Write Proverbs 3:5-6 and compose a 4 stanza poem about being a winner for God. Use Proverbs 3:5-6 as your guide. Your poem should have 4 lines per stanza.
Answers
Explanation:
. (1-4) Walk rightly with God by valuing His word.
My son, do not forget my law,
But let your heart keep my commands;
For length of days and long life
And peace they will add to you.
Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man.
a. Do not forget my law: Solomon’s advice as a father to his sonin this section begins with a warning to never forget God’s word (my law). Solomon didn’t mean “my law” in the sense of his own personal decrees, but as God’s word that he had internalized and made personal.
b. Let your heart keep my commands: Deciding to not forget God’s word is more than a mental exercise of memory. It is also connected to a life of obedience, in which one does keep the commands of God. If one mentally remembers God’s word yet fails to obey it, we could rightly say he or she has forgotten God’s commands.
i. We note also that this obedience is one of the heart. Our goal in obedience is not mere outward conformity to God’s will, but a heart that loves and obeys Him.
ii. “The heart is the first thing that wanders away from God, and it is also the first thing that returns to God.” (Bridges)
c. They will add to you: There is a real benefit from this life and heart that obeys God. In principle, life and heart obedience bring long life and peace. This is a blessed combination; length of days could be a curse and not a blessing without peace.
i. We say in principle because this is largely how Proverbs was written and should be regarded. The principle of Proverbs 3:2 is not an absolute promise; there are some people who truly are given to obedience in both conduct and heart and die relatively young. Some godly persons have trouble living in peace. We regard these as true principles, not absolute promises.
d. Let not mercy and truth forsake you: Solomon wisely told his son to keep God’s loyal love (mercy, the great Hebrew word hesed) and truth close. They should be so close that it would be as if they were a necklace on him at all times (bind them around your neck) and written on the tablet of your heart.
i. Matthew Poole observed that mercy and truth could be understood both as God’s mercy and truth to us and as the mercy and truth that is man’s duty to show to others. Both are important and should never be forsaken.
ii. “Mercy and truth are frequently joined together, as they are in God, as Psalms 25:10 57:3, etc., or in men, as 3:6 20:28 Hosea 4:1, and here.” (Poole)
iii. Bind them…write them: “Striking expressions for glorying in, meditating on and (7:3) acting by these principles.” (Kidner) “By ‘binding’ and ‘writing’ the teacher is stressing that the teachings become a part of the disciple’s nature.”