Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap.

As we begin to make our way through the Proverbs, it's important to set up our expectations

for this book well.

This is Wisdom Literature, it's compiled by multiple authors over time, though Solomon

is the primary author.

As a reminder, Wisdom Literature has to be handled kind of differently than other categories

of books in Scripture.

The things we read here aren't God's laws or advice, they aren't prophecies or promises.

These Proverbs are the accumulated wisdom and general insights of a variety of people

who have observed the world closely and then aim to demonstrate the moral mindset of what

it means to love God in every aspect of their lives.

We have to be careful not to act like these general rules are promises we can cling to

because there are exceptions to these rules.

In fact, the other Wisdom books like Job and Ecclesiastes show us what those exceptions

look like.

For instance, Proverbs may make it sound like the wise and godly will avoid pain and suffering,

but Job proves the exception.

That's one of the many reasons why it's important for us to read all of Scripture and not

just pluck things out of context that make us feel good or empowered or worse yet entitled.

I know it can be challenging if you're having to adjust your mindset on these things,

but hang in there.

Keep looking for what these verses reveal to you about who God is.

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