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This week’s Abide comes from the passage in the Our Daily Bread devotional for April 8th which is Proverbs 11:1-11.

There are times in life when I’m reading God’s Word and struggling to know what it means. When that happens, I’ve found it’s helpful to pray and ask the Lord to guide my thoughts. Not only praying before I read the passage, but praying throughout my time in the Word. We can pause at various points of the passage and ask God for His understanding.  

The primary purpose of praying before, during, and after a passage is to ask God for help in understanding what He is communicating and teaching you through the passage.

The whole of Proverbs 11, our passage for today, is full of powerful wisdom. But for now, we’ll just focus on verse two. Before we read, take a few moments to open up this time with God in prayer.

Now turn to Proverbs 11:2

When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom

The Proverbs are like gold. Hidden in the depths of the text, we find wisdom that speaks into our everyday lives. As I’ve been reflecting on this proverb, it’s brought to mind how I speak in certain situations. Have you ever been faced with a situation where you’ve spoken up, thinking you know the answer or solution, but realised very quickly that you were wrong? Maybe in the moment you felt a sense of pride that then came crashing down. Your words only added fuel to the fire. I see that in the first line of this proverb.

“When pride comes, then comes disgrace…”

Pride is an exaggerated opinion of oneself. This presumption of self-importance entails authority that rightfully belongs to the Lord. When I am full of pride, thinking I know better in any given circumstance, I am discrediting God, His Word, and His wisdom. And as we know, that can happen in our speaking or actions. We can presume to know the answer to a situation and so don’t bother to seek God’s wisdom first. But “then comes disgrace”.

Perhaps take a moment to pray and ask the Lord to point out situations in life where you’ve presumed to know what’s right without asking God for help first.

“With humility comes wisdom….”

With humility comes God’s wisdom. At this point, I need to stop and ask God to humble me. If I humbly accept that I don’t know anything, but in fact God knows everything, and if I keep fearing Him in everything I do; in my actions and yes, even my words – there lies His wisdom given to me – His divine wisdom.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt both the benefits from seeking God’s wisdom in a given circumstance as well as the second degree burns from choosing my own so-called “wisdom.” As we’ve been praying through this proverb, it’s reminded me of the need to seek God’s wisdom first.

So as we finish, I hope this has helped us see that by asking for the Holy Spirit’s guidance through prayer and seeking His ways written throughout His Word, God can point out different ways His words relate to your life and mine.

This week, practice asking God for His wisdom through opening up a passage in Proverbs and praying through it. Perhaps give it a go right now. It always helps me if I find a quiet place or in my heart and mind silently invite God into a passage, to speak to me through His Word.