GENERATION TO GENERATION
Opening Prayer
Lord God, your love and faithfulness are great beyond measure. I long for you to use all that I am to share who you are with others and to bring you glory.
Read PROVERBS 4
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
Get Wisdom at Any Cost
4 Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction;
pay attention and gain understanding.
2 I give you sound learning,
so do not forsake my teaching.
3 For I too was a son to my father,
still tender, and cherished by my mother.
4 Then he taught me, and he said to me,
“Take hold of my words with all your heart;
keep my commands, and you will live.
5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
do not forget my words or turn away from them.
6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you;
love her, and she will watch over you.
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get[a] wisdom.
Though it cost all you have,[b] get understanding.
8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you;
embrace her, and she will honor you.
9 She will give you a garland to grace your head
and present you with a glorious crown.”
10 Listen, my son, accept what I say,
and the years of your life will be many.
11 I instruct you in the way of wisdom
and lead you along straight paths.
12 When you walk, your steps will not be hampered;
when you run, you will not stumble.
13 Hold on to instruction, do not let it go;
guard it well, for it is your life.
14 Do not set foot on the path of the wicked
or walk in the way of evildoers.
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it;
turn from it and go on your way.
16 For they cannot rest until they do evil;
they are robbed of sleep till they make someone stumble.
17 They eat the bread of wickedness
and drink the wine of violence.
18 The path of the righteous is like the morning sun,
shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
19 But the way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
they do not know what makes them stumble.
20 My son, pay attention to what I say;
turn your ear to my words.
21 Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;
22 for they are life to those who find them
and health to one’s whole body.
23 Above all else, guard your heart,
for everything you do flows from it.
24 Keep your mouth free of perversity;
keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead;
fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Give careful thought to the[c] paths for your feet
and be steadfast in all your ways.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
keep your foot from evil.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 4:7 Or Wisdom is supreme; therefore get
- Proverbs 4:7 Or wisdom. / Whatever else you get
- Proverbs 4:26 Or Make level
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘… we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will proclaim your praise.’1
In the spring of 2022, I completed a multi-day, long-distance walk from Manchester to Exeter. I walked 350 miles in 28 wonderful days. It was not an ordeal but a joy and a pleasure. I walked in the paths created by others. On roads, railway routes, canal towpaths, challenging trails, pilgrim ways, and footpaths, I retraced the steps of workers, walkers, and travelers of the years gone by to find my way through valleys and hills to my destination. Proverbs 1–9 says our route through life is similar. Scripture (particularly the book of Proverbs) is our map; wisdom is the path. That path has been made by others who lived before us. It is our task to learn it, walk it, and tell of it. It is a tradition passed on from one generation to the next.
Tradition is not much praised these days. This is, in part, because we have discovered much to criticize and avoid in too many of our inherited institutions, practices, and behaviors. However, that is not to say that everything is worthless in the traditions we have received. It is now increasingly recognized that tradition is essential to innovation. Far from being its enemy, tradition is a vital creative partner to innovation. The writer of Proverbs seems to know this. He invites readers to face backward and forward at the same time; to imbibe the tradition from our parents, grandparents, and forebears of the faith, and also to care deeply about the next generation and to act generatively on its behalf.
The old ways are not all bad ways. Proverbs invites us to drink deeply from the wells of our faith tradition. It encourages us to draw on the work of those who have gone before us to help us build a theological outlook for the challenges ahead.
Apply
Churches are sometimes excellent environments for intergenerational conversation. Talk to someone from a different generation from your own and listen carefully to their story.
Closing prayer
Father, help me to see the good in my heritage and give me vision to leave a lasting inheritance in the things I say and do each day that make a difference for eternity.
1 Ps 79:13
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