August 10, 2026

Business by the Book

Proverbs 4:13  Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.

The problem with learning by experience is that it teaches us things we really do not want to know. That’s why we have to learn those things through experience. If we learned them from instruction, perhaps we would not have to learn them through experience.

Someone once said, “Some learn through other people’s mistakes, this is instruction; some learn through their own mistakes, this is experience.”  Given the choice I would like to learn the hard lessons of life through instruction rather than through personal experience.

Concerning instruction there are two sides. Giving instruction and receiving instruction. When both parties in this transaction do their part wonderful things happen. When one or both of these parties fail, difficulties arise. As a manager, pastor, and father I know that I have often failed in both giving instruction and receiving instruction, and I can also say that I have been successful in both. Personal experiences prove this out. Of these two extremes I can say it is infinitely better to give and receive instruction than not.

Once instruction is offered, God’s Word suggests taking hold of it and keeping it, for through instruction is life. The life of your business is safeguarded through instruction; as is the life of your marriage, your finances, your health, and oftentimes your very existence. Twenty five times the word “instruction” is used in the book of Proverbs. We will visit this thought again.

The Apostle Paul told Timothy that one reason we were given the Scriptures was for instruction. The best instruction manual in the entire world is the Bible, for in its pages the way of life is found.

Dr. William Howe