How Is Your 'God-Wise Planning' Going?

My unconventional title is expressive of a Hebrew term used by Solomon in Proverbs 2. 

The wise king pleaded with his son:

Receive my sayings;
Treasure my commandments;
Make your ear attentive to wisdom;
Incline your heart to understanding;
Cry for discernment;
Lift your voice for understanding
Seek her (wisdom) as silver;
Search for her as for a hidden treasure.

And the expectation (v. 10):

For wisdom will enter your heart, 

And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

With wisdom in one’s heart, Solomon then boldly assured: 

Discretion will guard you, 

Understanding will watch over you. 

—Proverbs 2:11 (NASB95)

Discretion is given the human attribute of guarding. So, how does discretion guard you? Before asking that, What exactly is ‘discretion’?

When ’discretion’ was first used in the English language it carried the sense of making a separation or distinction. That meaning is a good fit for the word it translates from the Hebrew text.

The Hebrew term is one of a family of words that deal with planning, plotting or devising. These words are used in both a positive and negative sense. The word ‘discretion’ capitalizes on one aspect of planning, that of making distinctions between things.

When a person plots a course or devises a plan he must distinguish between choices and make decisions to insure a successful plan. Of course, there is more to planning than simply ‘distinguishing’ between things.

Instead of the word discretion The New Living Translation (1996) has a fitting translation: Wise planning. 

Of course, Solomon's ‘wise planning’ is not defined by man’s wisdom, but God’s wisdom. (Perhaps you now better understand the title.)

The man Job is a beautiful example of this proverb. Job asserts: 

I have made a covenant with my eyes;

How then could I gaze at a virgin?

—Job 31:1 (NASB95)

Job did a little ‘God-wise planning.’ Observe:

• First, Job valued his relationship with God.
• Second, he recognized right and wrong according to God. It was wrong for him to lust for another woman.
• Third, Job knew his human weakness and recognized the need to make a plan before being tempted.
• Fourth, he acted. He ‘made a covenant with his eyes.’ That means that he made a binding agreement with his eyes, and it was evidently to look away before temptation entered his mind.

So, Job made a careful plan based on God's word to deal with temptation. It was God-wise planning.

Solomon said that ‘God-wise planning’ will guard you. And how does that work?

Consider your weaknesses. When you are not being tempted listen to God’s instruction and consciously make a plan on how to follow it. Then, in the moment of temptation, follow the plan. Your ’God-wise planning’ will guard you from evil; from empty ‘benefits’ and from painful consequences; results which you already recognize.

Be wise. Think. Put a plan together...today.

Mark Stinnett

September 6, 2020