What if I told you that your whole life is written down in a book? Not only that, it was written before you were born. It’s true!
Psalm 139:16 says, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them” (New American Standard Bible, emphasis mine).
Days are ordained for us! But not everyone lives out the book God writes specifically for them. Instead, they write their own story, or worse, they let others write it for them.
The life ordained for you is the same as the perfect will of God. Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (NASB). This shows a progression in the will of God from good to acceptable to perfect. The question is this: How do we know the perfect will of God? Well, it’s not that mysterious.
It takes renewing your mind in the Word of God to know His perfect will. But it requires wisdom to build His will into your life. The following proverb refers to wives and mothers building their homes, but the principle applies to everyone:
The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish tears it down with her own hands.
Proverbs 14:1, NASB
A wise person builds their life, but a foolish one tears it down with their own hands. Wow! The operative word here is “wise.” Proverbs 4:7 says, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”
Today is the first day of 2018! Today is a great day to decide to live the life God wrote specifically for you. Not only can you renew your mind in the Word to find out what that is, but you can also ask Him for the wisdom to carry it out. Be teachable to the spirit of wisdom if you need to make course corrections.
Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
Proverbs 1:23, King James Version
Of course, we have the freedom to choose our own way, and God will still love us. God’s love for us does not depend on what we do. But God wants to make His plans known. If we want to fulfill the days ordained for us, we need to seek wisdom as the principal thing and build our lives after the book He wrote for us. What better place to start that journey than through studying the book of Proverbs!
Start this new year out right with Andrew’s newest book Proverbs: Timeless Wisdom for a Life of Blessing. This commentary will help you dig deeper into the book of Proverbs and take you on the path of wisdom to live the life especially tailored for you. Get the book and study on your own or follow along with Andrew on the Gospel Truth broadcast.
Happy New Year!
