Even Proverbs is God-centered

Proverbs is a book that's concerned with everyday life. It covers parts of life that we don't normally label spiritual. It may be tempting to approach Proverbs from a human-centered perspective, concluding that while most of the Bible is about God, this book is mainly about us.

It doesn't take long to realize that even in Proverbs, the core of the message is centered on God. Proverbs 1:7 encapsulates the theme of the book: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." Edward M. Curtis and John J. Brugaletta comment:

For the Israelite the search for wisdom had to begin with a deep commitment to God and a genuine submission to God's authority and truth. The theme of the book of Proverbs is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom/knowledge. The fear of the Lord is the essence of piety in the Old Testament, and it begins with a recognition of who God is – the all-powerful, sovereign Creator of the universe – and a contrasting recognition of who we are – creatures made by God. As a result of this awareness, those who fear the Lord live under the full acknowledgement that God's authority is over them. (Discovering the Way of Wisdom)

Derek Kidner writes, "Wisdom as taught here is God-centered, and even when it is most down-to-earth it consists of the shrewd and sound handling of one's affairs in God's world, in submission to His will."

Even the most practical of books in the Bible has as its core who God is, and who we are in relationship to him. It's also proof that you can be God-centered and practical at the same time.