The Bible is justly considered a source of eternal wisdom and knowledge about every meaningful aspect of daily life. As Bickel and Jantz (1998) note, the Books of Wisdom offer a perspective on the righteous ways to enjoy life and strategies to overcome suffering and accept challenges without diminishing one’s faith. My understanding of life and its meaning resonates with certain passages dealing with the acceptance of God’s omniscience and the denial of selfishness.
The assigned passages from the Wisdom Literature are relevant to life as I know and perceive it, and I find them meaningful. The key reason for this is that these writings establish the principles of wisdom by warning an individual against the dangers of being dominated by one’s ego. The writings explain the power of “the fear of the Lord” and accepting God’s will as the true beginning of knowledge (English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Proverbs 1:7). They do so instead of praising a person’s illusory sense of seeing everything in its true colors, thus promoting necessary modesty. As I understand this life, failing to accept God’s superiority is as illogical as denying the fact that parents know much more about living than their newborn child.
Other parts of the writings that perfectly resonate with my understanding of life are those related to developing the willpower to resist the temptations of sinners and place one’s beliefs above moneyed interests. In Proverbs, the father instructs his son to resist sinners’ expostulations despite their promises to share “all precious goods” and “fill our houses with plunder” (English Standard Version Bible, 2001, Proverbs 1:13). In my life, I remain devoted to God, and faith supports me in limiting my desires and developing immunity to temptations and the opportunities for unjustified gains. Without this devotion, an individual becomes an easy target for godless people willing to profit from involving immature thinkers in crime.
References
Bickel, B., & Jantz, S. (1998). Knowing the Bible 101. Harvest House Publishers.
English Standard Version Bible. (2001). Bible Study Tools. Web.