Wisdom as Instruction

Justin shows us how he studies with his energetic, deep thinking 6-year old son as they talk about Proverbs 1.

Watch the video of this study at www.youtube.com/appianmedia

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Hi there, my name is Justin Dobbs, and this is listen, my children, I'm a husband, I'm a dad, and I'm learning to do what a lot of you are doing, one of the most difficult but most important things I'll ever do, bring up my children to follow the father. Over the next seven episodes, we're going to keep walking through the first five chapters of Proverbs, you, me and our kids. Listen, my children podcast is made possible by a donation from the Oliver family, we're thankful for their generous support of Appian Media's content. If you or your organization is interested in helping to fund content like this, please contact us through our website at Appian Media dot org. Now, today, my son Amos is going to be joining us. Amos is six years old. He's excited to share what he thinks. He's a reader. His world is exploding and all sorts of new and wonderful ways. And so he needs a little bit of guidance. We're going to listen in on a conversation that Amos and I had in Proverbs, Chapter one. So if you have a Bible, you can open up to Proverbs and join in with us. Well, hey, I asked you to come out of here from your room playing with Lego. Uncle Greg told me that you don't say Legos, you say Lego like one Legos, a Lego and three hundred Lego is Lego. I didn't know that. Did you know that? That's not even true. But I asked you to come out so that you and I could talk about the Book of Proverbs. I don't know anything about father. I think you do. The Proverbs Proverbs. It begins with the fear of the Lord, where the fear, the Lord is the beginning of knowledge fools. Despise wisdom and despise. That's a good question, despise is when you think something is like, I don't know that that's silly, that's ridiculous. Who needs that? And fools do that. And so this next part of Proverbs in Chapter one, would you like to read a little bit of it with me? Can you can you read verse eight for me right here? Me where it says here. Yeah, my son is father's in trust, instruction, instruction, and for sake, not your mother's teaching. And then it says they are good for a graceful, a graceful garland. Garland, Garland, Garland. We had independence, but I had to stop right there and talk about that because he says your father's and your mother's teaching is like a graceful garland. Now, what a garland is. Well, it goes on your head saying, yes, exactly. It's like a crown. And so when you listen to mom and dad's teaching and you obey and you obey it because listening really means obeying, then it's like a crown. And then it's also like a pendant for your neck. So beautiful. Like a valuable necklace. Right. So when you obey mom and then you listen to their wisdom, then it's like you give the good stuff. Yes, that sounds really good, but you asked about despising when people despise wisdom, that makes them foolish. And I think it the balance that they get the best. But here's the thing. They don't know. They get the bad stuff. Let me read a little bit more of this and you listen carefully. You're reading it. All right. So my son. If sinner's entice you, which means, they say. Do not consent if they say, come with us, let us lie in, wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without reason like Sheol, which is where the dead people are, let us swallow them alive and whole, like those who go down to the pit, we shall find all precious goods. We shall fill our houses with plunder. Throw in your lot among us. We will all have one purpose. My son. Do not walk in the way with them. Hold back your foot from their paths with their feet run to evil and they make haste to shed blood. For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird. But these men lie in wait for their own blood. They set an ambush for their own lives. Such are the ways of everyone who is greedy for unjust gain. It takes away the life of its possessors. So. You want the good stuff, you need to listen to wisdom, it's hard stuff, it's hard stuff, but but once you do it, it doesn't. It's not hard at all, it's not, but fools are people who say that I don't need that I know my own way. And Amus, they're going to be people who come to you and they're going to say, come on, we don't need to listen to that wisdom and they're not going to say it like that. What they're going to do is say, come on, I've got a good thing for us to do because it's going to be great and we'll get all sorts of fun, good things. But if they say and if they say, let's not obey God. We don't go with them and I say, like, God doesn't lie with us. Yes, it's like, come on, you you share with us. We'll share with you. Now, these people are really good at taking stuff from people. And the way that they try to get good stuff is they try to hurt other people in order to get good stuff. And they're like waiting for the blood, like the way to kill people. Yes. Now, I've got something to show you here, Eddie. Not is a mousetrap. Now, who sets mousetraps in you and me, right? We set mouse trap, right? We set mousetraps. Can you imagine what it would be if a mouse said, I like that mouse cheese over there, I'm going to set a trap so I can get rid of him and then I'll take all his cheese? Imagine a mouse doing that. Can you imagine a mouse biting, a mouse trap? Yeah, but what happened to my finger? And there was actually saying, well, I'm going to use my pen to show you because what happens. Oh. What this proverb is telling us, buddy, is you want the good. And I actually like people trying to like. It is like a beautiful woman and but the woman, she disobeys God. And if you follow after her or if you go after the cheese or the peanut butter or the honey or whatever is right there and you follow after her or fall out with these evil people. But what's even more important is it saying that being being sinful and disobeying God is kind of foolish because you end up setting a trap for other people and you end up getting trapped yourself? So here's the thing I want you to understand. Is when we do wrong and we disobey God, we're really hurting ourselves and not and we're trying to like get the good stuff, we're trying to get the good stuff without obeying God. And you can't get the good without obeying God. You need to obey God to give the good stuff and get the good stuff. And so wisdom is a way for us to be able to see that when God is big and awesome and we treat him like he's big and awesome, we listen to his wisdom. Then he blesses us and he takes care of us. So what I'd like to do with you now is I'd like to kind of pray about that. Would it be OK? All right. It for me to say. All right, Father, thank you for Amos and thank you for a chance to talk about wisdom. Father, they're going to be wicked people, foolish people who try to get us to go with them and to do wicked foolish things. They're going to try to want to disobey you and father, please protect Amos and me from this kind of silliness and foolishness. Sin is stupid, and we want to obey you and be wise. Help us to remember that you were great, that you are awesome, and help Amos and me to learn your wisdom together. So the name of Jesus, we pray. Thanks, buddy. Thanks for joining Amos and me for that conversation in Proverbs one as we talked about the folly of sin. There's some really important things in that section. So wisdom, it teaches us the dangers of being foolish, teaches us the dangers of foolish people, and wisdom protects us from all sorts of troubles like that. So what are you what are your thoughts about that? What are the thoughts of your family members as you listen in on that together? Talk it through is a blessing that God gives us family so that we can share in these thoughts together about God's word. Now, parents, as you listened in on this, as you saw Amos working through, you'll see that Amos likes to share what he thinks. He's a talker. And Amos doesn't always look me in the eye. Sometimes it's not always clear that he's with me. But I've learned as I've listened to him that Amos Geer's are really turning. He digests a lot of what I'm saying. In fact, a lot of times, just in regular personal conversations will be driving down the road, will be working outside together. And he'll ask me a question about a Bible reading or a Bible study or just about, you know, God in general. He's he's thinking a lot. And so at six years old, his world is exploding. He's learning to read. How do you handle that? Well, I don't always do it very well. And so maybe you've got this experience to it. It can be tricky. I don't want to squash him, but I need to help him to understand. What I do want to do is I want to invite him to open up and to share what he's thinking. So that means taking time. That means slowing down. Teaching my children isn't always about dispensing information. It's about sharing in a a common idea. So when I have the chance, I let him share. I want to feel safe opening up with me about what he's thinking because they're going to be times as he grows older where I'm really going to need to know what he's thinking. He's going to be wrestling with some really big, difficult ideas in his relationships with people, in his thoughts about God. And I want to be the one that he comes to. So letting him share it's a good thing. But I'm also trying to teach him help him to learn how to share at the appropriate time, not interrupt again. That's not always easy. But in this case, that means sharing in the idea that sin promises things that it can't deliver. It guarantees benefits that it can't give us. I need to know that Amos gets that idea. And so that means slowing down and letting him tell it back to me. I need to be a good listener so I can be a good teacher. I want to lead them to the father. I need to know where they are. I need to know from what starting point we're working from as we walk with God together. So if you take the time to listen, you'll have a better chance of grabbing their ear. And if you can grab their ear, then you can get to their heart. Now, in the next episode, we're going to finish up Proverbs Chapter one with Linda. She's my eight year old and she's a little more quiet, a little more reserved. But if you're careful, you can get your children to open up. And she does. So I'm excited to go through the rest of Proverbs one with you next time.