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This verse is taken from:
Proverbs 3. 1-6
“search the scriptures” John 5:39
The essence of this part of Proverbs chapter 3 is that prosperity for the godly must be based on giving God His place in our lives. The prosperity is described in verse 2 in terms linked to godly Jews living in the promised land, but the essential message remains relevant.
Verse 3 refers to ‘mercy’. This is the common word hesedh, meaning faithfulness to the covenant. It is the basis on which Jews treated fellow-Jews because of their common covenant links with the Lord.
If followed, verse 3 says godly teaching would be like an ornament on one’s neck. But the basis of the outward behaviour must always be the deeper motivation of the heart. Israel had the privilege of having the law of God, written with the finger of God on stone. But even in the Old Testament it was clearly understood that God wanted His people’s heart, first and last.
The behaviour of the godly would commend them to other people, but it is important to see that the order is ‘in the sight of God and man’ - God comes first, and that is fundamental.
A life so ordered by a sense of holy awe of God and His law will lead the godly to ‘trust in the Lord’, v. 5. If there is obedience to the law from the heart it will lead to trust in Him from the heart.
The biggest obstacle to the achievement of this happy state is an inflated sense of our own understanding. The Bible knows nothing of the present-day notion that we must have confidence in our own ‘limitless potential’, that self-assertion is the key to success and happiness.
The spiritually healthy attitude to our own understanding is to acknowledge that true understanding and wisdom must be based on what God reveals to us and gives to us. So our way will be guided as we ‘acknowledge him’, step by step and day by day, as verse 7 makes clear.
The following verses broaden the scope to show the impact of this God-guided life upon our attitude to possessions and also to God’s discipline. Seeking God’s will and pleasure is best in dark days as well as bright, in poverty as well as plenty.
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