LIVE Join our service streaming live right now! Click here to watch.
We can gather up what feels like security, but are we actually secure? Proverbs challenges to make sure we have the right point of security.
The following study questions are AI generated and may contain errors.
The preacher contrasts Paul’s conversion experience—where he lost authority, comfort, and respect—with the common expectation that becoming a Christian brings security and prosperity. How does this challenge the way you typically think about following Jesus? What does genuine security look like in your own life?
The sermon uses the image of “little rocks” causing us to stumble rather than “skyscrapers.” Can you identify small compromises or areas where you’re not following God’s wisdom that might be causing spiritual damage? In what specific ways do these “little things” tend to be more dangerous than the obvious, large sins we more easily recognize and avoid?
In the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12), Jesus criticizes not the man’s wealth or preparation, but his misplaced security. What is the difference between wise planning and the kind of security-seeking the parable condemns? How do you discern between the two in your own financial and life decisions?
The preacher argues that true security comes from looking to God, not from circumstances going smoothly. He uses the TSA/ranch dressing analogy to suggest that worldly comforts cannot be “taken with us.” How does this perspective change the way you approach comfort, success, and provision in this life? How can you tell whether comfort or smooth circumstances have quietly become an idol rather than a gift?
How should the reality that we will all face death—the “checkpoint” where everything temporary is taken away—reshape the way we prioritize what matters? What does it practically mean to “put your stock” in God alone rather than in temporal security, and what would that look like in your daily decisions?
This transcript has been automatically generated and may contain errors.
The Apostle Paul is an interesting case study in many regards over his life. One of the most interesting aspects is simply how he became a Christian. It puts on its head our notion of how we come to faith. I saw someone talking about this last week, and I kept thinking about it as I was preparing for this message. Just think for a moment about Paul’s conversion, so to speak. Paul didn’t decide to follow Jesus; no, he was trying to persecute Jesus, and Jesus stopped him.
What happened after Jesus stopped him? Well, completely contrary to how people often talk about conversion, which we’ve been addressing over the last few weeks, Paul goes from being a man in authority—a man who can command other people to execute others and is respected as a leader of his people, with all this authority and education backing him in teaching about the Old Testament—to someone who is at first blinded. That’s his introduction: Jesus blinds him to stop him in his tracks for a moment. Once he is enabled to see again after God has caught his attention, he spends the rest of his life being persecuted, chased, rejected, imprisoned, and ultimately killed.
So, everything we often hear about conversion gets turned on its head.
Hi, welcome to Steadfast. I’m so glad that you are here tonight. If you would, give us a like and a share so others can join in this study as we go through the next part of Proverbs, chapter 3. We’re going to be thinking about security tonight. If you just picture the story of Paul, it’s not really a story you’d go to if you wanted to demonstrate how becoming a Christian provides you with worldly security because, well, it didn’t—and it doesn’t. Paul could have gone on as he was, and had God not intervened, he would have been more secure, more respected, more comfortable. Everything would have been good in his life. But instead, Jesus calls him, and everything gets turned on its head.
That’s important to consider when we find ourselves in a passage like tonight’s, where it seems to imply that if we just follow God’s word, we’re going to be secure. We get really confused with those passages. So let’s pray tonight as we look at this, that we understand what God is saying in this passage and not what we often read into it. Would you pray with me, please? Father, thank you for the truth we find in your word. Thank you for giving us the security that truly matters. Help us to understand that security, to hold onto that security, and to be encouraged by it every single day. We pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Here’s the starting point for us: our paths are secure in wisdom. Proverbs 3, starting at verse 23, says, “Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble. If you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked when it comes.”
We’re told here that our paths are secure in wisdom. That’s a wonderful promise, something that we would like to hold on to every day. Yet, if we think about a story like Paul’s, if we think of a story like many of our own, it feels distant, doesn’t it?
Well, that’s a problem we need to work on a little bit more. But before that, let’s think about what the promise is. It says that we’ll sleep better when we’re walking in God’s way, that we’re not going to find ourselves up at night wondering, “Am I going on the right path? Am I doing what I ought to be doing here?” Proverbs goes on to say we won’t be stumbling; our feet will be made steady. We’re not going to stumble over serious mistakes and go tumbling down to our destruction.
Oftentimes, the things we avoid by following God’s wisdom don’t seem big in themselves. Yet, it’s the little things that we don’t see, or maybe see but think are actually good in our human wisdom, that are the things that mess us up and cause us to stumble. Stumbling rarely comes from big things, if you think about it.
You’ve probably never stumbled over a skyscraper. In fact, I’ll go a step further and say you’ve never stumbled over a skyscraper because you can’t step on a skyscraper. Have you stumbled over a little rock, a little bitty stone? Probably almost all of us have. Why? Because that little stone can cause you to lose your balance. The skyscraper is mighty, and the little stone doesn’t seem very mighty, but the one that’s going to make you fall is the little one. So it is with wisdom and our lack of following it. That’s what’s in view here.
Many times, what causes us to stumble are the things that don’t even catch our attention. This is certainly a challenge for those of us who are already following Jesus but letting certain parts of our lives be guided outside of God’s wisdom. And all of us do that. It’s those little things we don’t even notice.
We see the big skyscraper sins in our own lives sometimes, at least, and in other people’s lives, certainly. Those usually aren’t the things that cause us to stumble. Mostly jokingly, I say, well, I don’t think anyone here tonight is a murderer; every so often, I’ll mention that. We can laugh about it if we’re in person, or maybe you’ll put a laughing face in the chat even tonight. Thankfully, that’s true. But that can give us a false sense of security. We don’t fall over the skyscraper of murder most of the time, but do we stumble on the little rock of an angry word? Lots of times.
Of course, God relates those two. Jesus says they’re not actually separate things, as much as we’d like to think they are. But one is easy to avoid; the other, not so much. So we follow God’s wisdom. I think if we just think about this picture of an unsteady foot, a stumble, and if you’ve ever taken a good fall, we know usually it is those small things.
How often do I hear, thankfully, I appreciate it so much, those of you in my church family asking me how my back’s doing? If you’ve been following along with me over the past year and a half, you know how it happened by now—shoveling a driveway with snow in it, doing that at least mostly rightly. Maybe I didn’t have it all right, but I didn’t hurt myself shoveling; the driveway’s clear. All the big obvious problems were taken care of.
There are things like don’t put too much snow in the shovel, don’t slip on the ice down by the street where it’s been melted, thawed, and then refrozen, don’t do that. But with a little bitty patch of ice after the job was done at the top of the driveway, right as I was going inside, I slipped and messed up my back. A little bitty thing, but I know that little bitty thing can have a really big impact. That’s why I appreciate all of you still asking how my back is doing. It’s been a slow process getting better.
It’s the same way with the things we do in our actions. It’s the little bitty patch of ice, the little bitty rock that causes us to stumble. God’s wisdom pulls us away from those things. The foot itself doesn’t seem like a big deal, but we know if our foot is hurting or if it slips, it’s a huge deal for us. Even if it’s not a huge percentage of the body, the foot stumbling or not stumbling is a big deal.
It’s following God’s wisdom in those little things that make all the difference.
You say, well, we started with the Apostle Paul, and we’ve been talking for weeks about how God’s wisdom isn’t about the prosperity gospel, just the blessing vending machine—insert the coin, get the blessing. So how can we then say that we’re receiving security if we follow God’s way? It really comes down to that we don’t really understand what true prosperity and true security are.
As we go on to the last part of our passage for today, we’re going to be talking about what really ties everything together. In verse 26, we see what we really need to do: find the right security. Take a look at verse 26: “For the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.”
What keeps our foot from slipping? It’s not purely looking at the ground because sometimes we don’t see the things we’re going to slip on—the black ice is dangerous because you often can’t see it. It’s looking to the right place.
What is God preventing us from doing? We’re told it is about the sudden terror that the wicked feel, which we saw in verse 25. The way it’s phrased in the original Hebrew, it seems to suggest that the terror in sight here is not just the feeling of terror—which we all know—but the thing causing the terror.
It’s what causes terror in the wicked. Take a look at Proverbs 1:27—interesting contrast here: “When what you dread comes like a whirlwind and disaster strikes you like a devastating storm, when distressing trouble comes on you.” These are all things being described not of the one following the way of wisdom but of the one who doesn’t.
So in chapter 3, we’re looking at how to avoid these things, and in chapter 1, it’s saying here’s what happens if you don’t follow the ways of wisdom—very similar language. The point is, the terror that the evil one feels is the terror of looking to something other than God and finding yourself staring at God even though you didn’t want to follow him and have nothing to do with him.
We’re told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We’ve talked many times about how that fear of the Lord isn’t us as followers of Jesus trembling in fear and constantly wondering if God will smite us. That’s not the point. It’s recognizing that He is worthy to be feared, mighty, and almighty. Yes, if we don’t follow Him, He is terrifying—not because He isn’t loving, but because the alternative when we reject His love is to be separated from Him, and then not only from Him but every good blessing because every good blessing comes from Him.
When this proverb speaks of facing security, it says we are facing the Lord. We find our trust in Him. You might be thinking as you read that your foot is not going to slip, and you assume you’re never going to fall, sprain your knee, hurt your back, or scrape your foot. That’s not really what Proverbs has in mind.
It may be in view to some degree—certainly if we follow God’s wisdom, there are everyday consequences to that that are frequently good, proverbially good, most of the time even good. But what’s really in view here is this part in verse 26: we’re looking to the Lord. Wisdom points us that way. Suddenly, what means security is the fact that we can see Him.
For all who call on the name of the Lord, we can always see Him. We may not feel like it, but He’s always right there. We turn to His word, and He reminds us of that. The problem that makes us still feel insecure in that is that we say, “Look at Paul. He suffered so much.” Paul would have said he was secure. Why? Because his security wasn’t that people praised him or that he could command people to kill others, or that people looked at the degrees on his wall and said, “Look at how impressive Paul is. He graduated from Jerusalem University.” It wasn’t those things anymore.
It was the fact that he knew, wherever he was, even when thrown into prison after being stoned and beaten, that Jesus was with him. What really mattered wasn’t changing, and the crucial thing is that even when we feel like the path of wisdom or a worldly path is providing us with that sort of security—that we haven’t stumbled on the rock today, and we feel like it was a nice, steady day—we know that doesn’t happen every day. No matter which path we take, those who choose the way of the wicked will wake up at night and realize they’re not looking at the face of God, at least not in the way they want to. They will still face down the bad choices they have made, and no matter how many bad choices they make, at some point, it comes to an end. Then what? What do you do?
Last night, Greg and I looked at Luke chapter 12, the parable of the rich fool. What is foolish about him? It isn’t that he has a barn with plentiful grain; it isn’t even that he’s stored grain for himself, his family, and to help others. Joseph receives high praise for doing that in Genesis, where he becomes essentially the prime minister of Egypt and saves the people by storing up grain.
Jesus’ point isn’t that Joseph was a fool. No. The challenge for this rich fool is that he thinks his security and comfort come from the fact that he can build bigger barns filled with grain and that this will make him secure. In that context, he receives the response, “You fool, your life will be taken from you tonight.” He can have all the barns he wants, but he’s not going to control when his life ends. His life is going to end. If we don’t live until Jesus returns, our lives will end, and no path of alleged wisdom is going to fix that.
It’s like we talked about a while back with the guy chasing immortality with his “don’t die” movement—it doesn’t work. Those things don’t work. We’re going to die, and if we do, there’s always going to be something to stare down at us and give us terror. The foolishness of the fool is that he thought having enough grain to keep for himself would keep him comfortable. It’s all about him, and he can’t provide his security; that’s his foolishness.
Seemingly doing okay is the state of a great deal of those who are wicked today. It’s often why we struggle to believe what God says and do what He says because we say, “Look at these other people. They’re doing well by not doing that.” Maybe even Christians ought not to live according to God’s law. We can compromise. We can be angry. We can be crass. We can do this, do that, because it’s how you get ahead in the world. It’s how you stand up even for your principles, and for a little while, it looks like it’s working. But we’re stepping on the rock that’s going to cause us to stumble.
Why do we do it, even when God’s word warns us against it? Because we’ve set our sights on the wrong kind of prosperity: how much money do I have in my account? How much comfort do I have in my life? How smoothly are the things I care about going? I’m not saying we should seek to suffer or try to make life harder for ourselves. At times, Christians have come up with crazy things where they try to bring misery upon themselves because they think they are doing too well. That’s not good, but it is worth asking the question: are the smooth periods of life, the times where God is removing the little pebble that’s just going to cause me to hurt my back momentarily, times when that’s not happening becoming an idol to me?
Is comfort what I see as my security? As long as I’m comfortable, I am secure? Or is it that even in those times, I am still looking to Jesus and that He is my security, both in good times and bad?
What we’re really being called to do here is recognize that God’s wisdom leads us to security because it leads us to the Lord. Therefore, we have a responsibility to be mindful and have true spiritual discernment. We can reject the things that seem to provide security in the world but only do so temporarily because in a true spiritual lens, we recognize these things are degrading to us and others—they’re bad.
Too often today, we as Christians don’t do that, and we see many Christian leaders and people who claim the name of Christ not doing that. We as Christians sometimes defend it because it’s “the way the world works.” No, it’s not; it’s the way sin works. God calls us to something better.
World Cup fans from around the world, as they come to the United States, have discovered something they feel is better for their salad: ranch dressing. I’m sure you’ve seen the rage over how amazing ranch dressing is. I didn’t realize Europeans didn’t get to enjoy ranch dressing—just something here. Surveys show more Americans have ranch dressing in their house than any other kind of salad dressing. Italian comes next, but ranch dominates.
So, people have been coming from around the world, going to World Cup games, eating in American restaurants, and discovering ranch. Many say, “How did I not know this good thing? I need to have it with me.” They buy bottles of ranch dressing. Problem solved—they want that good thing.
They can travel hundreds of miles by rental car from stadium to stadium with a crate of ranch dressing in the back of their car, but when they arrive at the TSA checkpoint to fly back home, guess what happens? That ranch dressing goes away. You’re not allowed to carry on a large bottle of liquid. It might not be ranch dressing, but TSA regulations are designed for obvious reasons—someone might put something explosive in it.
So, it doesn’t matter if you drove coast to coast enjoying ranch dressing; at the airport, it’s gone. You face the terror of losing it. The fact that it was going smoothly doesn’t matter. You need something else to rescue you if you want to continue to enjoy the security of ranch dressing.
Thankfully, Kraft is taking care of this. They have announced they’re making TSA-friendly ranch kits for those going back to Europe who don’t want to lose their love of ranch dressing. There’s a box with a ton of small ranch packets, each smaller than the amount allowed on an airplane. You can take these on, though it might take a while to check in as they check each one, but yes, you can fly with these ranch packets.
The people traveling couldn’t fix the size of the bottle, but Kraft, who provides ranch, could provide a secure ranch. God offers us a secure ranch. We pick even good things in this world: healthy life, wonderful enjoyment of warmth and friendship, the joy of being together as Christians in church. We look at these things in themselves and inevitably step on a pebble and compromise because we want those things.
When we show up at the TSA checkpoint at the end of life, it’s all taken away. There’s the terror the wicked face. But God offers us the TSA checkpoint clearing. He gives us the packets that we can take through. The same ranch dressing, now in travel sizes.
We don’t necessarily experience this moment. Sometimes when we follow Jesus, it feels like we’re not getting any ranch dressing at all—we’re just suffering. But on the other side of that checkpoint and eternal flight and arrival at home, the ranch will be there and last because we go to the one who can provide it and provide genuine security.
The security in Proverbs isn’t the security of things going smoothly. It’s the security of knowing the one who can make things right and smooth is with us. That’s why Paul would have vehemently rejected the prosperity gospel of this moment. Whether we adhere to it or not, we all desire prosperity in the moment and might say Paul is living the secure life because he follows Jesus. He’d say, “Just look at God’s wisdom.”
God’s wisdom shows us how not to stumble ultimately. It’s not about traveling from St. Louis to Kansas City in a car on a little road trip with our crate of ranch. It’s about what happens when we get under that TSA checkpoint. Are we going to be able to take it with us or not?
The things we normally mark as our security—we can’t.
But wisdom says, don’t look at things that will be destroyed; look at those things that endure: the love of God and His fellowship with us.
Would you pray with me, please? Lord, would you help us to see our security ultimately comes from You? Even the good gifts of this life aren’t packaged right to carry with us. It doesn’t mean they’re bad; it means we need to look to You as the one who can package them up for us. As we think about our brothers and sisters in Christ, we can look forward to eternity of fellowship, but we get it because You provide it, not because we could put a crate of fellowship in our back trunk.
We look at the provision we need for daily life and have been invited to ask for our daily bread. But You also tell us not to put our stock in having enough of it like that rich fool. Would You help us to put our stock, our hope, in You alone because You’re the only one who can get us past the checkpoint? I pray this in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
Well, I hope this has been an encouragement for you today. If it has, would you give us a like and a share once again? If you have any comments or questions, you can always text us at our texting line or comment below: 833-356-4032. That’s 833-356-4032. Or comment below. Either way, however you feel most comfortable, we can discuss the things you’re struggling with. I’d be glad to pray for you. Our prayer team would love to pray with you.
It’s so great to hear from you. It’s so great that we can encourage each other because we all struggle with those places where we’re stumbling over the rocks of life. But in God’s grace, we can encourage each other to find that security and remind each other of the security that comes in Him alone.
Because we have that security in Him, I can say this: I hope you have a wonderful and blessed week because this is a week that, if you trust in Jesus, He’s going to be with you every single step of the way. Whatever rocks you encounter, He’s with you in them. I’ll see you again next week.
Start the Conversation