Your Daily Proverb – Proverbs 2:7-9

Proverbs 2:7-9 (ESV)

⁷  He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
    He is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
⁸ guarding the paths of justice
    and watching over the way of his saints.
⁹ Then you will understand righteousness and justice
    and equity, every good path;

Three ideas are made clear by this passage:

1. Wisdom is given, as a gift, by the Lord to the upright (those in covenant with God).
2. Through this wisdom, we gain the understanding of righteousness, justice, and equity.
3. The purpose of this gift of wisdom is to protect the path of the saints (us) because we are carrying this understanding of righteousness, justice, and equity and are set opposed to the unrighteous, unjust, and inequitable.

The big take-away from this passage is that none is righteous, just, nor equitable but Christ Jesus.  As a result, we cannot know or understand righteousness, justice, or equity separate from God.

This passage is so beautiful because of its correlation to a the New Testament idea of “God is love” as described in 1 John 4:7-21.  Just as “anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (v.8), righteousness, justice, and equity are made manifest in the Lord.  God is Love, but also righteousness, justice, and equity.