Proverb 1.1
“The proverbs of Solomon, son of David, king of Israel: To know wisdom and instruction …”
A central message of the book of Proverb is that wisdom — skillful living — is something that is learned. The first verse of Proverbs says that the purpose of the book is wisdom and instruction. The Hebrew word for instruction is musar, and it means learning and building skill through training. As we will see, it can even mean learning through painful instruction. It refers to coming under another’s leadership for the purpose of being trained in wisdom. It is most closely related to our word discipline.
Musar means learning to be discipline-driven. It is the process of getting wiser and more skillful every day by learning to consistently apply God’s principles to your life. It is the process by which wisdom (hokma) is acquired. The opposite is to be default-driven, which is the absence of discipline.
The disciplined process of instruction and training must be fully embraced if the wisdom of Proverbs is to be of benefit to you. In order to be wise and live skillfully (hokma), you must learn and be trained (musar).
“Keep hold of instruction (musar); do not let go; guard her, for she is your life.” (Proverbs 4.13
“Hear, my son, your father’s instruction (musar), and forsake not your mother’s teaching.” (Proverbs 1.8)
“Take my instruction (musar) instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.” (Proverbs 8.10-11)
“Listen to advice and accept instruction (musar), that you may gain wisdom in the future.” (Proverbs 18.20)
To ignore or dismiss musar is foolishness of the highest order, and the consequences can be devastating. The great prophet Jeremiah lamented that the people of Israel rejected musar and suffered because of it. “O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction (musar). They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent.” (Jeremiah 5.3)
The mission of our consulting firm — Focus 3 — is to help people get better through the daily, disciplined process of building behavior skill. In other words, musar. A message that we constantly communicate to our clients is, “Doesn’t matter, get better.” It doesn’t matter what the situation is, your responsibility is to get better in how you respond. Be better today than you were yesterday; be better tomorrow than you were today.
The Christian community needs to embrace the mindset of “Doesn’t matter, get better.” We need to fully embrace musar. It is time for the people of God to wake up and recognize that being saved is not the same as being trained. We have been terribly negligent in skill-building. We have misunderstood the nature of grace and often have operated under the misguided notion that the Lord will somehow magically give us wisdom and maturity. But this is not what scripture teaches.
We are called to respond to God in faith and do the work required for spiritual growth and skill-building. This is very meaning and purpose of musar. In response the God’s grace in our life, we must walk in the Spirit, exercise self-discipline, and learn wisdom. “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.” (Titus 2:11-12)
The mature Christian life is not given, it is learned. It is developed through discipline. We are not supernaturally infused with spiritual maturity when we are saved. Rather, spiritual growth and maturity is a discipline-driven process that requires our full effort. At the same time, the process is energized and empowered by the Spirit of God. Like any process, it takes time.
Further, it is a grave mistake to relegate this training only to so-called “spiritual” things. The wisdom of God teaches and instructs us to be disciplined and skillful in our work. Christians trained by musar will be very good at executing their job-related tasks and responsibilities, whether those be in the workplace, at home, at school, in the community, or in the church. They will work hard to learn the knowledge and skills necessary for doing their job at a very high level.
People in the grip of grace are not satisfied with mediocrity. They strive for excellence in their job … not because of arrogance or pride, but because they understand they are agents of the Kingdom of God.
Doesn’t matter, get better.
