Wisdom (Part 1): Week 5, Day 1

We are on Week 5 of our study on wisdom.  I hope you have been blessed by what you have learned, and I hope that your relationship with the Lord has grown because of this study.  Today we are going to OBSERVE what is written in Proverbs 9.  This is a continuation of what we have studied the last two weeks in Proverbs 8.  Before reading our new text, take the time to read Proverbs 8.  Once you have done that, read Proverbs 9 in its entirety.

Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
2 She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine;
She has also set her table;
3 She has sent out her maidens, she calls
From the tops of the heights of the city:
4 “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here!”
To him who lacks understanding she says,
5 “Come, eat of my food
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
6 “Forsake your folly and live,
And proceed in the way of understanding.”

7 He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself,
And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself.
8 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you,
Reprove a wise man and he will love you.
9 Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser,
Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
11 For by me your days will be multiplied,
And years of life will be added to you.
12 If you are wise, you are wise for yourself,
And if you scoff, you alone will bear it.

13 The woman of folly is boisterous,
She is naive and knows nothing.
14 She sits at the doorway of her house,
On a seat by the high places of the city,
15 Calling to those who pass by,
Who are making their paths straight:
16 “Whoever is naive, let him turn in here,”
And to him who lacks understanding she says,
17 “Stolen water is sweet;
And bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
18 But he does not know that the dead are there,
That her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Now read through the passage again, and use the following markings:

• Mark wisdom (and all pronouns) with a blue cloud colored yellow
• Mark understanding and knowledge by coloring them green
• Mark Lord with a purple triangle colored yellow (and color all pronouns yellow)
• Mark love with a red heart
• Mark hate with a black heart
• Mark righteous with a blue box
• Mark evil and wicked by coloring them brown
• Mark time phrases with a green clock
• Mark Holy One with a purple box colored yellow
• Mark woman of folly (and all pronouns) with a black cloud colored orange

Write in your notebook a take-away from today's reading.  During our next time together, we will be INTERPRETING this passage of Scripture.

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 3: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 4: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 4, Day 1

Welcome back to our study on wisdom.  Today, we are going to pick up where we left off in Proverbs 8.  This is a tough passage to read and understand, but we are going to work through it together.  Trust the method of inductive Bible study, pray, seek the Lord, and remember that it is okay to not know.  Today we are going to OBSERVE the text for what it says.

Before you begin the new section of Proverbs 8, re-read verses 1-21.  This will help you get your mind back into the correct context of the passage.  Remember that the majority of the pronouns are talking about wisdom.  Once you have read through verse 21, go ahead and read verses 22-36.

22 “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way,

Before His works of old.
23 “From everlasting I was established,
From the beginning, from the earliest times of the earth.
24 “When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no springs abounding with water.
25 “Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills I was brought forth;
26 While He had not yet made the earth and the fields,
Nor the first dust of the world.
27 “When He established the heavens, I was there,
When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,
28 When He made firm the skies above,
When the springs of the deep became fixed,
29 When He set for the sea its boundary
So that the water would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
30 Then I was beside Him, as a master workman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in the world, His earth,
And having my delight in the sons of men.

32 “Now therefore, O sons, listen to me,
For blessed are they who keep my ways.
33 “Heed instruction and be wise,
And do not neglect it.
34 “Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at my doorposts.
35 “For he who finds me finds life
And obtains favor from the Lord.
36 “But he who sins against me injures himself;
All those who hate me love death.”

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Now re-read Proverbs 8:22-36 and use the following markings:

• Mark wisdom (and all pronouns) with a blue cloud colored yellow
• Mark Lord with a purple triangle colored yellow (and all pronouns by coloring them yellow)
• Mark evil by coloring it brown
• Mark love with a red heart
• Mark hate with a black heart
• Mark all time phrases with a green clock (beginning, before, everlasting, earliest, when, while, then, daily, etc.)
• Mark therefore and for by circling them red
• Mark but by circling it blue

In your notebooks, write down a take-away from today's reading.  If you have some questions about what you read, write those down as well.  In our next study, we will INTERPRET the things that we have read today. Take care, sisters. Pray for wisdom!

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 3: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 3, Day 1

Welcome to week 3 of our study on wisdom!  Over the next three weeks we are going to look closely at Proverbs 8 and 9.  There is so much to take in and so much to learn from these two chapters.  As we are spending our time learning about wisdom, these chapters give us so much that we can take away and use in our lives.  Don't get overwhelmed as you read through this text.  Trust our method of inductive Bible study (observe, interpret, apply).  Go slow, take your time, and listen to the Lord speak through His Word.  Start with prayer, and ask the Lord for the wisdom to understand the things that we are going to read about.

Today we are going to read Proverbs 8:1-21 and OBSERVE what the text has to say.  Read through this section slowly.

Does not wisdom call,
And understanding lift up her voice?
2 On top of the heights beside the way,
Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
3 Beside the gates, at the opening to the city,
At the entrance of the doors, she cries out:
4 “To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men.
5 “O naive ones, understand prudence;
And, O fools, understand wisdom.
6 “Listen, for I will speak noble things;
And the opening of my lips will reveal right things.
7 “For my mouth will utter truth;
And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 “All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness;
There is nothing crooked or perverted in them.
9 “They are all straightforward to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
10 “Take my instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choicest gold.
11 “For wisdom is better than jewels;
And all desirable things cannot compare with her.

12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And I find knowledge and discretion.
13 “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate.
14 “Counsel is mine and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, power is mine.
15 “By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
16 “By me princes rule, and nobles,
All who judge rightly.
17 “I love those who love me;
And those who diligently seek me will find me.
18 “Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring wealth and righteousness.
19 “My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,
And my yield better than choicest silver.
20 “I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
21 To endow those who love me with wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

Now, re-read these verses, and use the following markings to help you observe:

• Mark wisdom and all pronouns with a blue cloud colored yellow (In verse 1 only, mark understanding the same as wisdom. This will be further explained in our INTERPRETATION study.)
• Mark understanding and knowledge and all pronouns by coloring it green (In verse 1 only, mark understanding the same as wisdom. This will be further explained in our INTERPRETATION study.)
• Mark truth with a blue box colored red
• Mark righteousness with a blue box
• Mark wickedness, abomination, evil and all pronouns by coloring it brown
• Mark love with a red heart
• Mark hate with a black heart
• Mark all references to what wisdom says by underlining them (this is in verses 6-9)

Go back and re-read the text again.  In your notebook, write down your take-away from today's study.  At our next time together, we are going to INTERPRET this passage of Scripture.

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Week 2: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 2, Day 1

Welcome back to our study of wisdom.  Last week we spent time learning about how Solomon asked God for wisdom.  This week we are going to read about how God demonstrated Solomon's wisdom to the world.  Get ready, sisters.  This is pretty awesome!

Today we are going to OBSERVE the text.  Take time to read through today's passage, 1 Kings 3:16-28.

16 Then two women who were harlots came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.18 It happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. 19 This woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on it. 20 So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne.” 22 Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king.

23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” 24 The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25 The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply stirred over her son and said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him!” 27 Then the king said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” 28 When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. 

Now, read through the passage again, and use the following markings to help you observe the text:

• This passage is divided into three distinct pieces.  Use a bracket or a line in the margin of your Bible to divide the sections:
• verses 16-22
• verse 23
• verses 24-27
• Mark God with a purple triangle colored yellow, color pronouns yellow
• Mark wisdom with a blue cloud colored yellow

Read the passage one more time, and write a thought from today's study in your notebook.  In our next study we will INTERPRET the meaning of this text.

To read the previous posts on Wisdom, click these links:

Week 1: Day 1, Day 2, Day 3

Wisdom (Part 1): Week 1, Day 1

Welcome to our study of wisdom!  This study is going to be fantastic, and I am so glad that you are here with me.  As we go through this study together, we will be using the inductive method of Bible study.  For more information on this type of study, read My Purpose post.

Today we are going to OBSERVE the text of 1 Kings 3:3-15.  Start by reading this passage slowly, absorbing each word as your read.

3 Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. 4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. 5 In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.”

6 Then Solomon said, “You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. 7 Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. 8 Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. 9 So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”

10 It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. 11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, 12 behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. 13 I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. 14 If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.”

15 Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. 

Now read through the text again, and use the following markings:

• Mark every reference to God and Lord using a purple triangle colored yellow, and color all pronouns yellow
• Mark every location by coloring them green and underlining them brown
• Mark Jerusalem, Israel, and any reference to God's people with a blue star of David
• Mark time phrases with a green clock
• Mark the word yet by circling it in blue
• Mark wise and wisdom with a blue cloud colored yellow
• Mark understand and discern by coloring them green
• Mark that, so that, and because by circling them in red

Read back through the text again slowly, and see if these markings bring any more clarity to what you have already read.  Write in your notebook one take-away from today's reading.

Tomorrow, we will INTERPRET this passage of Scripture.  I can't wait for you to gain even more understanding of what we have already read!