God's Wisdom for Navigating Life

by Timothy Keller

  Verse 32 tells proud, unteachable people that they are only despising themselves. Only through deep reverence for God and openness to being instructed (verse 33) will we get a “proper sense of self, of realistic humility”156 This reminds us also that, at the most fundamental level, it is only through repentance, the ultimate teachability, that we can be saved at all (Acts 11:18; Matthew 4:17; Luke 13:3). To humble yourself in repentance and believe in Jesus as Savior brings you the ultimate honor and glory—the eternal love of God (John 17:20–26). “Paradoxically, the one who grants himself no glory before the glorious God in the end is crowned with the glory and wealth that give him social esteem (see 3:16; 8:18; 11:16).”157

  Are you teachable, or do people see you as opinionated? Ask two or three people who know you well.

  Prayer: Lord, I am not teachable because I’m too proud to want advice and too scared that I might hear something I don’t want to hear. So remind me of your greatness to humble me, and remind me that the gospel itself, my very joy and life, was something I didn’t want to hear. Amen.

  July 18

  A rebuke impresses a discerning person more than a hundred lashes a fool. . . . Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence; rebuke the discerning, and they will gain knowledge. . . . When a mocker is punished, the simple gain wisdom; by paying attention to the wise they get knowledge. (17:10, 19:25, 21:11)

  DEGREES OF TEACHABILITY. In ancient times forty lashes was the punishment for the worst crimes. A hundred lashes, then, is hyperbole to make a point. Even the worst possible consequences cannot change the character of some people (17:10). The more often they lose jobs, are expelled from school, are fined or punished, the more they blame others and become entrenched in their ways. At the other end of the teachability spectrum is a discerning person who learns from a single rebuke what others must suffer devastating losses to understand.

  In the middle of the spectrum of teachability are the simple (19:25)—a group we have met before. They are not as quick to learn as the discerning, and yet they are not as set in their ways either. They will have to see some disaster or punishment hitting someone—as when a mocker is punished—but then they may learn prudence and change their ways.

  The point of these sayings is that there are degrees of teachability. You must learn to assess how teachable people are before you hire, join, or in some other way throw your lot in with them. And you must assess yourself.

  When have you learned something important from watching someone else’s life? Where are you on the teachability spectrum?

  Prayer: Lord, between the discerning person who learns through a single, wise rebuke and the fool who never learns from anything, I am firmly in the middle. I confess you must send me messages multiple times before I read them. Forgive me and work on my heart until I hear you the first time. Amen.

  July 19

  For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers. . . . The wise prevail through great power, and those who have knowledge muster their strength. Surely you need guidance to wage war, and victory is won through many advisers. (11:14, 24:5–6)

  GET ALL THE ADVICE YOU CAN. We must not be indecisive (James 1:8), but too many people are impulsive. Proverbs urges you not to merely “get a second opinion” before making a decision, nor even to just consult with a few intimate friends. It calls us to have many advisers, literally, a “multitude” of them.

  Why? The first reason is because if you consult only a couple, you are likely to choose people from your own party or point of view. These proverbs, then, “counter the danger of caucus-dominated political practices.”158 They call us to transcend partisanship. The second reason is for thinking “outside the box.” To devise creative solutions you have to foresee all the problems and generate all possible options. No two or three people will be able to do that, and the resulting plan will find no new way forward. Jesus, all by himself, brought a plan for salvation that shocked both liberal Sadducees and conservative Pharisees (cf. Mark 3:6). But we will not be wise without many advisers.

  Do you have advisers from across a spectrum of opinions and backgrounds?

  Prayer: Lord, I find it difficult just to ask where an item is at a grocery store. Yet even you, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, take counsel together. Give me friends who can be counselors, and then give me the humility to listen to them. Amen.

  July 20

  Though you grind a fool in a mortar, grinding them like grain with a pestle, you will not remove their folly from them. (27:22)

  LET EXPERIENCE CORRECT YOU. Wisdom is listening to advice from others. But it also includes listening to what life itself tells you through experience. Suffering can grow us (Hebrews 12:7–11)—breaking us of overconfidence, making us more sympathetic, showing us our weaknesses, and helping us to become more resilient and dependent on God. But none of this is automatic. Some people can be ground to dust, like grain with a pestle—an image of excruciating pain—but they learn nothing.

  Adversity drives some people deeply into God’s love but convinces others that a God of love cannot exist. What will make the difference? The essence of foolishness is to be “wise in your own eyes.” The temptation for those who suffer is to assume that because we can’t think of any good purposes God may have for our suffering, there can’t be any. If you can’t imagine a God infinitely wiser and more loving than you, then you won’t be able to trust him and grow in grace. The most basic wisdom is to trust the character of God, who has suffered and died in Jesus Christ for you and who will not withhold anything necessary for your ultimate joy.

  Think of a time of great trial or suffering in your life. What things did you learn and what ways did you grow through it?

  Prayer: Lord, in times of trouble I just grit my teeth and hold on stoically until the storm passes. But that is no way to learn from you. Oh, the next time, draw me into prayer, real prayer, until your presence and love reach new levels in my heart. Amen.

  July 21

  Whoever remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed—without remedy. (29:1)

  TOO LATE. A stiff-necked ox or horse, which would not bend its neck at the direction of the driver, would be useless and even dangerous, and might be destroyed. The metaphor is applied to those who are wise in their own eyes and who resist God’s Word and rule. Is there any hope for them?

  Because salvation is by faith and repentance, not our good works and performance (Romans 3:28), in one sense anyone can at any time turn to God (Isaiah 45:22). “There is no sin so great that it can bring damnation on those who truly repent.”159 But a person can spiritually drift until they are too hardened to consider real repentance (28:14). While God’s door to hear contrition is never shut, our window of opportunity to produce it can be.160 If we ever sense the impulse to repent, we should respond immediately and not presume in our pride that we will be capable of it at any time and place we choose (2 Timothy 2:25). To not do so is to be stiff-necked.

  Have you ignored open windows of opportunity for spiritual growth that now seem closed? If this question convicts you, is this not a new opportunity for change?

  Prayer: Father, make me a chief repenter. Let me be the first to admit my fault, and to repent quickly, without grudging, without excuses, without bitterness, knowing that repentance is a path through grief to greater joy. Amen.

  July 22

  A wicked person listens to deceitful lips; a liar pays attention to a destructive tongue. . . . A false witness will perish, but a careful listener will testify successfully. (17:4, 21:28)

  WHAT NOT TO LISTEN TO. The more a liar you are, the more you become willing to listen to deceitful lips. It is easy to fool a person who thinks he’s clever. The heart that nurtures pride and envy wants to justify its own flaws and hidden sins. That means, first, being highly vulnerable to liars who tell you untrue things that flatter you and hide unpleasant facts from you. Also, it means being gullible
and too ready to believe gossip or bad reports, because you want to believe the worst about others. In the end, both those who lie and those who listen to the lies will perish. Liars get exposed, and those who base practice and policy on lies will experience disaster.

  Only the one who listens well is worth listening to (21:28). Jesus, the suffering servant, listened perfectly to his Father and so speaks the truth perfectly to us (Isaiah 50:4–5). We must be like him, something that can happen only if we spend time in his company. If we do so, through worship and prayer, we will speak well and boldly and it will be evident to others that we have been with Jesus (Acts 4:13).

  Are you too gullible, too willing to believe reports that confirm your prejudices? Or, on the other hand, are you too skeptical, too unwilling to believe people?

  Prayer: Lord, there are so many things I want to believe, because they will justify me. Help me live each day on a platform of your justification, Jesus, and that will make me a far better judge of truth. Amen.

  July 23

  A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools! (26:3)

  DON’T BE A MULE. Animals are tamed through carrots and sticks, because we can’t sit down and explain to them why they should behave this or that way. A fool is someone who can be dealt with only in the same way. Psalm 32:9 exhorts, “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle or they will not come to you.” Instead, the Lord says to us, “I will counsel you with my loving eye on you” (Psalm 32:8).

  The contrast is between obeying God only because we must and knowing God personally, out of a desire for his loving glance. Commenting on Psalm 32:8–9, Kidner writes, “Those who invite the rod are those who contrive to ignore the glance.”161 Sometimes, of course, we all need God to bring us up short, to use some hard circumstance to show us we have been complacent or stupid. But as soon as possible we should return to fellowship with him through prayer and his Word. Let him guide you rather than the hard knocks of life.

  Can you think of something you had to learn from the “hard knocks of life” that you could have and should have learned from God’s Word?

  Prayer: Father, isn’t this my worst sin against you? I obey because I have to, not because I want to. I repent because of the consequences of sin, not just because it grieves you, the God I love. Show me again the suffering love of your Son for me, until I obey, not like a donkey but out of grateful joy. Amen.

  July 24

  Blows and wounds scrub away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being. (20:30)

  STRIPES THAT HEAL. We should not require God to use adversity as the only way to shape us (July 23). Nevertheless, there is seldom real growth without life’s difficulties, its blows and wounds. People who have led completely charmed lives are often superficial and unable to sympathize with others, and usually have an unrealistically high estimation of their own endurance, patience, and strength.

  20:30 points out that the external discipline of the body can strengthen the inmost being. Military experience testifies to the inner discipline that painful basic training can bring. But in the context of the whole Bible, a larger principle is in view. Paul said his outward nature, through afflictions and difficulties, aging and illness, was “wasting away,” yet “inwardly” he was being renewed day by day. “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:16–17).

  In the end, however, it is not our wounds but Jesus’ wounds that purify us. With his stripes and wounds we are healed.162 His suffering for us means we can trust him in our difficulties and, when we do that, our afflictions can make us like him.

  Recount a time in which adversity pushed you toward Jesus, and spend some time today thanking him for working in your life.

  Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, only to you, of all the deities in all the religions of the world, can we say, “To our wounds, only God’s wounds can speak, and not a god has wounds, but Thou alone.”163 Seeing your wounds for me enables me to bear my wounds with patience. Amen.

  Conflicts

  July 25

  It is a sin to despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy. (14:21)

  RESIST SUPERIORITY. Human relationships constantly break down. Like a house, they regularly need both minor repairs (which we call “maintenance”) as well as major restorations. The wise person has the skill set to do both.

  One way to do minor “maintenance” is by resisting the natural tendency to feel superior or to despise, those around you. 14:21 shows us this is one of the reasons that people are not kind to the needy—but the consequences are broader. Unless you resist this natural urge to justify yourself by comparing and looking down at others, your relationships will not survive their normal bumps and turns. How can we avoid this?

  Meditate on this. Indwelling sin guarantees that we are never as holy as our beliefs should lead us to be, and God’s graciousness to his creation guarantees that others are never as wicked as their unbelief might otherwise lead them to be. So remember, you may have things to learn from people who are very flawed but through whom God may be accomplishing his purposes.

  When was the last time you despised your neighbor in your heart? It is an important spiritual exercise to learn to catch yourself doing this and repent on the spot.

  Prayer: Lord, whenever I meet someone, I instinctively look for faults—or just posit them—so I can feel superior. That sins grievously against your command to “value others above yourselves” (Philippians 2:3). I am so unlike you. I repent. Conform me to your image. Amen.

  July 26

  All a person’s ways seem pure to them, but motives are weighed by the LORD. (16:2)

  BE SELF-CRITICAL. Another way to resist the natural tendency to feel superior to others (July 25) is to be self-critical. Our motives seem pure to us—without guilt or sin. However, the Lord knows better. “The disciple should evaluate his motives and conduct against God’s revealed standards and not absolutize his own estimation of them.”164 One way to do this is to remember Satan’s accusation against Job—that he did not love God for himself alone, but rather he obeyed because of the benefits he received (cf. Job 1:8–10). That is a profound criticism and is always partly true of us.

  For Christians, new views of our sin can be accompanied by deeper discoveries of how righteous in Christ and perfectly loved we are (Philippians 3:9). So conviction of sin can lead to both greater humility and greater gratitude and joy at the same time. This humility about the impurity of our motives should prevent us from being too sure of our position and from speaking too strongly against people on the other side of a conflict (August 1).

  How have you seen that your motives are impure even for the many good things you do? How does knowing that make you kinder in relationships?

  Prayer: Lord, I have a heart that continually inclines me to sin, and I’m spiritually powerless to change one bit of it without your supernatural help. How can I feel superior to anyone at all? Remind me of that—and of your amazing love for me—every time I meet someone new. Amen.

  July 27

  If a wise person goes to court with a fool, the fool rages and scoffs, and there is no peace. (29:9)

  CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES. Fools rage or, we would say, “rant.” They scoff and mock their opponents, rather than making an argument or a case. Ranters and scoffers do not persuade or build bridges They merely “energize the base”—that is, they preach to those who already agree with them and confirm the views and biases people already have. Today this is the main form of public discourse.

  The realism of this proverb shows that sometimes engaging a ranter is unavoidable. We are told to expect a long and painful process. But we must enter it maintaining other commitments, such as not despising the ranter (July 25) and always treating people respectfully (May 10). We are never to do to the ranter what t
he ranter is trying to do to us—to marginalize and demonize rather than convince. In the New Testament we are directed to, as much as it is within our control, live at peace with the people around us (Romans 12:18), even those who rage and scoff.

  Do you rant? Do you enjoy reading or listening to ranters?

  Prayer: Lord Jesus, you answered your opponents wisely and brilliantly but patiently and constantly. How I want to give back to my critics—with verve—the same disdain they show me. But I want to be like you, not them. Change my heart to make it so. Amen.

  July 28

  Like one who grabs a stray dog by the ears is someone who rushes into a quarrel not their own. (26:17)

  DON’T BE A BUSYBODY. When two people are having a conflict with each other, it can wreak havoc on those around them. There is a strong temptation to take sides. It is hard not to sympathize with the party you know best. It is also hard for that person not to share his or her hurt with you in a way that does not vilify the other party in the conflict. As a result we can have second- and third-order unreconciled relationships. The enemy of your friend, and the friends of your friend’s enemy, all become your enemies. It’s a mess—but it happens all the time.

  If you grab a stray dog by the ears you will be bitten. And if you quarrel with someone whose issue is not with you but with someone else, there is no way to resolve it. A wise person should suspend judgment (you can’t know all the facts) and encourage the parties toward reconciliation. Beyond that, a wise person “should walk away from a dispute in which he has no interest,” a quarrel not their own.165