October 29

The Paths of the Righteous.

“If you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God… Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path…So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.” (Proverbs 2:3-5, 9, 20)

As a consummate planner, I always start from the due date or event date and work backward to create milestones when certain elements of a project must be completed for it to be successful. Bakers do this when there is a deadline, such as a wedding. Bakers like Charm City Cakes (Aces of Cakes) build enormous cakes with elaborate designs, but everything must be planned out, prepared, and executed correctly for a good result. The same applies to house rebuilds on HGTV. When I study Scripture that concentrates on the application, I go back to the preparation and work or doctrine involved in the Bible’s commands or promises, which are very specific. In Proverbs 2:20, where I started my study, “walking in the way of the good” represents the way we live if we “keep to the paths of the righteous” by calling out for insight and understanding (vs. 1-5) which leads us to apprehend God’s righteousness, justice, and equity (v. 9).

In Proverbs 1:20-21 Solomon depicts wisdom as a woman in the marketplace, on a crying out to us. Now in 2:3 we are the ones who should be calling out, raising our voices for wisdom, imitating her. She shouts to us from a foundation of knowledge, understanding, and insight; we call out from a position of humility and need. She is the personification of God’s perfect, cherished goodness, wanting to share it with us. We require God’s good grace and provisions to live a good life. So we are seek it like silver, but also search for it like a hidden treasure. Seek and silver are common Hebrew words, but search and treasure are rare. We move from the conventional idea of wisdom to the hidden profound wisdom of God. * “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44) Only in the kingdom of the gospel of Jesus Christ can we obtain a higher understanding of God’s righteousness, justice, and equity, which is essential on the path of righteousness in Christ. (v. 9)

How will you actively search for the hidden treasure of gospel wisdom today? Passivity will not work; we much apply ourselves to the pursuit of Christ-likeness if we are to live the good life of the kingdom.

* The Reformation Study Bible, Proverbs 2:4, Reformation Trust Publishing (Ligonier Ministries), Sanford, Fl., 2015.