I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. One of my coworkers told me, “I just wish there was a manual given at birth that told me how to do life. It would’ve made things so much easier for me!” I was stunned, but she just laughed off this far-fetched idea.
She wasn’t a believer, and she had gone through serious turmoil that left her filled with anger and put her on an endless search for answers. And here I was, screaming on the inside, There is! I have the answer!
That day I realized the hard truth: there are people in this world who desperately need what God has already given us through His Word, but they have no idea how applicable or relevant the Bible is to their lives. Particularly the book of Proverbs. It is so transparent. It literally is our manual for life.
This week, Andrew continues his teaching on this book of wisdom on the Gospel Truth broadcast. In this teaching, Andrew shows us how we can choose to accept God’s help in life. We need God’s wisdom and His inspiration. And that’s what Proverbs is all about.
I’ve experienced this guidebook firsthand when Proverbs literally saved my life. I was only twenty when I got engaged to a guy who was not right for me. The months of dating before that were filled with so many doubts and so many smart people warning me to jump ship. Sometimes I listened, and we would break up; then later, I’d ignore their advice, and we’d get back together.
Dumb.
I knew of others who ignored the naysayers and succeeded in the plan of God for their lives. So, I thought that would be my story too. But Proverbs 11:14 says, “For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers” (New International Version). Truthfully, it can feel really cool to go against the grain and prove people wrong. But for me, this verse meant escaping a terrible decision. With godly people speaking to my heart and confirming what I already knew deep down, I couldn’t ignore what God was saying to me anymore. I broke the engagement off. This time it was for good.
Andrew shares how if you’re undergoing struggles in your life right now, “it’s because you haven’t been following God’s direction…And because of that, we go out and make mistakes that we don’t have to make, that the Word of God teaches us how to do things differently.”
Proverbs expounds on life’s biggest questions for both the little things and big things. And even if you “miss it,” God has a way of bringing wisdom back around to you, sometimes through another person. For me, it was through my amazing sister who spoke up and voiced my fear that my former fiancé was not the best choice for me.
Along with stressing the importance of having many counselors, Proverbs 11 also shows that it’s a gift when you have a faithful friend. Andrew explains that “you can’t just be best friends with everybody.” He says, “When you find somebody who will honor you . . . and protect you—man, that is a faithful spirit.”
That’s how gracious and faithful God is to us. He gives us people who wake us up to His call on our lives and point us to His Word. I’m thankful for those people and my brave sister, who were my wake-up call to finally walk away from something that wasn’t God’s best.
We do have a manual for life. It’s the Word of God! Keep watching the Gospel Truth this month to gain more timeless wisdom for a life of purpose. It just might save your life too.
