Proverbs 3:17-35: a reflection

17Her ways are ways of pleasantness. All her paths are peace. 18She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her. Happy is everyone who retains her. 19By wisdom the LORD founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens. 20By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew. 21My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion, 22so they will be life to your soul, and grace for your neck. 23Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won’t stumble. 24When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet. 25Don’t be afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes; 26for the LORD will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being taken. 27Don’t withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do it. 28Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go, and come again; tomorrow I will give it to you,” when you have it by you. 29Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you. 30Don’t strive with a man without cause, if he has done you no harm. 31Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways. 32For the perverse is an abomination to the LORD, but his friendship is with the upright. 33The LORD’s curse is in the house of the wicked, but he blesses the habitation of the righteous. 34Surely he mocks the mockers, but he gives grace to the humble. 35The wise will inherit glory, but shame will be the promotion of fools.

Wisdom is pictured here as a tree of life, her ways full of pleasantness and peace. The same wisdom by which the Lord founded the earth and set the heavens in place is offered to you for daily living. When you keep sound wisdom and discretion before your eyes, they become life to your soul, and your steps grow steady. You walk securely, and your foot does not stumble.

One of the sweetest promises follows: when you lie down you will not be afraid, and your sleep will be sweet. Do not fear sudden alarm, the passage says, for the Lord will be your confidence. To walk in God's wisdom is to carry a quiet at the core of you that dread cannot easily reach, because your security rests not in your own arrangements but in him.

Then wisdom turns immediately practical. Do not withhold good from those to whom it is owed when it is in your hand to give it. Do not tell your neighbor to come back tomorrow when you could help today. Real trust in God shows itself in generosity that does not delay. Ask whether there is a good you are putting off, and do it now, while it is in the power of your hand.

Lord, you are the wisdom by which the world was made, and you offer that wisdom for my ordinary days. Be my confidence, so that I can lie down without fear and sleep in peace. And make me generous without delay, quick to do the good that is in my hand, trusting you enough to give freely today. Amen.