3 My son, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments,
2 for length of days and years of life
and peace they will add to you.
3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them round your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favour and good success[a]
in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.
7 Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your flesh[b]
and refreshment[c] to your bones.
9 Honour the Lord with your wealth
and with the firstfruits of all your produce;
10 then your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will be bursting with wine.
This chapter continues the theme of wisdom and its value in life. Kidner's outline is a useful one to follow in its study. He says 'Whereas chapter 2 emphasised the moral stability which grows with wisdom, chapter 3 particularly promises serenity. This is seen as the fruit of a thoroughgoing godliness, three aspects of which mark the main divisions of the chapter: (i) Glad commitment (1-10); (ii) Patient quest (11-20); (iii) Quiet Integrity (21-35).' As to the first of these, we must underline something of very real importance at the outset, and it is this: Peace and serenity are not so much ends in themselves as the fruit of something else, and it is idle to desire them apart from and out of context with what alone can produce them, viz. moral stability. It is putting the cart before the horse to preoccupy oneself with peace and serenity, although it is natural that one should long for them in the troubled world of our time, subject as it is to so many pressures of differ- ent kinds. It is wrong and indeed futile to seek them per se, and to make them one's aim in life. Our primary battle is for character, and when that is won, peace will be the re- sult. The cultivation of moral integrity is what is of primary importance: when we are right there, our lives will develop a peace and order that will bless us day by day. Think of the things that usually rob us of peace - discouragement, uncertainty, fear, dread (some of these are mentioned later in the chapter), pressures of various kinds. Well, the message of Proverbs is that moral stability makes us into a certain kind of person, who will not be moved by these things. Hence the words in 1 about keeping the command- ments of God. It is surprising to many to realise just how much of true Christian experi- ence is made up of the very ordinary, mundane doing of one's duty in the sight of God!