God’s GPS: Godly Principles for Success

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Proverbs 9:10 (NIV)

Most of us are very familiar with using a GPS system even though we might not really understand what the three initials represent.  A global positioning satellite system is a navigational system for giving us directions and helping us find our way from starting point A to ending point B. Along the route, a GPS tracks our location and suggests changes that we need to make in order to arrive at our destination.

The book of Proverbs is our God-given GPS for showing us how to live a successful life on God’s terms. Our Proverbs GPS represents Godly Principles for Success. Much like a traditional navigation system, the Proverbs GPS serves 3 main purposes in our lives. This book of biblical wisdom functions as a:

• Guide – to show us where to go

• Guard – to protect us and

• Gauge – to give us course corrections along the way

Proverbs’ teaches us that there are only two paths to follow: wisdom or folly. Wisdom leads to life; folly leads to death. Written about 900 BC, Proverbs’ primary author is King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived.  (1 Kings 4:31) Each proverb is brief, practical, pictorial and intended to stand on its own. Each verse concerns the way to conduct one’s life as it relates to our character, speech, appetites, relationships, work, money, and sex. Author LeRoy Eims perfectly captured Proverbs’ theme with the title of his book “Wisdom from above for living here below.” The book of Proverbs is designed to answer two questions: What is wisdom and how do I get it?

 King Solomon’s extraordinary life is recorded in 1 Kings 1-11. At the beginning of his forty-year reign, God comes to Solomon in a dream and says, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” (1 Kings 3:5) Solomon responded, “Give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.” (1 Kings 3:9) God was pleased with Solomon’s request and gave him wisdom plus a whole lot more.

Different Bible translations translate Solomon’s request in various ways, but my favorite translation for his request is “a heart that listens.”  (LEB, NOG)

Have you ever asked God for a heart that listens? Solomon isn’t asking for just head knowledge; he’s humbly asking for heart knowledge to truly understand right from wrong. The word “listen” is a sacred echo found throughout Proverbs. In the Hebrew language, the word “listen” doesn’t just mean to hear; it actually means to hear and heed. In other words, we must hear and obey. True wisdom isn’t just knowing the right thing to do; it’s actually doing it!

Solomon was known for his wisdom prior to his prayer in 1 Kings 3. (1 Kings 2:6,9) But after his prayer in 1 Kings 3, Solomon took wisdom to a whole new level. Solomon reigned at the height of Israel’s history, about 900BC. He had rest from war, disaster and adversaries. With Solomon’s wisdom, the nation of Israel enjoyed unparalleled peace, security, stability, and prosperity. Solomon spoke 3000 proverbs, wrote 1005 songs, understood botany and plant life; described biology and animal life; was the primary author of Proverbs and authored 2 more Old Testament books of wisdom, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon.

Scripture’s record of Solomon’s wisdom includes the following:

• God gave Solomon wisdom & very great insight and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. 1 Kings 4:29

• Greater wisdom than all the men of the East (1 Kings 4:30)

• Greater wisdom than all the men of Egypt 1 Kings 4:30)

• Wiser than any other man (1 Kings 4:31)

• All nations came to hear his wisdom (1 Kings 4:34)

Solomon used his wisdom, went to work, and began to build. He built the:

• Temple

• Palace

• Towns & cities

• Economy, trade, imports and exports

• Ships and navy

But somewhere along the way, Solomon quit listening to God and refused to obey God’s Word for kings (Deuteronomy 17:14-17). Instead of being known for his wealth, wisdom, and worship, Solomon didn’t guard his heart and succumbed to his appetites for power, profit, privilege, and foreign wives.

• He doesn’t guard his heart (1 Kings 11: 4, 9)

• He doesn’t maintain his relationships

• He becomes a man of uncontrolled appetites

• He amasses 14,000 chariots; 12,000 horses; vast armies

• He has 700 foreign wives and 300 concubines

• He builds “high places” of idolatry & worships foreign gods

• His heart was not fully devoted to God

• He demonstrated self reliance, idolatry, and immorality

• He and his nation incur God’s anger, judgment, & discipline

The 2017 movie The Greatest Showman is the story of P.T. Barnum’s life. Barnum rises from rags to riches before losing everything in a constant quest for more. Opera star Jenny Lind’s song “Never Enough” was a good summary of, not only PT Barnum’s life, but also King Solomon’s life as well:

All the shine of a thousand spotlights
All the stars we steal from the night sky
Will never be enough
Never be enough
Towers of gold are still too little
These hands could hold the world but it'll
Never be enough
Never be enough
For me

My Mama used to frequently ask me, “Donna, how much is enough?” Mama’s answer to her own question never changed: “Always a little bit more.” King Solomon’s answer to Mama’s question would have been, “Never enough.” For the Christian, a wise answer should always be, “More than enough. God is always more than enough!”

Solomon’s faults were his failure & eventual downfall.  And if it could happen to Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, it could happen to us as well. All of us must guard our hearts, not from “them,” (whoever “them” is), but from ourselves! We are often our own worst enemies.

It matters how we listen. It matters whether or not we obey God’s Word. And it matters how we finish our lives. Solomon didn’t finish well and his family and nation paid the price for his failures. Solomon knew the right way to live, but he failed to obey God. As a result, he wrote another book of wisdom entitled Ecclesiastes.  Over twelve chapters, Solomon uses the word “meaninglessness” 35 times to describe a life lived apart from God. He closes the book with these words at the end of his life, “Here is the conclusion of the matter, ‘Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13) 

What is true wisdom? Knowing the right thing to do (knowledge) and then doing it (obedience).
Knowledge + Obedience = Wisdom

Proverbs, God’s GPS: His wisdom from above for living here below!