Proverbs 3:5-12

 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own estimation; fear the Lord and turn away from evil. This will bring healing to your body, and refreshment to your inner self. Honor the Lord from your wealth and from the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled completely, and your vats will overflow with new wine. My child, do not despise discipline from the Lord, and do not loathe his rebuke. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.”

— ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭3‬:‭5‬-‭12‬‬

NET breaks this early part of chapter into 1-4 (admonition) and 5-12 (obedience to Lord). 

First two verses are some of the most recognizable in Proverbs. NET does word studies on most of the major words, but there really isn’t much to dig into here. Trust and rely are synonyms, and basically mean to put confidence in/ use as support. The contrast is whether we use the Lord or our own understanding. God’s wisdom vs. human wisdom. It really doesn’t take much research to see how that goes. The problem is that humans are always necessary to interpret the divine wisdom. There’s the rub and source for even more debate.

As with all Proverbs passages, the key here is going to be genre/wisdom literature. Straight paths? Healing? Financial freedom? This is straight prosperity gospel, but this is contrasting way of wisdom vs fools. I love using the word “skill” or being “clever” when discussing wisdom literature.

This is the type of verses that would speak to a wider audience bc everyone can apply these things.

Not the time to debate discipline or types of discipline. How does God discipline? Are we meant to discern discipline from God vs. bad things in life? Some probably doubt that God even disciplines, but for Proverbs, discipline of some sort = love. 

This is a tough issue to understand all the nuances from a practical standpoint. Theologically it may be easy. We have the verses to nail it down. But how does it actually work? And how does it affect our view (and others who may have a different background from us) of God?

And how can these verses contribute to not only my understanding of God but my wise approach to becoming more clever?