Tips for the Wise
By Anthony Casperson
6-20-26

Because the fourth edition of the tabletop game Twilight Imperium takes a number of hours to play, my friends and I only take the time to experience it about once a year. Because of this rarity for the playthroughs, we often need refreshers on the rules. But a couple of my friends add one more aspect to their preparation to play. They seek extra tips and tricks for whichever species of alien they’re planning on playing for the upcoming game.

In Twilight Imperium, each player takes on the role of a unique faction of alien beings that wish to expand across the galaxy. And each of these options provides a different playing experience. It’s like each choice of alien faction tacks on an additional set of rules that no other player gets access to. So, it can be confusing if you’re not familiar with the group you choose.

Therefore, my friends will often check out online tips for how to best utilize these special rules that they’re going to choose. Tips concerning the strengths and weaknesses of the species, tricks concerning the parts of the game to focus on early, and how to best interact with the other players.

Although the guidelines are often described in short sentences, following these special tips can be a massive help for experiencing the game as this specific species. Sure, the player isn’t guaranteed to always find galactic victory just by following the rules, since there are other players and dice involved in conflict resolution. And if more than one player follows their specific tips, at least one of them has to lose.

However, the idea behind following the tips is to have the best possible chance of success while in the midst of the game. It’s better than flying blind without any sort of indication if you’re doing things well. Trust me, it’s not fun to finally figure out a core aspect of the faction after four hours into the game.

This concept of having tips and tricks to set you up for a better chance at success is exactly what the words in Proverbs are all about.

Too many people look at the proverbs and assume that they’re promises. “If I follow the first part of the saying, then the stated result will always happen.” Uh…no. There’s a higher likelihood to find the final result if you follow the sayings of the wise. But there are always outside forces in play that can detour the result.

Sometimes, you come across belligerent other players in the world around us. And the dice of life don’t always land our way.

Yet, it is always a good thing to seek out and follow the tips that are shown in the book of Proverbs. Following the advice to fear the Lord doesn’t guarantee a life without any opposition, but it does set us up for a better chance at following his ways from as early as possible.

And at the very least, we won’t find ourselves finally understanding how to live in relationship with him twenty years from now.

In our summer series through Proverbs 1-9, we’re just starting to get into the specific tips for how to fear Yahweh properly. Here in Proverbs 3:1-10 there are five couplets of verses that each speak to a particular trick of wisdom for our lives. Or perhaps it would be better to say…

Here are five tips and tricks for a life of wisdom according to Proverbs 3:1-10.

The first tip is actually connected to the overarching call for us to continue seeking wisdom. Verses 1-2 reiterate the value of following the words of the wise, in general.

Here, Solomon tells his son to not forget the wise teachings. There are two parts of this that are important for us to understand. One is that the word for “teachings” is actually the word for the Law, the Torah. So, these teachings aren’t just the wise words of our parents, but the very words of God. Again, we go back to Proverbs 1:7 about how properly following the ways of Yahweh—fearing the Lord—is the beginning of wisdom.

But the second important part of this opening verse is that we should not forget these laws of the Lord. We don’t just get to cram for a spiritual quiz and then let all of that info fall out of our heads. Rather we should keep it. Guard it. This is like saving a file in multiple places, on separate devices, so that we don’t lose the data. That’s how valuable the wise ways of God are. We don’t want them to possibly fall out of our grip.

And verse 2 tells us that if we do this, then our days will be long and peace will be added to us. Again, this doesn’t mean that everyone who seeks after the wise teachings of God’s law will automatically live to see ninety or more years. But it does mean that a life lived properly fearing Yahweh will result in the tendency for a better and more fulfilling life.

In particular, the idea is that continually seeking the ways of Yahweh will bring peace to our lives, and thus make the days more worth living. But this peace doesn’t promise freedom from hardship or antagonism. Rather, this wholeness of life allows us to see all things in light of God’s view of them. We see hardship as a means to grow our faith and give God glory for the success. All because we fear the Lord.

The second tip, from verses 3-4, speaks to the fact that it’s not just our relationship with God that benefits from following his ways, but also our relationships with other people.

And the key to this piece of wisdom is found in two specific terms in verse 3: steadfast love and faithfulness. Those terms might sound like nebulous and ethereal dreams. But they’re much more practical that that.

The word for “steadfast love” has the idea of covenant faithfulness. It speaks to remaining true to the things we say, as if everything were a legally binding promise. And it shouldn’t be difficult for us to follow this ideal, since we have the example of our God who bestows his grace upon us by remaining faithful to us even when we fail to live up to our end of the deal with him.

Also, the word for faithfulness is the word for truth, reliability, and security. It’s assurance that there’s permanent ground to stand on. It goes hand in hand with covenant faithfulness, because when we are people of our word, then reliable truth is a permanent and unalterable thing.

But if that still sounds kinda nebulous to you, realize that these words are just Old Testament ways of saying to be Christ-like. John 1:14 says that Jesus is “full of grace and truth.” That’s what “steadfast love and faithfulness” are. Graciously staying true to the covenants we make and faithfully standing upon the sure truth of God’s created order.

So, what is the likely value of being Christ-like according to this tip from Proverbs? When we are also full of grace and truth, then others will tend to look favorably upon us and want to help us achieve success.

It should be no surprise to us that when we try to help others, then they are likely to want to help us in return. That returned favor shouldn’t be our motive. And, of course, some will merely take advantage of us. But in general terms, when we treat each other like Jesus treats us, then many others will join him in helping us too.

Verses 5-6 provide our third tip. It’s better for us to rely on God rather than our own strength. We’re called to rely on Yahweh with our entire being. If the last tip reminded us of Jesus’ second half of the greatest commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, this tip speaks to the first half.

Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Every aspect of our being should love him. And that means trusting him as well. When we love and trust and rely upon the ways of God, we will find God’s good in our lives.

But this also means that the other side of Proverbs 3:5 must be taken into account. Don’t lean on your own understanding. Our thoughts, ways, and desires tend toward selfishness and destruction. Leaning on our own understanding is like trying to prop ourselves up on the sharp end of a broken spear. It can be done, with incredible care and concentration, but it’s far too easy to get damaged by the experience.

And so, when we faithfully consider the ways of God, he will level out the ground in front of us. Making paths straight doesn’t remove the need to journey. But it does make the journey easier. Rather than steep inclines or uneven ground, our feet will find a level path.

But again, this doesn’t promise that the journey will always led to lush gardens and riverside retreats. Sometimes the path leads into the desert or dangerous territory. But we can be sure that when God’s directions lead to locations we’d rather not go, we still are on his path. And so we can trust him to be with us on it.

Tip number four, from verses 7-8, reminds us that while wisdom can sound easy, we should never act like we’re experts. The first of these verses tells us to not be wise in our own eyes. Don’t act like we have everything perfectly under control. If we have truly kept the previous tips, we should quickly realize that we didn’t make any of those good things in life happen. God did. All of the good is his doing, so we should continue on in the fear of the Lord, and let him do his faithful part.

When we do that, the likely benefit is that we get to relax and let God’s good refresh us and build us up.

In verse 8, we see the statement that, “It will be healing to your flesh.” And while that sounds self-explanatory, Solomon uses highly poetic and visual language for it. Literally it carries the idea of nourishment that travels through an umbilical cord to a child in the womb. When we properly walk in the wisdom of God, it’s like God himself will protect and nourish us.

But even more than that, the word for “flesh” or “umbilical cord” is from a word family that carries with it the idea a tightly wrapped muscle. So, if being a baby in God’s womb doesn’t make you appreciate the idea, think of fearing the Lord as a massage therapist loosening tight muscles. The healing of our flesh happens as we relax and let God do his work.

The second half of the verse adds to the metaphor. It says that this wisdom will be refreshment to our bones. It builds us up spiritually like how a calcium drink strengthens our very skeleton. Our entire body, inside and out, is built up by the best personal trainer. He’ll show us the best form, once we stop trying to train up our own way.

And the final tip from this section of Proverbs is found in verses 9-10. This one teaches us to not just give God whatever’s left over of our time and energy. But rather to give him our best. While we should give him our all, our best is what we should offer first, rather than act like we can give him lesser resources.

Verse 9 tells us to honor Yahweh. We should value him with the proper weight of who he is. And since he gave us his all, since he literally died in order to offer us salvation, should we not be willing to give him the best of our lives?

And the word for “wealth” in the verse doesn’t just mean money, or the excess things of our existence. Rather, it means the things that are considered to make life easy. The technology and little toys that make us feel free to relax. We should be willing to give them to him. Let God use them for his purpose rather than ours.

Is God worth more than your “treat yourself” fund? If not, then you might need to reevaluate how often you show proper reverence to him. That might sound harsh. We might wonder how we can enjoy good things if we should always offer the best to God first. But the truth of verse 10 should show us the answer to that question.

When we give God our best, he often returns it back to us. Or even gives us better than our best could ever do. This shouldn’t be our primary motivation, but it is a returned goodness. It’s better to give to God and others, and then allow them to return the favor back to us.

None of these tips should be taken as formulas. It’s not a rigorous, “If you put in x, then y will always happen.” No, but the tendency is that when we follow the wise ways of God, then good and godly things will come to us.

When we fear Yahweh, we have a much better chance of receiving good than if we always follow our own path. Listening to and learning from these tips and tricks won’t make us win the game, but it’s far better to start playing with them in mind, than figuring it out hours into the game.

Especially when the game of this life is only played once.