Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Adult Sunday School Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/bb/bb20110724.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Proverbs: Motivating Teens And Adults To Align With God's Fixed Moral Order
Part II: Explaining The Value Of Heeding God's Fixed Moral Order, Proverbs 1:8-9:18
P. Motivating Teens To Gain God's Wisdom Due To Its Involvement In Creation
(Proverbs 8:22-31)
  1. Introduction
    1. People of all ages, including maturing teens, can appreciate the marvels of the created universe.
    2. Significantly, Proverbs 8:22-31 claims God's hakmah, or alignment to His fixed moral order, existed before the universe was made, it was involved in its formation and thus reveals its capacity richly to bless its human possessor with benefits similar to what the awesome creative order itself presents (as follows):
  2. Motivating Teens To Gain God's Wisdom Due To It's Involvement In Creation, Proverbs 8:22-31.
    1. God's hakmah, the alignment to His fixed moral order, was possessed by God at the start of the creation of the universe, affecting His creation of it, Proverbs 8:22 ESV, NIV ftn.
    2. To emphasize God's hakmah PRECEDED the creation, and thus had an important role in its planning, Proverbs 8:23-26 repeats this truth applied to various realms of man's earthly existence (as follows):
      1. In the eons of eternity prior to the universe's formation, God's hakmah was set up, Pr. 8:23 KJV, ESV.
      2. When there were no oceans, no springs abounding with water, God's hakmah was given birth, Proverbs 8:24 NIV, KJV, ESV. Since Genesis 1:1-2 starts with a globe that is covered with an ocean, the author of Proverbs claimed wisdom was in existence before the Genesis 1:1-2 description!
      3. God's hakmah was in existence before the mountains and hills where man lives were formed, Proverbs 8:25 NIV. These were made on the third day of creation according to Genesis 1:9-13.
      4. God's wisdom was in existence before He made the earth or its fields or any dust of the world, Proverbs 8:26 NIV. These are very significant items to man: Genesis 2:7 claims God built man from the earth's dust, and that man tills the crops of the field by the sweat of his brow until he returns to the dust of the earth from which he was made (Genesis 3:17-19)! Thus, God's wisdom was in existence before the material used to make man, and where man would live and work, were ever constructed!
    3. Then, God's hakmah not only preceded His creative work to aid in its planning, it was also used of God to CREATE the universe that provides us humans an environment suitable for living, Proverbs 8:27-31:
      1. When God set the heavens in place, He used his fixed moral order (hakmah) to do so, Proverbs 8:27a. This is a key point in view of human need: the heavens were required as the setting for establishing the stellar universe that gives man light on the earth, and for man to be able to tell time, Genesis 1:14-16.
      2. When God marked out the horizon on the surface of the ocean, God's wisdom was used in that process, Proverbs 8:27b. This is important for our mental health: scientists claim that if the horizon level is too short (as on the moon), man tends to feel too dominant and insubordinate to his harm, but if it is too long (as on Jupiter), he feels intimidated, so earth's horizon level is good for our mental health!
      3. God's hakmah was used of God to establish the clouds above and to fix securely the fountains below, Proverbs 8:28. Both entities affect the amount of water on the earth, and man needs just enough of it for drinking, bathing and growing crops, but too much water makes the earth uninhabitable for us.
      4. God's wisdom was used to give the ocean its boundary so it would not destroy man's home, Pr. 8:29a.
      5. God also used His hakmah to mark out the foundations of the earth so that man would have a secure plot of land on which to live instead of experiencing constant upheaval of the ground, Proverbs 8:29b.
      6. Indeed, God's fixed moral order was like the craftsman at His side throughout creation; it was filled with delight each day of creation and rejoiced in God's presence, in His whole world, and in the apex of God's creation, in mankind himself, Proverbs 8:30-31 NIV.
Lesson: God's fixed moral order, His hakmah, existed before the awesome, good universe was formed, and since it was used by God to plan and create the universe with man's welfare in mind, one does well to adopt it in life to enjoy much of the blessings God's creation produced for him, Genesis 1:31!

Application: May we motivate maturing teens to adhere to God's wisdom to enjoy much of the "very good" blessings this divine wisdom produced for man in the planning and building of God's creation!