Happy is the man who findeth wisdom

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Happy is the man who findeth wisdom

• Khinckley1_at_yahoo.com

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Is Life ever a little overwhelming?
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Proverbs- a book of Wisdom

• (Bible Dictionary)
• The Heb. word rendered proverb is mashal, a
  similitude or parable, but the book contains many
  maxims and sayings not properly so called, and
  also connected poems of considerable length.
• There is much in it that does not rise above the
  plane of worldly wisdom, but throughout it is
  taken for granted that "the fear of the Lord is
  the beginning of wisdom" (17 910).
• The least spiritual of the Proverbs are valuable
  as reminding us that the voice of Divine
  Inspiration does not disdain to utter homely
  truths.

Question Does the Lord really want us to fear
Him?
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Question

• Can we be wise and proud at the same time?

"He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife."
(Proverbs 2825)
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Proverbs 3

• 5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart and
  lean not unto thine own understanding.
• 6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
  direct thy paths.

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President Ezra Taft Benson

• "The central feature of pride is enmityenmity
  toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen.
  Enmity means 'hatred toward, hostility to, or
  a state of opposition.' It is the power by
  which Satan wishes to reign over us.     
• "Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We
  pit our will against God's. When we direct our
  pride toward God, it is in the spirit of 'my will
  and not thine be done.' As Paul said, they 'seek
  their own, not the things which are Jesus
  Christ's.' (Philip. 221)     
• "Our will in competition to God's will allows
  desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled.
  (See Alma 3812 3 Ne.1230.)     
• "The proud cannot accept the authority of God
  giving direction to their lives. (See Hel.126.)
  They pit their perceptions of truth against God's
  great knowledge, their abilities versus God's
  priesthood power, their accomplishments against
  His mighty works.     
• "Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such
  as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness,
  unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign
  seekers. The proud wish God would agree with
  them. They aren't interested in changing their
  opinions to agree with God's....

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President Thomas S. Monson

• Many years ago, on an assignment to Tahiti, I was
  talking to our mission president, President
  Raymond Baudin, about the Tahitian people. They
  are known as some of the greatest seafaring
  people in all the world. Brother Baudin, who
  speaks French and Tahitian but little English,
  was trying to describe to me the secret of the
  success of the Tahitian sea captains.
• He said, They are amazing. The weather may be
  terrible, the vessels may be leaky, there may be
  no navigational aids except their inner feelings
  and the
  stars in the heavens, but they pray
  and they go. He repeated
  that
  phrase three times. There is a lesson
  in that statement.
• We need to pray, and then we need to
  act. Both are important.

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Sister Elaine Dalton

• When I was younger, my father became seriously
  ill. We thought it was just the flu, but as the
  days progressed, he became more and more ill I
  had a constant prayer in my heart, and I would
  seek solitary places where I would pour out my
  soul in prayer to my Heavenly Father to heal my
  father. After a few weeks of illness, my father
  passed away. I was shocked and frightened. What
  would our family do without our father whom we
  loved so dearly? How could we go on? I felt that
  Heavenly Father had not heard nor answered my
  fervent prayers. My faith was challenged. I went
  to Heavenly Father and asked the
  questionHeavenly Father, are you really there?
• Over a period of many months, I prayed for help
  and guidance. I prayed for my family, and I
  prayed to understand why my father had not been
  healed. For a time, it seemed to me that the
  heavens were silent, but as a family we continued
  to pray for comfort and guidance. I continued to
  pray also. Then one day, many months later, as I
  was sitting in a sacrament meeting, my answer
  came in the form of a scripture. The speaker
  said Trust in the Lord with all thine heart
  and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all
  thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy
  paths (  Prov. 356). A feeling came over me,
  and I felt I was the only person in the chapel.
  That was my answer. Heavenly Father had heard my
  prayers!

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Wise men and women control their thoughts

• Prov. 237
• For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he  

Question What is there about the heart that
controls our lives?
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Elder L. Tom Perry

• My mother was a great delegator. Each
  Saturday morning as my brothers and sisters
  and I were growing up, we received
  housecleaning assignments from her. Her
  instructions to us had been learned from her
  mother Be certain you clean thoroughly in the
  corners and along the mopboards. If you are going
  to miss anything, let it be in the center of the
  room.
• She knew very well if we cleaned the corners, she
  would never have a problem with what was left in
  the center of the room. That which is visible to
  the eye would never be left unclean.
• Over the years, my mothers counsel has had
  enormous application to me in many different
  ways. It is especially applicable to the task of
  spiritual housecleaning. The aspects of our lives
  that are on public display usually take care of
  themselves because we want to leave the best
  impression possible. But it is in the hidden
  corners of our lives where there are things that
  only we know about that we must be particularly
  thorough to ensure that we are clean.

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Question

• Why would we hang on to our sins?

My
Sins
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James Allen

• As the plant springs from, and could not be
  without, the seed, so every act of a man springs
  from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not
  have appeared without them. This applies equally
  to those acts called spontaneous and
  unpremeditated as to those which are
  deliberately executed.
• In the armoury of thought he forges the weapons
  by which he destroys himself he also fashions
  the tools with which he builds for himself
  heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace.
  Between these two extremes are all the grades
  of character, and man is their maker and master.
  Man is the master of thought, the moulder of
  character, and the maker and shaper of condition,
  environment, and destiny (As a Man Thinketh
  1983, 710).
• Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he
  will be astonished at the rapid transformation it
  will effect in the material conditions of his
  life. Men imagine that thought can be kept
  secret, but it cannot it rapidly crystallizes
  into habit, and habit solidifies into
  circumstance

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Question

• As we gain control of our thoughts, how does it
  affect the way we view the world around us?

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Latter-Day Saints View of Life
The Worlds View of Life
Christians View of Life
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Proverbs 7- The wise avoid immorality

• Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and
  attend to the words of my mouth.
• Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not
  astray in her paths.
• For she hath cast down many wounded yea, many
  strong men have been slain by her.

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President Hinckley

• Believe in virtue I do not know why the Lord
  has placed fornication and adultery second
  only to murder in the category of sins, but he
  has.
• I want to say that whenever virtue leaves,
  sorrow enters, and the sorrow which comes under
  those circumstances never seems to disappear. I
  talked with a respected grandmother the other
  day. She feels bereft and heartbroken. She still
  carries in her conscience guilt over something
  that happened when she was nineteen years of age.
  
• Oh, how she has worked to try to atone for that
  which she did foolishly and impetuously. All
  these years she has lived honorably and rendered
  outstanding service. But somehow there still
  burns in her heart a great wound that refuses to
  heal.