• Home
  • Daily Devotional
    • Daily Devotional
  • Daily Reflections
    • Daily Reflections
  • Couples Devotional
    • Couples Devotional
  • God Names Devotional
    • God Names Devotional
  • Thoughts
    • Thoughts
  • Sermons
    • Christian Sermons
  • Bible
    • Bible
  • Things of the Bible
    • Things of the Bible
  • Bible Verses
    • Things of the Bible
  • Bible Dictionary
    • Bible Dictionary
  • Prayer
    • Prayer
  • Daily Prayer
    • Daily Prayer
  • Women
    • Christian Women
  • Christian Books
    • Christian Books
  • Quotes
    • Quotes
  • Biographies
    • Biographies
  • Christian Life
    • Christian Life
ourdailydevotional logo
christian devotional
  • Home
    • Home
  • Sermons
    • Christian Sermons
  • Devotional
    • Daily Devotional
    • Couples Devotional
    • God Names Devotional
    • Thoughts
  • Reflections
    • Christian Reflections
  • Prayer
    • Prayer
    • Daily Prayer
  • Women
    • Christian Women
  • Bible
    • Bible
    • Bible Dictionary
    • Bible Verses
    • Things of the Bible
  • Books
    • Christian Books
    • Biography
  • Quotes
    • Christian Quotes
  • Life
    • Christian Life


HOME
CHRISTIAN BOOKS

God's Wisdom for Navigating Life

Author: Timothy Keller Publishing House: Viking

Proverbs is a very different book. It calls us to study, to think, to learn the practical discipline of centering all our thoughts and actions on God. Indeed, one of the main messages of Proverbs is—you’ve never really thought enough about anything.


There may be readers picking up this book who profited from our earlier yearlong devotional book, The Songs of Jesus. In that case especially, it is helpful to reflect on the differences between Psalms and Proverbs. The Psalms are filled with expressions of emotion, of pain, joy, and praise. They show us how to process our experiences before God.

Proverbs is a very different book. It calls us to study, to think, to learn the practical discipline of centering all our thoughts and actions on God. Indeed, one of the main messages of Proverbs is—you’ve never really thought enough about anything. Psalms is about how to throw ourselves fully upon God in faith.

Proverbs is about how, having trusted God, we should then live that faith out. If the Bible were a medicine cabinet, Psalms would be the ointment put on inflamed skin to calm and heal it. Proverbs would be more like smelling salts to startle you into alertness. Here are a few pointers for studying the book of Proverbs with profit.

Proverbs as Poetry
Proverbs is not a set of “simple steps to a happy life” for quick consumption. A proverb is a poetic art form that instills wisdom in you as you wrestle with it. As English readers we cannot receive the full force of the original, and yet we can still learn enough about the features of Hebrew poetry to discern layers of meaning that we would otherwise miss.


Perhaps the most fundamental mark of Hebrew poetry is parallelism. Two phrases, clauses, or sentences are brought into close connection with each other so that they modify and expand on each other. The second may magnify and extend the thought of the first, or it may instead offer a counterpoint that limits and softens the first idea.

In each case the two thoughts mutually clarify each other, sharpening our understanding. So Proverbs 13:6 says, “Righteousness guards the person of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner.” The first clause helps us understand “wickedness” in the second clause more specifically as a lack of integrity.

Because of parallelism, the words “wicked” and “righteous” and “wise” and “foolish,” which show up constantly and (seemingly) repetitiously, actually mean somewhat different things in each proverb. We miss much of the meaning of a proverb unless we compare the clauses very closely and watch for the interplay between words.

Another prominent feature of Hebrew poetry, as in all poetry, is the importance of vivid images. A beautiful but foolish woman is like a gold ring in a pig’s snout (Proverbs 11:22); a lazy employee is like vinegar to the teeth (Proverbs 10:26).

Images and metaphors are always invitations to think out the many ways that “this is like that.” A thoughtful reader can list five, then ten, then more ways that the image explains the principle.

Timothy Keller

Timothy Keller

Timothy J. Keller is an American Christian pastor, theologian, and author, born on September 23, 1950, in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. He grew up in a Presbyterian family and attended Bucknell University, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1972.

Book cover of God's Wisdom for Navigating Life
Remember that His presence can be experienced. His promise is as true as ever.

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

The Blessing of the Presence of Jesus

Charles Spurgeon
He is as certainly with us now as He was with the disciples at the lake when they saw coals of fire, fish on the coals, and bread (John 21:9). Not physically, but still in real truth, Jesus is with us!
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

God’s Awesome Love

Charles Stanley
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them. With great awe and in complete reverence, the shepherds looked upon the baby Jesus. It was true.
The clear claim of Scripture, and Mary’s own testimony, is that she had never been physically intimate with any man.

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

The Announcement to Mary

John Macarthur
When we first meet Mary in Luke’s gospel, it is on the occasion when an archangel appeared to her suddenly and without fanfare to disclose to her God’s wonderful plan.
The precious blood of the Lamb slain removes the guilt and purges away the defilement of our sins of ignorance and carelessness.

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Sanctifying Joy and Cleansing Grace

Charles Spurgeon
Amid the cheerfulness of household gatherings, it is easy to slide into sinful amusements and forget our declared character as Christians. It should not be so, but it is, that our days of feasting are very seldom days of sanctified enjoyment.
In Christmas, the worlds of secular and spiritual come together.

DAILY DEVOTIONAL

The Transcendental Importance of Christmas

Philip Yancey
Unlike most people, I do not feel much Dickensian nostalgia at Christmastime. The holiday fell just a few days after my father died early in my childhood, and all my memories of the season are darkened by the shadow of that sadness.
Our Daily Devotional Logo
followmeusa.net@gmail.com
OURDAILYDEVOTIONAL.NET
"We follow Jesus"
Sitemap | Sitemap | Sitemap Bible | Privacy Policy & Cookies
Follow us on Youtube