Turn with me to the book of Proverbs. We are in chapter three, and we are considering the lessons held out to us here in the introductory chapters as beautiful poetry, various metaphors are used to display the magnificence of wisdom, the power of wisdom, the promise of wisdom, And the poetry has been arranged as it had originally been written by Solomon in these various sections. As we learn elsewhere in Proverbs, the scribes drew together the words of wisdom inspired in an order to equip us for the pursuit of wisdom. And so we'll consider this week chapter three, beginning at verse 21. If you'll stand with me, I'll read in your hearing. Through verse 26, we'll consider particularly verses 21 through 24 of Proverbs chapter three. This is God's very word, holy, infallible, and inerrant in all its parts. Let us attend diligently and reverently to the sacred word. Proverbs chapter three at verse 21. My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion. So there will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Then you will walk safely in your way and your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence, and will keep your foot from being caught. Let's ask God's blessing on this, his word as it's preached. Let's pray. Great God and merciful Father, Holy One of Israel, we pray that we may feed upon the nourishing word of our Savior, as it is revealed here in the book of Proverbs. Strengthen us for your service, we pray for the glory of Christ. Amen. You may be seated. Solomon, in the portion just prior, has taught several important lessons that we've considered in the past couple of weeks. First, he showed us the spiritual nature of wisdom. Wisdom holds forth many practical benefits and in the sweep of the course of wisdom in the natural family into the spiritual family. There are very practical ways that wisdom is lived out, is handed down. But so that we won't misunderstand, time is spent impressing the truth that the supreme value and nature of wisdom is its spiritual orientation. And so that informs all those material blessings. that in God's appointments may ordinarily flow from wisdom. Those things aren't the point in themselves. They are a part of God's good order and naturally come about in his providence. But the heart of wisdom focuses on the spiritual realities of wisdom that are cultivated in the life of faith. Wisdom provides the highest experience of the blessedness of God, far surpassing, Solomon says, the material benefits that may be compared to those spiritual blessings. Those material benefits will be well-ordered when God appoints them in the life of wisdom, but they point beyond themselves, whether they are materially present or not, a far surpassing, incomparable value is that blessedness of God experienced in the life of wisdom. And we are assured that wisdom in its spiritual and moral fullness is baked into the reality of God's world. We learned this last week considering that encouraging word that spiritual sanity offered to us by way of encouragement, that spiritual and moral nature is not something superimposed upon a blank slate, as though the world had no inherent purpose, as though the world were up for grabs, but God has the best recipe for how to deal with it. No, it's far more basic than that. Solomon shows us that wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, those very things that we seek in the life of faith, those things are from the character of God, and we reflect them back to him. He, by those aspects of his character, made the world and everything in it. And so the Lord built creation, with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge are baked into reality. So when we pursue them, when we hold forth for them, we are owning reality. We are not pressing some arbitrary mindset of our own, our preferred worldview upon reality. other hapless folks trying to come up with their own way of living in the world. No, no, we are owning and holding forth boldly for the world as God made it, to live in it according to reality. And we were encouraged that the Lord, by His wisdom, sustains the world. His purposes are secure in His creation. We recognize the bulwark against the despair and spirit of tragedy that is held out to us in language of emergency, that the world is out of control, that things are broken, we've ruined it, and we have to take dramatic action to rescue the world or it will be destroyed and man will disappear. Such things. The way of wisdom shows are lying sermons from the heart of unbelief. Rather, God made the world and sustains the world. His purposes are built into his world, and he is maintaining it. The effects of sin have certainly warped and created damage, but they have not snatched the world out of the Creator's hand. And so we may rest secure in His wise purposes in the world. Creation is in His control. The poetry held forth the full sweep of creation in the poetic language, land, sea, sky. And we have a calling in that world. It's not artificial. We're not imposing it upon the world. It arises out of the creation order. God made us to live in his world as his image bearers. So when we pursue wisdom, we are seeking his nature, his character, in his created order. in a way that, though broken, is not lost. We still are image bearers. We still have a creation mandate. We still have a spiritual and moral calling in God's world. That hasn't disappeared. Things aren't up for grabs. We don't invent our own reality. When we hold forth for the human calling, we're holding forth for what God made us to be in His world. And that wisdom, understanding, and knowledge is to be reflected by us and absorbed by us in God's book of nature, informed by his book of scripture. It is reality. It is not superimposed upon a blank slate. It is rather how things really are. And all other visions and pursuits that claim to have some grab or hold on the truth are lying. Those things, as God made them, are the truth and reality. They are the foundation. And so this empowers us to live boldly. We do not need to be moved to the terror of helplessness that the world is out of control and that we've destroyed it and that we no longer have any purpose in life. All those things are lies. And if we will yield ourselves to the one who by his own wisdom, understanding and knowledge has made the world and us in, we will then be rightly ordered in keeping with reality. And so this gives us strength and boldness, confidence in God's world. The next section brings back the familiar. Solomon spent a lot of time and the scribes brought together a large section using the familial language, the father speaking to the son. Here, that language is taken up again. And as we mentioned before, The idea is that what has been set out beautifully thus far holds out a marvelous, a beautiful gem with many facets. And when the scribes bring together these inspired words of Solomon and hold up what looks to be a repetition, understand that as you examine it and it is turned, we'll find that new emphases are being brought forth. That's what happens here in the passage before us this afternoon. The language of familial relationship returns with familiar themes, but new emphases are held out. My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion. Here, that language along with the benefits that flow from that diligent pursuit, that sounds very familiar. But the gem, the large and beautiful gem, has been turned so that new light shines through additional facets. Here, a very important piece of instruction in our pursuit of wisdom and discretion is described. The emphasis is upon not letting them out of our sight. It's upon such a diligent pursuit that it maintains a discipline of attention. That's a newer emphasis. The diligence of pursuit has been there before, but the language of not letting it out of your sight, hear what is said there again, keep sound wisdom and discretion, let them not depart from your eyes. Now, the reason why it's so important that this facet be turned towards us with additional light shining through is because in our day particularly, now this is a, a vulnerability of humanity in general. But in our day particularly, there's an epidemic of distraction. We have found marvelously manifold ways to distract ourselves. We have robbed ourselves by corrupting our nature and making it more and more incapable of this very necessity. The thing held out to us here is the capacity to keep the eye on wisdom. The language sounds as though wisdom will run away from us. Well, we have the equipment of earlier instruction to know that wisdom is made available to us. The departure of it is our fault. How do we not lose that wisdom and discretion, that capacity to live well-ordered in God's world according to his design? Solomon says it's going to take deep concentration You're going to need to keep your eye on that wisdom and discretion. What has been gained must be attentively observed that it be not lost. What I am seeking to add must be focused upon that I may actually lay hold of it and keep it. And so we have to ask what disciplines will help undo this loss in our day of the capacity to obey this. This requires personal disciplines. We're going to need to consider those things in our day that actively destroy our capacity to focus, to concentrate. The elephant in the room is electronic devices. It has been demonstrated repeatedly that they have a destructive impact when used as design for social media and every other form of distraction to remove our capacity for focus. Knowing that doesn't mean that we always and necessarily must stop using electronic devices. No, they are useful tools. We must bend them to a useful purpose. We must not let them rob us of our capacity to do what is so important here as this facet is turned to us. The ability to concentrate, to keep the eye upon wisdom and discretion, not letting them out of our sight, The discipline that will give us this capacity must be brought to the service of spiritual concerns. So others in our day, recognizing the loss of ability to concentrate, and I mean those who used to be able to read books now confess they can't read books because they can't concentrate for a full page. That is a tragic loss, and we need to understand that it makes it impossible to do this necessary thing, keeping the eye on wisdom. Where do we get the nurture necessary in the life of faith for this wisdom and discretion? It's through concentrated effort, really, to the Word, right? In the means of grace, in private and public devotion. In our day, so many things have been brought together to destroy that capacity. Some recognizing that have taken measures to restore that capacity. That's all good and fine. We should learn from the abilities to restore that capacity. But not just because it's a good thing to do. In general, certainly it is, we have a spiritual and critical need for that capacity to be restored. And so, We won't go through the litany of things that will help, but they are recognizable. We've heard them. There need to be times when the means of distraction are set aside. That can be any form of entertainment. That can be the electronic devices like we described, but it can be anything that diminishes our capacity for our spiritual callings in the means of grace. we are to be able and to cultivate the capacity for concentrating in a word-centered way that shapes the soul. That means we need the means of meditation. We need the means of concentration. And those have to be cultivated. They have to be exercised like a muscle. Now, when we return back to the portions where the father spoke to the son about the training, we start to see that that's going to be a part of the training. There are things that should be a part of the natural order of growth in family context, spiritual family, that will cultivate that. We should have times as families where distractions are removed for the purpose of concentrated fellowship. Mealtimes are one. The scriptures are full of taking that for granted, that mealtimes are places where fellowship is cultivated, and a gathering takes place with a single purpose that cultivates graces. That's one example. But there are private examples as well. There should be time when we meditate upon what we've received, for example, in the worship service, in all its parts. That may involve taking notes. But at the very least, it involves the review, whether in notes or in memory, of the things put forth to us as the means of grace on the Lord's Day. And those things should be our meditation, carried forward, as we learn in Deuteronomy 6, day in, day out. As I'm walking, I'm meditating. I'm keeping my eye fixed. There's a concentration capacity that we need to cultivate. The most obvious one in private devotion is prayer. Again, there's a ready confession on the part of God's people that this seems to be a very difficult grace to cultivate. I set myself to pray, and within 30 seconds, my mind is wandering to anything other than my appeals to my God. What's the solution? Abandon the effort? No. Ask God to help you, and then apply yourself to it again. Make it 45 seconds. And then find that you need to be corrected. Appeal to God. Make it 60 seconds. There's a spiritual muscle that involves the nature, the human nature, in application to spiritual ends. we will be better human beings in God's design, but the end is that we keep the eye fixed upon wisdom and discretion. So prayer, ever-increasing lengths of time before the throne of grace, where we're able to maintain the flow of thought and the concentration. These are things needful as spiritual graces, that will exercise those capacities necessary for what Solomon describes here, for keeping sound wisdom and discretion, not letting them out of the sight, keeping the eye fixed upon them, always meditating upon the pursuits of the graces of God in the life of wisdom. Our diminished capacities need repair, and concentration upon the means of grace, Lord's day by Lord's day carried into day by day devotion. is a remedy to the loss of these abilities. We must apply ourselves to them. Pursuit of private and public means of grace, prayer and meditation upon God's word. Now there are promised benefits held out to us here for keeping the eye fixed, not losing sight of the goal of wisdom and discretion. What are those benefits? When you lie down, Solomon says, you will not be afraid. I'm sorry, one verse back. These benefits go together. Then you will walk safely. I just need to go one more verse back, sorry. I'm getting ahead of myself. So they will be life to your soul and grace to your neck. Here's that familiar description of the benefit. That benefit will not be had apart from that concentration. And then further benefits. arise in safety and stability in our active pursuits and safety and provision in our passive pursuits. Let's look at these as we consider the benefits held out. We need that character development, for the spiritual ending view that allows us to concentrate on this and not lose sight of it, laying hold and holding fast, and then the benefits that flow, life and grace. That is, again, that fullness and abundance of life, favor with God and with man, finding his ways of wisdom. These things are, we're being reminded of them from previous times that the gem of wisdom was held out to us and turned. So we're familiar with those from before. Here, particularly, those active and passive pursuits give new light to the facets of the gem. We are said to have safety in the way. Remember that Solomon holds out in the path of wisdom those alternative paths, right? when we have been trained and with concentration may choose the path of wisdom, avoiding the path of destruction, we are still in need of wisdom's work on God's path. And this recognizes that and holds out our security in that path in discerning step-by-step the way we should walk in that path. and the safety provided to us by the provisions of wisdom. Solomon says, then you will walk safely in your way. That path of wisdom has pitfalls for us where we misstep, where we do not apply ourselves to the proper path. Keeping the eye concentrated, continually making that our effort to pursue God's ways will provide the very security we desire, that we need for staying steady on that path. We are prone to stumble. and fall in that path. And we're assured that having this capacity to concentrate, to focus upon the wisdom that has been provided, keeping it so that we don't lose it, and the wisdom that we're seeking, this will give stability to the foot. We'll not stumble, the Hebrew there is that striking of the foot. so that we fall over and risk harm. This concentration helps us avoid that very stumbling. We'll stay safely in the path, not striking the foot, falling over and becoming injured. That's exactly what we hope for. And these cultivated capacities, concentration upon The light of faith and cultivating wisdom will preserve us in the path from striking the foot and faltering. We will be, by this, equipped for our calling in life. But there's also the realization that we don't have the divine capacity of never sleeping. and never being vulnerable. That is right and good to recognize that I am not sufficient to myself. This pursuit with concentration is a cultivation of what God has called me to be, but there are limitations. I'm not always active. There are times when I must be passive. It's a part of the human design. Those are times of a natural vulnerability, and so The poetry here holds forth the example of that, and it's a fruitful example. There is divine watchfulness for us when we are not able, through right purposes, through right causes, to have the I fixed, to be concentrated. There are times when we are not active, when we are in a passive mode. When you lie down, verse 24, you will not be afraid. We have the assurance in appropriate times of vulnerability that we will be kept by God. Now, the example of sleep is a perfect example in many ways, but what's held out to us in this example goes beyond simply sleep. That is itself a practical and real example of our need for God's provision. When we take a right access to restorative pursuits. The Lord provides for us in those times. The thing being held out in that picture is that the Lord is watchful for those who are watchful for him, right? As we are seeking to pursue wisdom and not lose sight of it, There are times when things are beyond our current capacity. That reminds us of something that Solomon taught us earlier. The Lord, in the course of wisdom, will be watching out for us in our training. He's not simply leaving us unprotected. In our pursuit of wisdom, in our places of vulnerability as we're growing, He provides watchfulness, He provides care for us in our natural vulnerability. We don't know everything at once. We haven't become fully mature and wise instantly. In that course of growing, the Lord is providing watchfulness for us. The Lord's wisdom guides us in our times of vulnerability. And so, What we're encouraged to do with that understanding is to avoid anxiety by our faith in our Heavenly Father. And wisdom will not only keep the soul from becoming anxious, but I don't know enough, but I haven't learned enough, but I can't be sure of my next step. The Lord knows. His watchfulness watches over our times of vulnerability. So this should remove anxiety as we follow this instruction. But also, we avoid the causes of our own making in those vulnerabilities, right? Wisdom will show us the right way to grow and to take time for that growth. Where there's natural vulnerability, the Lord watches for us. The watchfulness that we have and the reliance upon God will help us avoid creating presumptuous occasions where we say, well, God will take care of it. Well, apply yourself to your calling and rest without anxiety in His watchfulness. That's what's being held out before us, not a presumption. And so the example used is that example of the sweetness of sleep. It speaks of our need for restoration, which God alone can give. Those are times of vulnerability, and they are to be received as provided from God with no guilt. In the example of sleep, We are at our most vulnerable. That's why that's the one held out here. There can be a sleep that comes with guilt, right? The Proverbs will hold out later, the one who is lazy, who turns on his bed like a door on a hinge, right? There's another example of taking rest in the wrong time. Peter's rest when Christ called him under the providential circumstances of what was set before Christ. Christ called him forego a good thing for a more important thing. Wisdom, keeping the eye fixed, can discern the difference between the right time for that restoration, that good, and a time to set it aside for something more important. These are restorative provisions from God in the course of wisdom. This sweetness of sleep that's held out When received in the course of wisdom with attentiveness upon our duties, we may receive those provisions resting upon God's provision without a feeling of guilt. Wisdom finds God's provisions for God's purposes and receives them in their restorative capacity with no guilt, but with sweet, sweet rest, and absence of anxiety. Wisdom avoids, then, simple excesses, and it pursues and promotes wholesome propriety in the way of restoration. Do we need that restoration? Yes, that's why sleep is used. You cannot go without sleep. And then you're at your most vulnerable. And so Solomon holds out here that God provides. in those contexts of our right vulnerability. Be free of anxiety, resting upon Him, not shirking duty, but in the course of wisdom, applying oneself to one's duty, and then resting in God's provisions for restoration, that He will watch over us when we cannot be watchful. And so we have assurance and help encouragement in our active pursuits and in our passive pursuits, that in the course of wisdom, the eye trained to be fixed upon wisdom will not lose it. It will stay in view. And as we grow, we may rest upon God, who will be watchful for us while we learn. Watchfulness. We have much set before us in these few verses. We need to cultivate that principle set out at the very beginning, this watchfulness, so that these things that are so necessary to the life of faith will not be lost. They will stay in view. We will lay hold of them then, keeping the eye upon them and not lose them. Let's pray that God will work these graces in our life with the freedom and fullness that he holds out to us. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, this is a beautiful picture set out for us in the poetry of the book of Proverbs of our calling to watchfulness, to have the disciplined eye. Yet we acknowledge that we are indisposed to that. Naturally, we need training in that watchfulness. And in our own day, we have much that militates against that watchfulness. And so we pray that we may, with all diligence, exercise those graces of attentiveness that are called for here, that we in the life of faith may lay hold of wisdom, that we will not lose it, that we will keep wisdom and discretion. Watch over us then, teach us when we may take of that time where we are vulnerable, and know that you are watchful for us as a loving father, and help us not to be presumptuous, but rather, resting in your provisions, may we grow in the grace of this diligence. And so, cause us then to grow in wisdom, and to be an honor to the one who has made us for this calling. We ask these things in Christ's holy name. Amen.