Proverbs 1:33

Peace and safety, or fear and destruction? What a difference! Lady Wisdom offers you the good life. It is astounding to see how men’s lives differ by their foolish choices and God’s judgment. Peace and protection are precious – they can be yours starting today.

The choice is yours. God offers you wisdom in His word. If you ignore or reject it, He will laugh and mock when your fear and calamities come, and they both will come. He will desert you and not hear your cries, even when you pray to Him for help (Pr 1:24-32).

If you love and exalt wisdom, God will bless you with tranquility. The choice is yours. Consequences for foolishness are hard. Choose wisdom! Nebuchadnezzar heard Daniel’s warning, but he rejected it; he spent seven years out to pasture (Dan 4:27-33). David had God’s peace and safety, and he knew they were better than the world’s best (Ps 4:6-8).

The disjunctive “but” opening the proverb indicates a contrast. Solomon had personified wisdom as a woman (Pr 1:20-23), and Lady Wisdom had warned men that neglecting her offers would bring horrible pain and suffering (Pr 1:24-32). A wise man spares himself most troubles of life, but fools are punished severely and often (Pr 8:36; 13:15; 22:3).

Tranquility is precious. It is the good life. It is calm, happiness, peace, and safety. It is gotten only one way but through two doors. The one way is wisdom. Only those who fear God and keep His commandments, which is true wisdom, will have tranquility. They find it from two sources – the blessed results of right decisions and God’s supernatural favor.

Consider. If you marry wisely by God’s rules, you will have peace and pleasure with a virtuous woman, while other men suffer with an odious or whorish woman (Pr 12:4; 30:21-23; 31:10-31). By marrying a God-fearing spouse to honor God (Pr 31:30; I Cor 7:39; 11:11), He will bless you further by His divine power (I Sam 2:30; Ps 37:4; 84:11).

Consider. If you train your children God’s way, you will have peace and pleasure with a godly and noble family, while other men suffer the pain of fools and scorners with their last name (Pr 10:1; 15:20; 17:21,25; 29:15). By training them God’s way (Pr 22:6,15; 23:13-14), He will also bless you by favoring them (Ps 112:1-3; 37:26; 25:12-13).

Consider. If you work hard, save consistently, and avoid business or financial scams, you will prosper and succeed, while other men will suffer the painful results of bad career and investment decisions (Pr 13:23; 14:23; 21:20; 28:19). By following God’s rules (Pr 12:24; 27:18; 30:25), He will also bless you supernaturally (Pr 3:9-10; 11:24-28; 19:17).

Wisdom is not difficult. It begins by fearing the Lord (Pr 1:7; 9:10). It ends by keeping His commandments (Pr 3:7; 16:6; Job 28:28; Ps 111:10; 112:1; 119:128; Eccl 12:13). God has revealed perfect knowledge and wisdom in the Bible, and learning and obeying the Bible will bring wisdom to a man or a nation (Deut 4:5-6; Ps 1:1-3; 19:7-11; 144:15).

God gave Solomon tranquility for his answer in a dream (I Kgs 3:5-15). He valued wisdom over money, success, and long life, so God blessed him with honor, peace, and riches. But King Nebuchadnezzar, a rich and very successful king, lost his tranquility and was turned into a beast for continuing in sin (Dan 4:27-33). Reader, the choice is yours.

Here are great promises! Wisdom will give you safety, and it will save you from even the fear of danger. This is ultimate tranquility. No danger in sight, and no fear in your heart or mind. You can walk confidently through life and sleep sweetly at night (Pr 3:21-26). This is the good life, and Lady Wisdom offers it to you from God. The choice is yours.

God kept David in the bundle of life, but He slung out his enemies to death (I Sam 25:29). What a contrast! If you put your trust in the Almighty, He will protect you from every danger and risk that you can or cannot see or hear (Ps 91:1-16). This incredible supernatural blessing follows the righteous through their lives. Embrace wisdom today!

The righteous are bold as a lion due to their confidence (Pr 28:1; Ps 46:1-3). There is perfect peace that passes human understanding for those who fear God and keep His commandments (Pr 14:26; Ps 25:12-13; 112:7; Is 26:3-4; Phil 4:6-7). David knew God had enabled him to defeat all his enemies due to his righteous life (Ps 18:16-26).

David mocked fear. He defeated Goliath without armor (I Sam 17:31-51), and he did not care if an army should declare war against him (Ps 27:1-5). Paul mocked death and the grave through Jesus Christ and endured the greatest hardships cheerfully (I Cor 15:54-58; II Cor 11:23-28). He faced Caesar alone with Jesus beside him (II Tim 4:16-18). All men may take precautions of safety, but God blesses only the righteous (Pr 21:31; Ps 127:1-2).

God saved wise Noah, though He drowned the wicked world around him. And God will save wise men in the coming day of wrath, when He punishes fools with everlasting torment, just as He saved wise Jews from the Roman destruction in 70 A.D. (Mal 4:1-3; Rom 8:35-39; I Thess 1:10). The wiser you live, the more peace you will have outside and inside (Jn 14:27; 16:33; I Jn 4:17-18). What keeps you from embracing wisdom?

Reader, are you hearkening to wisdom today? Are you seeking wisdom? Loving her? And obeying her? Hear God now! “What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good? Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the LORD is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth” (Ps 34:12-16).