Daily Proverb - Proverbs, Chapter 3

Godly wisdom has rewards!

^"1My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart,  ²for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.³Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.  ⁴Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

In Proverbs, chapter 2, we discovered the three "ifs" and "then".  The "then" that was in verse 5, telling us, as a result of obeying the three "ifs" found in verses 1, 3 and 4, we will reap understanding the fear of the Lord and find knowledge of God.  So listening to wisdom has it's rewards.  That is why we advise reading a chapter of Proverbs everyday.

Now as we move into chapter 3, on this third day of  the month, we begin to discover some additional benefits of wisdom and obeying God.  The language here is a bit more direct than it was in chapter 2.  Here we see different words, rather than "if" we see in verse 1 "do not forget" and "keep my commands".  In verse 2 instead of seeing the word "then" we see "for they will".  Here we see the rewards for trusting and obeying the Lord.  Verse 2 tells us that one reward is "they will prolong your life many years".  Another reward is they will "bring you prosperity".

We also see in verse 3 a command to "Let love and faithfulness never leave you".  Now again, verse 4 gives us the reward, telling us that we "will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man", yes, a good name before the Lord!

Here in verses 5 and 6 we see again a command to "Trust in the Lord" and to "lean not on your own understanding".  And again, there is a reward.  Verse 6, "in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

So the first two chapters of Proverbs are what I think of as encouraging words to move us into submission to God.  Yes, you will find many applications for daily living in the first two chapters.  By the time you get to the end of chapter two, you should be well motivated to listen and learn.  As you start off in chapter 3, you move right into the rewards of application, more encouragement to stick with the program, because wisdom from God works!