Proverbs 8.20-21
“I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice, granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.”
This message directly follows from yesterday’s message. Lady Wisdom declares that the blesses those who follow her, because she is the way of “righteousness and justice.” As we emphasized yesterday, do not relegate this to only the moral category. It refers to everything we do.
“Righteousness” is the Hebrew tsedek, which means commitment to God’s standards of moral, functional, and relational action.
“Justice” is the Hebrew mishpat, which means right thinking and judgment in moral, functional, and relational matters.
It’s a very straightforward message: When you act rightly, think rightly, and judge rightly, you will be successful in life.
Lady Wisdom makes it clear that this is not a perfunctory acknowledgment of right standards, nor is it a casual application of right thinking and judgment. Success in the world that God has created is the result of the passionate pursuit of right standards and right judgment. Lady Wisdom says: “If you want to be successful, you must love me.”
You can’t dabble. You must do the work.
For years I have heard and observed Christians who think the Christian life is simply a matter of affirming right doctrine and being moral, with almost no concern for high standards of excellence in their day-to-day work. And whenever they wanted to accomplish something of significance, they prayed hard but didn’t plan and work hard.
In fact, I have heard many pastors and bible teachers counsel against careful planning and hard work, claiming that it demonstrated a lack of faith in God. This kind of pietism is distorting, dangerous, and has done enormous damage to the impact and effectiveness of the Church in society and in the world.
Obviously, I believe deeply — very, very deeply — in the primacy and power of prayer, and in the sovereignty of our God. But I fully recognize that prayer is not a substitute for planning and hard work. No place does scripture say: God is sovereign; therefore, you don’t have to work hard.
In order to be effective at something in the world that God created, you must apply the three-dimensional attributes of the image of the Creator. It works like this:
- Pray and ask for three-dimensional wisdom. Seek it for the treasure it is.
- Know and obey scripture.
- Set goals, develop plans, and execute.
- Think, make decisions, and solve problems.
- Pray and ask for three-dimensional wisdom. Seek it for the treasure it is.
- Manage your emotions.
- Communicate and collaborate with others.
- Act with character and integrity.
- Listen to people.
- Pray and ask for three-dimensional wisdom. Seek it for the treasure it is.
- Be resilient and persistent and overcome obstacles.
- Learn and grow and develop skill.
- Adjust and adapt to changing circumstances.
I trust you noticed that three times I repeated the need to “Pray and ask for three-dimensional wisdom. Seek it for the treasure it is.” Saturate the entire process in prayer. However, keep in mind that prayer is not a substitute for careful planning, disciplined execution, and skilfull work.
Diligent prayer + disciplined work is a powerful combo.
It is enormously important to recognize that these attributes come from God, and that he gives them to us so that we can do work, and do it well. Again, this is an essential part of the life for which the Lord created you. If you truly seek to obey God, then do good work.
“Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty.” (Proverbs 28.19)
“Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.” (Proverbs 13.4)
