Jim Davis has a brief but wonderful piece on this crucial question: “Does the Book of Proverbs Over-Promise?” Proverbs appears to offer extensive assurance of health and wealth, which some have taken almost as an assurance that we can manipulate God. In response, many others make the error of claiming that proverbs offer not promises but only probabilities.
Davis navigates this unfortunate state of affairs with a level-headed approach to the text.
To say the Proverbs are probabilities (rather than promises) is not false. It’s partially true. The sober, the cool-tempered, and the diligent will usually experience health and wealth more than the drunkard, the hot-tempered, and the lazy.
But only seeing the Proverbs as probabilities for wise decision-making minimizes what God wants for his people. He’s calling us closer to him. The conditions to these statements are that we trust in the Lord (3:5), fear the Lord (3:7), and honor the Lord (3:9). If they were merely probabilities for right living, why link them in any way to our relationship with God?
I’ve reflected on this very question myself on a few occasions. And Davis’s piece is worth your time as you consider it further.
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