Proverbs 4-10 Study Guide

100 Days to a Wiser You

Welcome to this daily guide to studying the Proverbs. Each day I encourage you to read the chapter in the Book of Proverbs that corresponds to that day’s date. Then you can use this guide to focus in on one of the Proverbs from that chapter. My prayer is for you to learn it, live it, and share it.

Pastor Lincoln

June 4, Proverbs 4

Watch Your Mouth

Prayer: Lord, I know the Proverbs have a lot to teach me about my speech. Help me to learn these lessons this summer. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Read Proverbs 4

Observations to Make:

Draw lines in your Bible to divide this chapter into 3 parts. Reread the proverb looking for these key images:

4.1-9 Wisdom is like a good wife.

4.10-19 Wisdom is like a straight and clear path.

4.20-27 Wisdom is like a healthy, self-controlled body.

Learn it! Write out Proverbs 4.24 below.

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Connect this proverb with the verse before it and see that what is in the heart eventually comes out the lips.

Live it!

As we encounter this first proverb regarding evil speech take a personal speech inventory. Use this list to evaluate your speech this last week.

______ I use profanity and/or profanity substitutes.

______ I tell or I laugh at crude jokes and innuendo.

______ I refer to others using unkind names.

______ I exaggerate or tell half truths in order to deceive.

______ I use insensitive speech in my conversation with others.

Share it!

Write this verse out again on a post-it or file card and put it out where it will be seen by others.

June 5, Proverbs 5

Drink Water from Your Own Well

Prayer: Lord, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Read Proverbs 5

Observations to Make:

As you read this chapter underline all the instances of the personal possessive pronoun “your” and the phrase “your own.”

Learn it! Write out Proverbs 5.15 below.

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The images here recommend marital faithfulness. It directs a son to enjoy the pleasures of marriage with his wife alone.

Live it!

If you are married rejoice in your wife or your husband this day. Yahoo! Renew your vow never to share with a stranger what belongs to your spouse.

Share it!

Pray for the marriages of the friends and family members in your life. If you are a man pray for the faithfulness of the other husbands. If you are a woman pray for the faithfulness of the other wives. If you have kids who are age appropriate talk about how premarital sex is in effect drinking water from another man or woman’s well.

June 6, Proverbs 6

Look to the Ant

Prayer: Lord, I know the Proverbs have a lot to say about diligence and laziness. Teach me these lessons this summer. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Read Proverbs 6

Observations to Make:

Note that the instruction in v.6 is to consider the ant’s ways and be wise. These proverbs take thinking on if we are to become wise. Reread vv.6-11, picture it in your mind, what is being described, and then spend some time thinking on it.

Learn it! Write out Proverbs 6.8 below.

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Live it!

This verse insists on forethought. The ant works now to provide for the winter. Identify areas in your life where you are preparing now for future times of need. Identify one area where you need to be planning and preparing ahead.

Share it!

Encourage someone who is diligent in your life. Affirm someone you are close to, that in this or that particular area of their life your seeing them being diligent. Note the proverb doesn’t begin by focusing on the lazy. It doesn’t start out with a nag. It starts with a picture of industry.

June 7, Proverbs 7

Guard Wisdom Like You Protect Your Eyes

Prayer: Lord, help me to hold on to your commands as if my life depended on them, because my life does depend on them. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Read Proverbs 7

Observations to Make:

In this chapter the purpose of storing up wisdom is to keep away from the adulteress. Have you noticed a continuing theme here? - Lots of warnings against sexual immorality. Why do you suppose the Bible seems to make such a big deal about this particular sin?

Learn it! Write out Proverbs 7.2 below.

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Live it!

We protect our eyes because they’re valuable to us. Just as valuable to us is godly instruction. Sin often begins with undisciplined eyes. Is there anything that you are seeing with your eyes that is leading you to let go of God’s wisdom. Confess that to God right now.

Share it!

Encourage someone you know of your same gender in his or her marriage. Affirm that person’s spouse in some appropriate way and in doing so you will encourage that person to put their eyes on their own husband or wife, and not on the husband or wife or another.

June 8, Proverbs 8

More Precious Than Rubies

Prayer: Lord, make me to desire wisdom over and above material wealth. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Read Proverbs 8

Observations to Make:

List at least three things wisdom promises the listener in Proverbs 8.1-11.

Learn it! Write out Proverbs 8.11 below.

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Live it!

Verse 10 calls for a choice; v.11 gives the motive in making that choice. Do you believe the premise of v.11, that in fact nothing you can desire compares to God’s wisdom?

Do the priorities of this past week reflect a desire for wisdom above all other things?

Share it!

Ask someone else about their priorities. Ask someone, “What is it you desire more than anything else? And why?” It’s a deeply personal question. Try to ask it without conveying condemnation. If you are asked the question in turn share this verse.

June 9, Proverbs 9

Two Rebukes

Prayer: Lord, teach me your ways, help me to receive the correction of the wise people you send into my life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Read Proverbs 9

Observations to Make:

Mark the two speeches by the two different women in this passage. Both the speech of Wisdom and the speech of Folly start out the same way: “Let all who are simple come in here . . .”

Learn it! Write out Proverbs 9.8 below.

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Live it!

The more shallow and empty a person is the less likely he is to listen to godly counsel, while the truly wise are more than willing to learn from anyone who can correct and instruct them. Pray that you grow more teachable and correctable, in other words wise.

Also consider this verse before offering correction to a person who seems a mocker.

Share it!

Ask a friend or family member to evaluate your own openness to correction. “On a scale of 1 to 5 how open do you think I am to the suggestions and critiques of others?”

June 10, Proverbs 10

More On Diligence

Prayer: Lord, help me to remember the proverbs I am learning daily. Help me to see how they are relevant to my everyday life. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Read Proverbs 10

Observations to Make:

Note that this chapter launches a new section in the Book of Proverbs. You will find these proverbs to be less connected to one another than the material that has preceded it, but still certain themes hold individual chapters together. Did you see the many references to foolish speech in this chapter?

Learn it! Write out Proverbs 10.4 below.

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Look up these other references to diligence in the Proverbs: 12.11; 13.4; 13.11; 20.13; 22.29

Live it!

This proverb is a general observation that hard work brings reward. Are your hands diligent? Do you struggle with laziness? Many of us must or this wouldn’t be such a significant theme in this book. Sometimes laziness takes the guise of unnecessary business. Is there a “lazy activity” in your life that could be removed to open up time for more productive activity?

Share it!

This is one of those proverbs that if you share it with someone they will probably take offense. So again this week share this Proverb with someone who is a great example of diligence and thank them for their example.

Pick up next week’s study at church Sunday, or call 360-598-5377 for an e-mail copy.