The Purpose of the Word of God

Proverbs 1:2-6 – Proverbs teach you wisdom and instruct you. They help you understand wise sayings. They provide you with instruction and help you live wisely. They lead to what is right and honest and fair. They give understanding to childish people. They give knowledge and good sense to those who are young. Let wise people listen and add to what they have learned. Let those who understand what is right get guidance. What I’m teaching also helps you understand proverbs and stories. It helps you understand the sayings and riddles of those who are wise. (NIrV)

All too often, the assumption made about the Bible is that it is full of rules and lists, do’s and don’ts. It is regularly perceived as an archaic book determined to curb our fun and stop us from living our life to the fullest. But in the opening passage of the Book of Proverbs, we get an insight into how the Word of God ought to be viewed.

In today’s passage, we are told that the Proverbs exist for wisdom and instruction. They help us understand wise sayings and lead us to what is right, honest and fair. Maybe this is what our understanding ought to be about the whole of the Bible? Maybe we ought to view the Bible as a whole as a book that gives understanding to those of us who are immature (childish)? Maybe we ought to teach people that the Bible is there to give young people knowledge and good sense? Perhaps we can tell our work colleagues, friends and unsaved family members that the Bible is a book that helps the wise add to what they have learned, and those who understand what is right get more guidance?

Maybe if we describe the Bible to the world in the way it describes itself, more people might be interested in what it has to say?