Jesus was the greatest teacher the world has ever known. His teaching amazed vast crowds. But more than being dynamic and charismatic, Jesus’ teaching was penetratingly deep, and it was the truth of God that spoke to hungry hearts. Jesus used many teaching devices that made his teaching so powerful and memorable. The most well-known of these was his use of parables. Parables are short stories or extended metaphors that take a commonly known everyday occurrence and compare it to a deeper and not so easily understood spiritual truth. Through the use of parables, Jesus made spiritual truth understandable. Most people are familiar with the parables of Jesus.

The book of Proverbs, on the other hand, is very different from the parables of Jesus. The proverbs in the book of Proverbs are usually short, pithy, and catchy statements of wisdom. They bring out a spiritual truth in a winsome way. Proverbs are often just a single verse with two lines of poetry divided by the words, and or but, or divided by a comma or a semicolon. Similar to parables, the two lines of the proverb draw a contrast between two parallel ideas or between two opposite ideas.

The proverbs in the Bible convey deep and life-changing wisdom. Proverbs is the book of wisdom and is part of the biblical literary genre of wisdom. Wisdom is essential for living the Godward life. But the problem is that, on the surface, proverbs are deceptively simple. It is easy to read them and pass them by without grasping the deeper truth that is there. Meditating on the proverbs is time well spent and will bear great fruit. There are various ways to meditate on the proverbs, but the one I’m suggesting is unique and may seem far-fetched at first.

The method of meditating on the proverbs I’m recommending to you is to turn any proverb into a parable. You can turn them into a short story. They all relate wisdom to a life situation. You may think you’re not skilled at this, or it’s just a waste of time, but with a bit of practice, you can improve your skill and master this technique. But the most important benefit of doing this is that you will discover layers of deeper truth and application in each proverb.

The thing to remember when you first attempt this is that these little stories are for you and your spiritual growth. You don’t have to share them with anybody; they are to help you better understand what God is saying to you in the particular proverb. You can write them down or just think them through. However, it does help to write them down to better develop the point the proverb is making. And when you write them down, you can go back and refine them to grasp greater insight into the proverb. Each proverb sets up a life situation that seeks to draw out wisdom for life. By putting the proverb into a simple story, you can draw out more of the wisdom that is hidden beneath the surface of the proverb. It is even worthwhile to expand some of these stories to discover more of the wisdom latent in the proverb.

An example will help you grasp the possibilities of this kind of meditation on the proverbs. “The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them” (Proverbs 11:3). You can immediately see several contrasts in this proverb: integrity and crookedness, upright and treacherous, guides and destroys. From these observations, you can imagine how this might work out in life. One way this can work out is a situation in which two businessmen, who both claim to be Christians, are faced with an unethical or even illegal business opportunity that holds great financial potential. One man wrestles with the opportunity thinking about what it could do for his career and family. Maybe his business is struggling, and this deal will save it. But as he thinks through it, his integrity guides him to make the right decision. His integrity comes from his relationship with God through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit. The other man does not have integrity; in fact, he is somewhat crooked and decides to act on the opportunity, and his business and family are destroyed. You can see how thinking through these proverbs can reveal meaningful applications. Better yet, you can develop a situation that might actually happen in your own life.

The book of Proverbs is filled to overflowing with these kinds of potential applications. They are just waiting for you to see them and develop them. This activity will greatly enrich one’s understanding of the individual proverb but also the wisdom with which one lives his/her life. We all need the wisdom of God to navigate the complexities of this broken, fallen, and sinful world. It can literally change our lives. Give it a try. What do you have to lose? But there is so much to be gained.