Dwell Secure, Without Dread (Proverbs 1:32-33)

“For the simple are killed by their turning away,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease,
without dread of disaster.”
Proverbs 1:32-33 ESV

The speaker in this passage is wisdom personified (see verse 20 and onward). Wisdom, of course, comes from God alone, and He offers it to all of us (see the next chapter, 2:1-15, especially verse 6), so we don’t have to fall under the death and destruction mentioned in the first half of the passage above.

He provides us a way to stop being simple (which means naive, without understanding) and to avoid being fools: we can choose to listen to God, who is always correct, always loving, always for our benefit, and we can have the peace we see in verse 33.

Does this mean we will never face hardship, scary things, or even what we would describe as calamity?

No. We see the difficulties of life described and encountered by all those in Scripture who listened to wisdom, who followed Jesus and belonged to Him. For example, look at the experiences Paul describes to the Corinthians:

But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
2 Corinthians 4:7-11 ESV

Paul was afflicted, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down. A little later in the same letter, he mentions being beaten, stoned, and shipwrecked; he was frequently in danger, toil, hardship, hunger and thirst, cold and exposure, plus regular anxiety (11:24-28). He definitely trusted in God, and He definitely listened to God’s wisdom, and he definitely had really rough times in his life. Lots of them.

No, Proverbs 1:33 definitely doesn’t mean we won’t have difficulties if we listen to God.

So what does it mean?

It means that even *through* the hard things, even through the *hardest* things, we can have peace. We can dwell secure, even when the storms rage around us. We can be at ease, even when the worst threatens. We can have true peace, with no dread, even when disaster looms — because we know Who holds us. We know His promises for all of eternity. We know enough about Him and about what is to come — pleasures forevermore at His right hand (Ps 16:11), no more tears or death or pain or sorrow (Rev 21:3-4) — that we have full assurance that One Day, all the wrong will be abolished, and only Good will remain. One Day, all will be made right for all those who have truly listened to Wisdom, who have turned from their sin to Jesus and been adopted through faith into the family of our good God.

We see this peace and confidence in Paul, too, right after he lists his hardships and weaknesses. He mentions asking God to take away an ongoing problem he has, which he calls a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Corinthians 12:7-8) and God answered him:

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ESV

Paul knew that, no matter what he faced, God would strengthen him to get through it — and be glorified along the way. God’s power, even in our weakness, is bigger than our own strength at its highest peak. And He rests His power upon us, showering us with His grace in the midst of our difficulties, enabling us to walk with stability and peace even through the worst storms.

I see this play out in the lives of those who know Him. I have a friend whose husband has just been admitted to hospice care for pancreatic cancer — and they have true peace and comfort through the pain. I have another friend whose child was killed in an accident, and she has true peace and comfort through her grief. I’ve seen countless other situations (and lived some myself) where God’s children have dealt with all kinds of terrible things with security, stability, peace, and solid hope — because we know the One who is our foundation.

I encourage you today — today, right now; we aren’t guaranteed tomorrow, but it’s not too late right now — to look to Him for wisdom. Look to Him for truth, for knowledge, for understanding, for peace, for hope. Listen to His words, listen to His Word, read and study them in context, find out what He really means (He’s made that possible!) — and apply that truth and wisdom to your life. Put your trust in Jesus, who died to pay the penalty for your sins and rose again to give you His life and righteousness if only you will make the choice to turn to Him in truth. He is faithful, and He will provide all that you need, no matter how hard things may get.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1 NIV

More wisdom from Proverbs: