Walking with the Wise #14: Security, Safety, & Significance

“My son, do not lose sight of these—
 keep sound wisdom and discretion,
 and they will be life for your soul
 and adornment for your neck.
 Then you will walk on your way securely,
 and your foot will not stumble.
 If you lie down, you will not be afraid;
 when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
 Do not be afraid of sudden terror
 or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes,
 for the LORD will be your confidence
 and will keep your foot from being caught.” 

—Proverbs 3:21-26

Solomon wrote for us to keep God’s wisdom before us. Why? Because God’s wisdom will bring life to our soul (v. 22) and will help us live securely, free from the devil’s devices, and keep us from stumbling. Stumbling occurs when we forsake God’s wisdom and attempt to go back to our life before Christ, or simply to adopt the world’s way of living, which has no peace (cf. Isaiah 48:22, 57:21).

If we decide to live according to God’s Word (which is wisdom), then we need not fear. Indeed, we will be able to find rest. We won’t be suffering the prickly pangs of conscience that keep us up at night, making us “weary with moaning,” as we “flood [our] bed with tears” and “drench [our] coach with [our] weeping”—Psalm 6:6. When we sin, we do not experience peace, rest or joy.

After David had sinned with Bathsheba, he started feeling conviction for his sin, and he didn’t experience peace again until he confessed it. He wrote,

“For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
 through my groaning all day long.
 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
 my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer”—Psalm 32:3-4.

It wasn’t until he confessed his sin (Psalm 32:5) that he was restored to a right relationship and relieved of his guilt and conviction. When we fail to follow God’s wisdom, we open ourselves up to many fears, dangers and terrors (Proverbs 3:24-25). Only when we live according to God’s wisdom are we established. God becomes our advocate and confidence. He becomes the one who gives us security, safety and significance.

Where is your security, safety and significance? Are you living according to God’s wisdom or according to something or someone else? Know that you will never experience true and lasting peace if you continue to live according to anything other than His Word. You will continually experience anxiety, fear and frustration, until you either buckle under the pressure, or sear your conscience so that you can live according to the lie you have chosen.

May God enable us all to live wisely in the midst of an unwise world! May we find our security, safety and significance in the one who gave Himself for us!

“O LORD, we come before You confessing our sin. All too often we have lived according to guidance other than the wisdom found within Your Word. Please forgive us for doing so. We are weak and all too easily distracted and deceived by the things of this world. May we live according to the wisdom found in Your Word, for You have given it to us in order that we might live a life that is pleasing in Your sight. And as we learn to live in this wisdom, may we be rid of anxiety and fear, and may our lives be characterized by peace, rest and joy in You. May our security and our significance not be found in any other person or thing, but may they wholly be found in You, so that You might receive glory, and we might experience the joy that comes from our delighting in You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.”