When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Proverbs 3 | Dreaming Beneath the Spires
Klimt, When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
Proverbs 3
19 By wisdom the LORD laid the earth’s foundations,
by understanding he set the heavens in place;
20 by his knowledge the watery depths were divided,
and the clouds let drop the dew.
God’s wisdom, understanding and knowledge undergirded the creation of the world.
ESV note–The essential point is that God has built the principles of wisdom into the structure of the world itself; wisdom is the ordering principle by which everything functions and does not devolve into chaos. Thus, when one lives without integrity, one violates the very rules whereby everything is held together.One cannot do this and thrive.
21 My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
preserve sound judgment and discretion;
22 they will be life for you,
an ornament to grace your neck.
23 Then you will go on your way in safety,
and your foot will not stumble.
24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
One of the covenant blessings!
when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
The wisdom, understanding, sound judgment and discretion which God gives to those who ask for them will be life to us, preserving us in safety, giving us sweet sleep.
25
Have no fear of sudden disaster
or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
26 for the LORD will be at your side
and will keep your foot from being snared.
God will preserve the wise and understanding, the one with sound judgment and discretion from sudden disaster and ruin, from the traps of man, from sudden disaster and ruin.
27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to act.
28 Do not say to your neighbor,
“Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
when you already have it with you.
Pay your debts promptly whenever you can.
29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
who lives trustfully near you.
30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
when they have done you no harm.
31 Do not envy the violent
or choose any of their ways.
32 For the LORD detests the perverse
but takes the upright into his confidence.
The upright often have an intuitive foreknowledge of what God is going to do.
33 The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
but he blesses the home of the righteous.
34 He mocks proud mockers
but shows favor to the humble and oppressed.
Psalm 1– The one who is blessed, who prospers in whatever he does, is the one who does not sit in the company of mockers. Mocking–putting people down by saying the opposite of what one means is a form of speech particularly displeasing to God.
35 The wise inherit honor,
but fools get only shame.
The appeal ends with the reminder that those who walk in wisdom will inherit honour, because the Lord blesses those who walk in humility.
