An Appointment with Christ: Proverbs 3 (Part 2)

On this occasion we continue with our study of the third Chapter of the Book of Proverbs, a book dedicated to the subject of wisdom. In our last message we meditated on the first verses of that Chapter 3, which I want to read again in order to refresh our memory.

The word of the Lord says there: “My son, do not forget my law and your heart keep my commandments, because length of days and years of life and peace will increase you. Mercy and truth never depart from you. Tie them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart and you will find grace and good opinion in the eyes of God and men. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own opinion, fear Jehovah and turn away from evil because it will be medicine for your body and refreshment for your bones.”

What beautiful and practical advice is contained in this word of the Lord. In our last meditation we talked about the fact that we must treasure the word of God, we must value it, we must consider it for what it is: a word that comes directly from the mind and mouth of God. And therefore that word has power to transform our lives, if we receive it in faith and if we believe in our hearts that it has been left by God to guide us on the path of life and to show us how we should approach Him and relate to Him. Faith is required on the part of the man or woman who approaches the word of God, it is that faith that activates the power and life that the word of God contains.

You will remember that we quoted what the Bible says that the word of God is alive and effective and sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to split joints and bones and divides the flesh from the spirit. And the Bible says that there is no created thing that is hidden from the scrutiny of the word of God. The Bible is a powerful thing. I have had the privilege of reading many books throughout my life, I have read books on science, literature, sociology, philosophy, history, and politics, but with all conviction I can tell you that I have never found a book that contains more wisdom and more practical knowledge than the Bible, the word of the Lord. The Bible is made up of 66 books written over a period of several thousand years, written by men many of whom did not know each other, and yet it contains great coherence, great unity. It has such sublime concepts that it is impossible for a man to have come up with it, just by thinking rationally. The Bible has been scrutinized by great scholars, including many intellectuals who have wanted to disprove its claims to be the word of God, and it has always come out undefeated.

Many of the great archaeological discoveries that have been made in recent years with the latest tools of science, what they have done is verify that the data and historical facts that the Bible records are reliable, are true, and are faithful to historical reality. The Bible is a reliable book, I have never met someone who bases his life, his conduct on the word of God who regrets having done so. When we trust in the word of the Lord and base our lives on his advice and his commandments, that word proves faithful time and time again.

That's why, if I had to choose a single book to choose, I would choose the Bible. If I had to be on a desert island and they told me which book you want to have with you for the rest of your days on that desert island, without hesitation I would say: get me a Bible, because with that word of God, I have comfort there. I have advice, I have a source of teaching and with that word through a miracle from God, I can even leave that deserted island and find my way once again. The Bible is a living book. The spirit of God pulsates within its pages and its teachings are teachings that can be used by the wisest people as well as the humblest people, by the illiterate as well as by the person with a doctorate, by man or by nature. for the woman, for the child, for the youth, for the adult or for the elderly, for the one who has a lot of money or for the one who does not have a single penny. The Bible is a source of miracles. Through the Bible, the word of God, you can get in touch with the same power that created the universe. The word of the Lord says "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."

And certainly this Scripture, this marvelous Scripture called the Bible contains the deepest mysteries and through it we can become partakers of the Lord's own wisdom. But that faith is required again, that conviction, that confidence that through it, we have access to the mind of the Lord.

The writer of Proverbs in another passage also says: “My son, if you receive my word and keep my commandments within you, making your ear attentive to wisdom, if you incline your heart to prudence, if you cry out for understanding and to prudence you give your voice, if you seek it like silver, and scrutinize it like treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and you will find the knowledge of God because the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth comes knowledge and intelligence. He provides sound wisdom to the upright and is a shield to those who walk upright.

Oh you who listen to me on this day, I want to call you to come to a position of loving and respecting and studying and scrutinizing the word of the Lord. Do not underestimate the importance of knowing the Bible. Today that book is so abundant that wherever we want we can find a copy of the Bible. Many of us have underestimated it and because it is so accessible we don't even pay attention to it anymore. There are people who go to church every Sunday and yet they do not have a copy of the Bible in their homes, and if they do, they never open it. Sometimes they superstitiously keep it open to Psalm 23 in their living room, but they have never bothered to flip through its pages and scrutinize its teachings. I say that the one who despises the word of God, the one who underestimates its depth and its richness is worse than a beast, because only through the word of the Lord can we find the understanding that our lives need.

It is not possible to be wise apart from the word of the Lord, in fact the Bible itself says that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. And how are we going to know exactly how to fear God, how to respect his commandments, how to serve him, how to please him if not through his revelation that he has left through writing.

I ask you, you who listen to me, to start an idyll with the word of the Lord, start to search the Bible, start and ask God to give you wisdom. The Bible is a deep book that has its mysteries and we have to learn how to interpret it. But through contact with men and women who have studied it and who have scrutinized it, you too can come to understand it, because the word of God, although it is so profound, is also accessible to the simplest mind. I know people who barely know how to read and write, yet they have the wisdom of philosophers because they have learned to interpret the word of the Lord. No one can approach the word of God with humility, with simplicity of heart and with faith, who does not learn over time to know and navigate that word of the Lord with intelligence, since God has made it in such a way that it can satisfy the concerns of the people. deepest person, as well as the simplest person. All that is required in a desire, a longing to know this word and to seek its truths.

I hope that the holy spirit will trouble you from now on to become a connoisseur of the word of the Lord. May God bless you and may his illumination reach your spirit and may you become a student of the word of the Lord. Until next time, I say goodbye to you.