A Complete Overview of the Book of Proverbs

For anyone who is currently going through some kind of difficulty, the chances are very high that at least one of Solomon's principles in the book of Proverbs has been violated. Solomon was the wisest person of his times. As will be seen in the first chapter of this text, he had asked the Lord for wisdom right after having become the king of Israel. Also as will be seen, the Lord answered his prayer. James 1:5 says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." The book of Proverbs is that answer. It is a practical book. It offers practical advice for how a person should live his or her everyday life. For anyone who lives by its principles, good decision-making and very few bad or unpleasant consequences will probably be the result.

Living what this author calls the Proverbs life will give a person a life of few regrets. By contrast, turn away from the simple instructions of Solomon and one can probably expect the opposite. Unlike some of my other writings, this book is an overview rather than a study. Therefore, it should be easy reading. One will probably notice that this book is very long, over four hundred pages. But its length is not because of this author's long, drawn-out discussions. Its length is because the book of Proverbs, itself, is very long. So a person can start at the beginning and have a lot of reading to get to the end. Or a person can take more of a reference book approach and just look at the particular passages of most interest at any given time. The important thing to remember is that there is power in the Word of God. A person can find help in those areas of life where help is needed. A person can find direction whenever a person needs some personal guidance. A person can find encouragement during those times when life seems to be overly difficult. All of those things are in the Bible. But they are also all in the book of Proverbs. So the proverbs will help that person who is most in need of help. For that reason, every person should be a student of the Bible. Every person should be a student of the book of Proverbs. Try it and watch how it begins to work and shape one's life. No person will ever go wrong by internalizing the truths in the book of Proverbs and in the Bible as a whole. The Bible is the best self-help book ever written. It should be number one on every person's reading list. It definitely is on mine.