Proverbs 8:34
Blessed is the Man that Heareth Me
1. Last week we looked at the command “to hear” in vs. 33—
2. We looked at several different KINDS of hearers in the Bible:
• Those who hear and then forget: hear, walk away, and forget
• Those who hear but do not understand—because they shut their eyes
• Those who hear but don’t do
• Those who only pretend to hear and have no intention of doing
• Those who hear with their ears AND their hearts… and obey!
3. The next few verses speak of the great advantages to being a WISE hearer.
Blessed is the man that heareth me…
1. This too has been a theme in Proverbs.
2. True blessedness or happiness comes through following the way of wisdom.
3. Prov. 3:13, 18 – happy is the man… that obtains and applies wisdom.
4. One might THINK that the happy man is the one who pursues pleasure and ease.
a. There IS a pleasure to sin… but it doesn’t bring about true blessedness.
b. Consider the young man in Prov. 7:7 – a man void of wisdom.
• He pursued the pleasure of sin… (vs. 13,18,21)
• But after the brief moment of pleasure, there was no blessedness. (vs. 22-23,26-27)
• Prov. 5:11 – instead of blessedness it brings remorse.
• Prov. 5:4 – the end of that kind of relationship is not blessed but bitter.
c. This is true of virtually any kind of sin… we are attracted to the superficial pleasure or happiness it appears to offer… but we later discover that the happiness is shallow and short-lived.
d. The man who pursues after money does so because he assumes that it will bring to him a lifetime of pleasure and satisfaction. He later discovers that instead it pierces him through with many sorrows. (I Tim.6:9-10)
e. Those are the ways of folly… and there are countless other foolish things to pursue in life… none of which bring true blessedness.
5. The man who is truly BLESSED is the man who HEARS Lady Wisdom.
a. This kind of hearer is the one who hears with his ears and heart… and who obeys.
b. Wisdom says do NOT pursue a life of pleasure, pomp, pride, gratification, wealth, worldly pleasures. Wisdom says follow her… and she is headed in the opposite direction.
c. True happiness comes from a life that is disciplined enough to be willing to forsake the instant gratification… and pursue wisdom’s ways.
d. There is a deep, abiding sense of joy, contentment, and satisfaction that comes from doing things RIGHT. That’s the blessed man.
e. Living life the foolish way ends up in remorse, regret, bitterness, frustration, and guilt. That’s no way to live.
6. Blessed is the man who learns from his folly. (Psalm 94:12)
a. We don’t always take the way of wisdom first. We may stray down a pathway of folly for a while.
b. But God chastens His own. If God has to chasten us, then praise Him for that.
c. HAPPY is the man who learns from the Lord’s chastening… and turns from his foolish ways and chooses to follow the path of wisdom.
d. Heb. 12:10-12 – God’s chastening hurts, but it results in JOY… happiness… contentment and blessedness IF we learn from the chastening… and turn from our folly and sin to the way of wisdom and holiness.
Watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
1. These two phrases explain to us what REAL hearing means.
2. The man who truly hears wisdom is the one who watches daily at the gates for it…
a. The picture is that of a guard on a city wall near the gate… a watchman… setting watch for the sight of anyone approaching.
b. A guard who watches for an enemy invasion doesn’t just watch every other day… he has to watch EVERY day!
c. The one who truly hears is the one who watches daily for God’s wisdom… eyes and ears open… listening attentively… continually…
3. HOW do we watch daily at the gates for wisdom?
Watching
a. By reading the word daily… the Bible is the gateway for God’s wisdom to enter our heart.
b. This passage implies that we need the Scriptures DAILY… we need a daily dose of God’s wisdom…
c. It implies that if we are NOT reading the Word daily for our daily dose of God’s wisdom… we are like a guard at the city gate asleep on the job!
d. We are unprepared… perhaps open to attack by the enemy!
e. This implies that we need to be watching our own heart as we read.
• When the guard sees the enemy coming, he is responsible to ACT… to blow the horn and warn!
• When God’s wisdom speaks to our heart through the word, we too need to take heed to the warning… and ACT on it!
f. We should pray as we read: Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. (Ps. 119:118)
• There are WONDERFUL truths in God’s word… but we don’t always watch carefully as we read. We skim over some real gems!
• It is better to read just a few verses with our mind, heart, and eyes open, than to skim over many chapters.
• Every time we read, we should be watching… and listening… to hear from the Lord… to BEHOLD something wondrous from His Word.
Waiting
g. The sentinel is to watch AND wait.
h. We don’t always like to wait… but it is necessary.
• Often guards watch and wait… and seem to see nothing…
• In fact, most often the sentinel sees nothing. It is RARE that he sees an enemy invading… the norm is nothing happening.
• It might even seem boring at times…
• So too with reading God’s word. Some days nothing seems to pop out at us… nothing seems to apply… didn’t learn anything new…
• The same is true in our study of the Word at church.
• But the true guard will watch and wait.
• If God is not convicting our heart about anything today… then that is good. But keep on watching and waiting. Sure enough… in time, a warning will sound!
• But if we grow weary and STOP watching and waiting… then when the enemy comes and we NEED to be warned… we will be defeated.
i. Watching and waiting of a sentinel means SAFETY. The city is safe as long as the sentinel is doing his job of watching… and waiting.
• So too with us. As long as we are in the word daily… we are safe…
• Having our devotions isn’t a lucky charm or a rabbit’s foot, but it does keep us safe.
• Part of our armor is the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God. (Eph. 6:17)
• The Lord Jesus confronted the devil’s temptations by quoting scripture. How did He know those Scriptures? Because since he was a young boy He studied the Word… DAILY…
• Consistent, daily time spent in the Word keeps us safe spiritually.
• The sentinel who waits and watches faithfully will keep his city safe. But the unfaithful sentinel is a real threat to the safety of the city.
» A security guard may slack off for a night, and nothing happens. Nobody invades the city… so he thinks he can get away with it.
» He may make it a habit… starting off small (just snoozing an hour here or there)
» Gradually it increases… more and more time is wasted snoozing.
» And it doesn’t seem to affect the city at all… UNTIL the attack.
» We might think that we can go without reading the Word because we skipped all last week—and nothing happened!
» That gives a false sense of security… for the thief comes when you least expect it… and so does our adversary… so does temptation.
j. Our adversary watches and waits daily… seeking whom he may devour. He is faithful to his watch. He never stops watching… and waiting for the right moment to strike. (I Pet. 5:8)
• He waited until the Lord had gone 40 days without food before tempting Him to turn the stones into bread.
• He will watch and wait until we are sleeping on the job… when we have been neglecting God’s Word and God’s wisdom… and have been leaning on our OWN understanding. That’s a good time to strike.
4. Others have seen in this an allusion to watching and waiting at the gate of the Temple… waiting to hear from God.
a. The point is the same in either illustration…
b. The point is that of watching and waiting for God’s wisdom!
• Ps. 25:5 – Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
• Lam. 3:25 – The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. —if we need wisdom, God is good to those who wait!
5. This passage also tells us that the BLESSEDNESS spoken of is obtained by the kind of hearing that watches daily… and waits!
a. It is not enough to watch once a month (or even once a week) and expect this kind of blessedness. It comes through watching DAILY at the gates!
b. But if we watch for God’s wisdom… and wait for God to speak to our heart… THEN we will receive wisdom, which will bless our lives immensely!
c. James 1:25 – “But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”