Loving God IS wisdom

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1: 7

Dummelow (see One Volume Bible Commentary) suggests the above verse as a motto for the whole book. He defines “fear” in this context as “reverence and humility.”  He also says that true morality is based on “a right relation to God”, which explains the second part of the verse.  How this all relates to Christian Science!

Chapter 2:  How thrilling to read what wisdom and understanding can do for us in times of temptation.  In the verses up to and including verse 11 we are given our weapons.  Verses 12 to 19 comment on some of the temptations mankind face.  Then verses 20 to 22 give both the rewards of righteousness and the fate of the wicked.  However, as students of Christian Science, we know that only the evil is destroyed, not the man.  One is reminded of the third Tenet of Christian Science: “We acknowledge God’s forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal.  But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts” (Science & Health p. 497:9).

I loved the verses in Chapter 3: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths”  (Prov. 3:5 - 6).  We know what blessings come from doing just that!  Mrs. Eddy says that God “guides every event of our careers” (Unity of Good 3:28).

“Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth” (Prov. 3:11).  Isn’t it wonderful that we can expect correction by our heavenly Father?  “Divine Love corrects and governs man” (S&H 6:3).

All this has me thinking that possibly we can find correlative words from Mrs. Eddy’s writings for every in verse in these Proverbs.  Every verse?  What an undertaking it would be to research that!  This work for the book club sends me off on wonderful tangents which can take me days to come to terms with.  No.  I am not going off on that particular tangent at this time.

Joyce Voysey