Pondering Proverbs 2

Wisdom's Worth

1 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, 2 listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding; 3 furthermore, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, 5then you will understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity 8 so that He may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His loyal followers. 9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity-every good path. 10 For wisdom will enter your mind, and knowledge will delight your heart. 11 Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you, 12 rescuing you from the way of evil- from the one who says perverse things, 13 [from] those who abandon the right paths to walk in ways of darkness, 14 [from] those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversity,15 whose paths are crooked, and whose ways are devious. 16 It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a stranger with her flattering talk, 17 who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; 18 for her house sinks down to death and her ways to the land of the departed spirits. 19 None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life. 20 So follow the way of good people, and keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will inhabit the land, and those of integrity will remain in it; 22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous uprooted from it.

Interesting when I read this, the Proverb "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" came to my mind.  I looked it up to reference it and found that it is used in Proverbs 9:10, 111:10 and in 1:7 it is actually "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge."

When reading thru the Proverbs, it is so full of practical life advise that when followed and taken, can make our lives so much easier.  As I am reading thru the verses, I note that just hearing this advise is never enough.  Perhaps we all need to study them then life experiences prove them to be true.  It seems that only thru experience do we humans truly learn.  Of course, some of us learn quickly while others it takes a little more time in the field to actually learn the lesson.  The hope is that even if we veer of track, there is always a way back.  

So I pray that I will adhere to the sound advise and teaching found in this book.  I also pray that I will be able to take God at His word and just live it.  He has proven its reliability to me over and over.  However, I also know me.  I know I always tend to get the lesson better thru the exercise than from study alone.  UGH  I hate that about me, but it is just the hard cold fact.  

I pray for wisdom, understanding and knowledge that comes from the Lord for me today.  Would you join me and ask the Lord to enlighten you in your mind and heart to His true wisdom, knowledge and understanding.  I pray that you will.  I pray this for my family, friends and for all who will read this today.  I ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus.  Amen.

Valuable Proverbs From Walk in the Word Program (revised and corrected)

Proverbs for Parenting
19:18 (NIV) Discipline your children, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to their death.

22:15 (NIV) Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away.

23:13-14 (NIV) Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish them with the rod, they will not die. Punish them with the rod and save them from death.

29:15 (NIV) A rod and a reprimand impart wisdom, but a child left undisciplined disgraces its mother.

29:17 (NIV) Discipline your children, and they will give you peace; they will bring you the delights you desire.
1:8-9 (HCSB) Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and don’t reject your mother’s teaching, for they will be a garland of grace on your head and a gold chain around your neck.

2:1-2 (HCSB) My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you,

listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding;
13:1 (HCSB) A wise son responds to his father’s discipline, but a mocker doesn’t listen to rebuke.

29:15-19 A rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a youth left to himself is a disgrace to his mother. When the wicked increase, rebellion increases, but the righteous will see their downfall. Discipline your son, and it will bring you peace of mind
and give you delight. Without revelation people run wild, but one who listens to instruction will be happy. A slave cannot be disciplined by words; though he understands, he doesn’t respond.

28:23 (HCSB) One who rebukes a person will later find more favor than one who flatters with his tongue.

13:24 (HCSB) The one who will not use the rod hates his son, but the one who loves him disciplines him diligently.

10:1 (HCSB) A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son, heartache to his mother.

17:25 (HCSB) A foolish son is grief to his father and bitterness to the one who bore him.

23:24-25 (HCSB) The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him. Let your father and mother have joy, and let her who gave birth to you rejoice.

22:6 (HCSB) Teach a youth about the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

29:17 (HCSB) Discipline your son, and it will bring you peace of mind and give you delight.

Additional parenting scriptures

Ephesians 6:4 (NIV) Fathers do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

Hebrews 12:7 (NIV) Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father?

Teach your children:

1. To have a healthy fear of God (1:7; 9:10; 10:27; 14:26-27; 15:16; 16:6; 19:23)

2. To guard their minds (4:23; 23:7)

3. To obey you (1:8; 4:1-4; 6:20-23; 30:17)

4. To carefully select their companions (1:11-18; 2:10-15; 13:20)

5. To control their sinful desires (2:16-19; 5:3-5; 6:23-33; 7:6-27)

6. To enjoy sexual fidelity (5:15-20)

7. To watch their words (4:24; 10:11, 19-21, 32; 12:18, 22; 15:1-2; 16:23; 20:15)

8. To pursue their work (6:6-11; 10:4-5; 22:29)

9. To manage their money (3:9-10; 11:24-26; 19:17; 22:9)

10. To love their neighbors (3:27-29; 25:21-22)

Summer Activities

Our family; my husband, me and two teen daughters had the blessing of going to Casa Aleluya on a mission trip at the beginning of this summer.  Upon reflection of that trip, I couldn't help but contrast it with my mission trip to London.  This time serving with my family instead of leaving them behind gave me an undivided heart.  I had them with me so I was not as homesick.  Another stark contrast was the physical fertility of the ground in Guatemala.  We travelled to a small town, Patzun, which was very agricultural.  The ground was not the only thing fertile and prepared.  It appeared that the hearts were very open and ready for the gospel as well.  It seemed the hearts in London were drier. As with any ground, it needs to be prepared, softened and tilled to ready it for the planting season.

While both areas are in desperate need of Jesus Christ, the work of a Christian travelling to these areas needs to be prepared to serve those in all conditions.  All lands need to be worked so the ground is softened and same for the hearts.

I was thrilled to have the opportunity to just love on the orphans.   One of the little girls called me Gringo Momma.  I just melted every time.  I love being loved by them as much as I loved loving them.  What a blessed trip.  Serving along side the full time missionaries was such a privilege.  Coming along side of them, encouraging them and lifting them up is really something that those coming for short stays should keep at the forefront of their thoughts and hearts.  I was blessed to be with a small group that represented 4 different local churches from our area.  We were all bonded together and now are a part of a special family as a result of serving together.

After we returned from the Guatemala trip, our family headed our separate ways.  My high school senior had a youth trip to Kentucky and my high school freshman had a soccer tournament in Baton Rouge that Marc and I travelled down to witness.  We came home to head out again to go white water rafting down the French Broad and Nantahala.  It was a wonderful time.  I have enjoyed every bit of it, but all this travel time gave me time to catch up on some reading.  I have been reading Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerich and The Daniel Plan by Rick Warren.

I was able to finish the "Love and Respect" book and just scratching the surface on the "Daniel Plan".  While it is my utmost recommendation to take care of your temple and I am always looking for ways to help advise you how to do that, I must say that everyone needs to read the Love and Respect book.  Although I had studied it before, this time really brought much more clarity.  The bottom line is this: Wives RESPECT your husband and Husbands LOVE your wives.  These are commands from the scripture not suggestions.  It actually explains how God didn't have to command wives to love because that comes natural to them, and He didn't have to command husbands to respect because that comes natural to them.  It talks about the Crazy Cycle of wives withholding respect to motivate the husband to show love, and husbands withholding love to motivate the wives to respect them; so no one's needs are getting met.  It only takes one to be the MORE MATURE one in order to break the crazy cycle, and start the energizing cycle where his love motivates her respect and her respect motivates his love.  So the question is: who will be the more mature one in the relationship.  I believe the argument that it takes two really does apply here.  

The summer is not over and I am sure we have more adventures ahead, but for now I am slowing down in order to take care of my senior whose 4 wisdom teeth were surgically removed yesterday.  At least it gave me time to sit down, study the word, and catch up on my blogging time.

Hope you all are finding the summer as fun, exciting and educational.  

Be blessed and may the love of the Lord fill you today.

Bev

Studies in Scripture

I spent time after teaching my exercise class digging into a summer study by Beth Moore, Children of the Day; a study of the 1 and 2 Thessalonians.  Also, on my way home, I listened to James McDonald on the radio talking about parenting and using Proverbs as the foundation.  I will not summarize these today but I am attaching websites if you are interested in digging deeper into these.

Walk in the Word by James McDonald  

Children of the Day by Beth Moore  and if you are interested in purchasing the book online. (click here)