying, asking God to keep on forming His own steady loving character in me too. Through prayer, through commitments, through relationships I’m writing on the tablet of my heart with Him.
What do you think? Are love and faithfulness meant to be the cornerstones of human character?
“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases.” Lamentations 3:22
“I will sing of the LORD’s great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness know through all generations…. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, LORD.” Psalm 89:1,14-15
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5
“My goal… is that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2:2,3