Enjoying Proverbs?

I don't think I've ever heard someone preach on Proverbs, well at least not in the way we preach on other books of the Bible.  I've heard preachers preach on certain (maybe their favourite) verses, or a thematic study on one idea like friendship or laziness or work, but never on the whole thing.  Now there are lots of reasons why this is the case, Proverbs is a daunting book in size and scale, and in the way it unpacks things.  But always one to love a challenge (or just plain naive) and convinced that we as a church have been the poorer for not having looked at much of the Old Testaments wisdom literature we are doing a series on Proverbs this term.  Initially we are looking at chapters 1-9 and then later in the year or more likely next year we will look at some more, before returning to it again periodically.

It was with great trepidation that I undertook this series, in fact I spent quite a long time trying to get away from it to any other series I possibly could.  But I kept on coming back to Proverbs, convinced and convicted that it was what we should look at as a church.  And doing so has been both a joy and a trial.  The joy has been in getting into the book, beginning to see its themes and structure, and the brilliant way it simply makes you think about everything, and yet always draws you back to fear of the LORD in all that that entails.  It has been a thrill to see Jesus so clearly within its pages and be able to point people to it.  It has been encouraging to see newcomers who are non-churched engaging with it and finding its descriptions of life without God resonating with their experience.

The trial bit has been in the preparation, no doubt increased because I don't know Hebrew and the language issues in it are quite complex.  It is not an easy book to read and think through, but it is a joy to have the privilege of doing so, to be able to set aside concentrated study time to grapple with this great jewel of scripture.  It has been a trial at times to preach, simply because I have really felt my inability to convey its timeless truths in a way that remotely do it justice.  Ultimately a third of the way through the series I find myself wondering why on earth I haven't studied it more and sooner, why I haven't preached it more often and drawn peoples attention to it more readily.  Because amid all the struggles of preparation and understanding and preaching is the simple joy of seeing who God is and his love and longing for a people of his own who he will guide and lead as they treasure and rely on him, listen and apply his word, and come to him reliant upon Christ and filled with his Spirit longing for his kingdom to come.

Friendship

The challenge to be a friend is one that the Bible plainly lays before us and we can do friendship quite easily but is it Biblical friendship?

Proverbs has much to say about friendship and it is a telling yardstick to measure our friendships against:

17:17 "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity."

27:6 "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."

27:9 "Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice."