Proverbs - Do Not Be Afraid

Proverbs 3:25-26

 Be not afraid of sudden fear,

neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.

 For the LORD shall be thy confidence,

and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

                        What a sweet promise for us. The Lord will be our confidence.  He shall keep our foot from being taken.  He looks out for us and His counsels are to be relied upon.  Here we see not having confidence in the Lord but the Lord Himself being our confidence in the first place.  As we guard wisdom, He guards us.

                                                                                          

Knowing God - He Forgives ALL

Ps 103:3

Who forgiveth all thine iniquities;…

The Lord forgives ALL our sins.  What a glorious truth.  He made sure that He would retain the integrity of His character by demanding just payment for every offense in His Son Jesus Christ’s death.  This opened the way for Him to forgive us or let go of the debt that we justly deserve to pay for our failures.  We don’t have to be intimidated by any sort of memory from the past when we understand He forgives ALL our sins.  We don’t have to be tormented with a recent sin knowing He forgives ALL our sins.  We don’t have to fall under the condemnation so often looming over our lives when we have the truth of this scripture to uphold us in the face of accusation and ridicule.  The Lord is rich in mercy and plenteous in mercy.  Let us enjoy this forgiveness and honor Him by walking as cleansed, forgiven people.

Proverbs - Keep Wisdom

Proverbs 3:21-24

 My son, let not them depart from thine eyes:

keep sound wisdom and discretion:

 So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.

Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely,

and thy foot shall not stumble.

When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea,

thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

           

                        We must keep these principles and not let them go to the wayside.  They will cause us to walk safely and not have so many detours in life.  Many of our troubles come from foolish decisions we have made or others have made.  Sometimes they are sinful, foolish decisions and other times they are just not the wisest choices.  Don’t we want to lie down without worrying about the debt we were never to accumulate in the first place?  Don’t we want to have sweet sleep because we aren’t so behind because we chose to play rather than work?  Keep sound wisdom and discretion.  Don’t fall back into foolish patterns.  Have the sweet sleep that comes from a life built with wisdom.

            

Knowing God - He Redeems From Destruction

Ps 103:4

 Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

One of our Lord’s goals in assuming leadership of our lives is to redeem our lives from destruction.  We must remember this whenever we sense a call from Him to surrender something or repent from some pattern we may find ourselves in.  He has our deliverance in mind and knows where our behavior is leading.  When His conviction comes it is because He wants to redeem our lives from destruction.  We must welcome the opportunity to run in the direction He is leading us towards and away from what He is clearly telling us to flee from.  We must embrace this as the Lord’s desire to spare us from destruction.  This truth will help us resist the enemy’s lies that obedience is a bother and that God is trying to keep us from all of the fun.  We must look at the leading of God as from a God who desires to rescue and take it as love and focused concern.  We must realize that God is good and it is ALWAYS a GOOD thing to heed His voice.  He knows what is ahead and His will is good, perfect and acceptable.

Proverbs - Building Our Lives

Proverbs 3:19-20

The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth;

by understanding hath he established the heavens.

By his knowledge the depths are broken up,

and the clouds drop down the dew.

                        If the Lord used wisdom to create the earth and bring such an incredible balance in nature, seasons, ecosystems etc. then we can take comfort in knowing wisdom will bring about a flow in our lives that makes for refreshing balanced living.

                        Is it wise to drive through that Taco Bell when there is food at home?  Would it be wise to try and make a large meal when you have commitments in 45 minutes?  Would it be wise to sleep that extra 30 minutes and forsake your time with the Lord?  Is it wise to sit down and watch that movie when the dishes are piled up?  We must remember that wisdom must be received and sought after and trust our lives will then be established and not so easily shaken.

Knowing God - The Lord Allows Struggles

Gen 32:26

 And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me.

Jacob was wrestling with the Lord all night.  We all know that the Lord could overcome Jacob at any time and subdue him.  The Lord allowed Jacob to struggle.  When the Lord caused Jacob’s hip to be out of joint, we see that the struggle changed to clinging.  This is when Jacob asked for the blessing; when he was in pain and when he was clinging – not when he was wrestling.  The Lord will allow us to wrestle and allow us to experience pain so that we will get to a place where we won’t let the Lord go and He can truly bless us.  I suggest we skip the wrestling and go straight to the clinging.  The blessing of the Lord comes when we know we are disabled and when we cling to the Lord.  

Proverbs - Finding

Proverbs 3:13-18

Happy  is the man that findeth wisdom,

and the man that getteth understanding.

 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver,

and the gain thereof than fine gold.

  She is more precious than rubies:

and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.

 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

  She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her:

and happy is every one that retaineth her

                        We really need to know that wisdom and understanding must be found and received.  We do not look within we look up.  Just like you might enjoy looking for the best deal in a department store or that thrift store find, you must look eagerly for the wise way of handling a matter and to have the understanding the Lord would want you to have.

                        Wisdom, choices made by the Lord’s standards, makes a pleasant life and peaceful rewards.  If we foolishly squander our time instead of doing those things we should do we usually end up with an unpleasant attitude and anything but a peaceful household.  When we need to wisely handle our time in order to be somewhere on time and choose to forsake such wisdom, our journey is usually quite tumultuous and unpleasant.  We need to retain wisdom and continue building our homes not upon what we want to do but upon wisdom’s counsel and leading.