Day 20 Happiness | Proverbs 3:17-18

The happiness that wisdom brings is not just an emotion. This is the same happiness that Jesus describes in Matthew 5:3-12. When God forgives our evil actions, we receive his joy in our spirits.

Sometimes our lives will still be difficult. Sometimes, we shall be very sad. Even then, God will comfort us. He will look after us. Although we are sad, God’s joy will still be in our hearts. And we will have good lives, because God will help us.

David wrote, ‘Even when death is near, you (God) are with me. So, I am not afraid. You guide and comfort me’ (Psalm 23:4). David was not happy when he was in danger. But he knew that God’s joy was in his spirit. So he was not afraid of the dangers that surrounded him.

Solomon comments that wisdom's ways are pleasant and peaceful. His father David concurred with this observation. David wrote in Psalm 16:11 that in God's presence there is fullness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures forevermore. As believers obey the source of wisdom, which is God, they experience joy and peace. The unregenerate world cannot bestow either attribute.

Unbelievers may search for joy, but they are unable to find it. Whatever peace the non-believer finds is shallow and fleeting. Individuals may spend a small fortune on chemicals and self-help without attaining peace, and nations may enter into peace accords that last only a brief amount of time. By contrast, Jesus gives His followers joy (John 15:11), and peace (John 16:33). He said in John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid."

Wisdom has been poetically imagined as a woman several times in Proverbs (Proverbs 1:20; 3:14). Here, Solomon brings in another analogy: a tree of life. We read of "the" tree of life in Genesis 2:9, and the Bible's last mention of a tree of life happens in Revelation 22. In Revelation 22:14the tree of life is available to those who are cleansed and are therefore believers. They are also called "blessed" in verse 14, and they are qualified to enter the New Jerusalem.

Here, those who find wisdom are also called "blessed." The tree of life speaks of longevity and fruitfulness, and certainly those who follow godly wisdom are blessed with a long life—eternal life—and a spiritually fruitful life. Jesus said, "Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you…Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit" (John 15:3, 5). Wisdom leads to faith in Jesus, cleansing from sin, and a productive spiritual life.

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