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Proverbs 2:6-12, My take…

Apr22
Old monk reading ancient book protected by magical shield from dark spirits

Prov. 2:6-12,(written by Solomon)

For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up success for the upright;He is a shield for those who live with integrity so that He may guard the paths of justice and protect the way of His loyal followers. Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity—every good path.  For wisdom will enter your mind, and knowledge will delight your heart.  Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you, rescuing you from the way of evil— (the protective power of wisdom) Prov. 2:6-12

I came upon this verse in search of a prayer that I could pray over my grandchildren. Some of them were embarking upon a journey into adulthood for the first time. They had proper training in their parent’s home. But now they were weighted with the responsibility of applying that training. And that, I knew would require wisdom beyond their years. So what would they do?

Would they turn their eyes from looking at (or ears from listening to) what was worthless as they had been trained? Or would they pick and choose those ideas promoted by a world view that contradicted their biblical training? There was visible evidence that both perspectives were being considered.

I had walked this treacherous path in my youth. Therefore, I was familiar with the pitfalls of human reasoning and false assumptions. The verses from 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 made it obvious as to what I was up against. Yet, upon venturing out into the world, my naivety blinded me. Naivety and immaturity. I lacked the protective power of wisdom.

Thankfully, God finally got my attention and turned me around. Just in time to prevent me from ruining my life by my own self-centeredness and self-serving ways. It started with a full surrender of my life to God. A full surrender to live my life and walk the path God had chosen for me. I began to simply “Follow His Lead.”

And with that surrendered will, I took to reading God’s word. With the Holy Spirit’s prompting, I changed the friend group I ran with. Focusing instead on surrounding myself with friends who would support my commitment to Christ. And graciously God provided those new friends. I read books that fed me spiritually. One such book was “The Saving Life of Christ” by Ian Thomas. (Published in the 1960’s. and is still in print.) With every plunge into God’s word and moments spent with God in prayer, wisdom entered my mind and knowledge delighted my heart.(just as Prov. 2:6-12 declared) At the time I didn’t recognize the protective power of wisdom. Yet, I benefited from God’s guardianship just the same.

It was the growth of knowledge and wisdom that enabled me to recognize those whose words and actions contradicted what God had been teaching me. It was only when I made choices which served my self-centeredness that I got off track. (and with my human propensity to sin the struggle to please myself over God was ever present.) Therefore, many foolish choices which would have led to harmful consequences in my life were avoided.

So the earlier the better our full surrender should be made. Which is why I fervently and consistently pray Proverbs 2:6-12 over my beloved grandchildren. Foolish choices made during this season of their lives could have serious and permanent consequences to their future. A future that needs an appreciation for the protective power of wisdom.

Remember – Ecclesiastes 12:1

Apr8

In the first verse of Chapter 12, the author admonishes us to “remember our Creator in the days of our youth.” Here’s how the NLT words it, “Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor Him in your youth before you grow old and say, “Life is not pleasant anymore.”

In our younger days, particularly as we begin emerging as an adult, we can be heady about our new found freedom. We may find ourselves constantly pulling away from the restraints of our parents. When we are successful in liberating ourselves from such restraints, too often our actions are thereafter overly influenced by the desires of our hearts. A young heart that has not had time yet to be damaged by life’s unpleasantness. Yet, a heart which is naive and immature and can be easily led astray.

During this period of our lives we are just getting our balance as we take our first steps spiritually. What we once saw as not permissible for us as Christians, our immature hearts now rethink such actions. And without a steady intake of godly wisdom our hearts will become desensitized towards what is sinful (fiery darts). Our hearts will take over as our judge, not the Word of God. But what we forget is that the decisions, the choices we make in the days of our youth will follow us for the rest of our lives. (Good or bad)

When we get to the latter season of our lives we won’t find life as exhilarating as in earlier seasons. For troubles have been encountered. Some of those as consequences of choices made with a young and perhaps foolish heart. And some of those that just show up as a result of living life.

Honoring God while we are young and before life begins to knock us around builds up our spiritual reserves. So when we arrive at those not so pleasant times of life, our hearts have grown in maturity. We are less naive. As a result there is a lot less baggage with which to complicate our lives. Drawing upon our spiritual reserves, made while we were young, supplies us with protective power. Power we need in order to deal with life as we grow older. Therefore life is not as unpleasant as it would have been otherwise. All because we didn’t forget God in the days of our youth.

Avoiding Regrets

Dec9

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     My greatest regret in life is not spending time with God daily in prayer and reading my Bible. I think about the unnecessary trauma I have gone through over the years simply because I  wasn’t listening to God (you know, spending time with Him by reading and meditating on His word)!  

     Now that I am retired and spending that time daily with God, I am realizing the HUGE EFFECT it is making in my thoughts, attitudes, and actions. I think about all those years I failed in allowing God to show me the path I should have taken. I could have avoided so much pain, so many mistakes, pitfalls, detours, etc., if I had been familiarizing myself daily with what God had to say about what I was going through. 

     I could have you know. But I allowed myself to be manipulated and deceived into allowing busyness to keep me out of God’s word. Sure my life was busy when I was raising four children, working full time, and being deeply involved with my church. But I paid the price for putting all of that before my personal time with God. Not only did I pay the price but those I loved paid the price as well.

Remember:

The more we pray and the more we study, the more of Christ is revealed to us. Our faith is strengthened and our access to the power of God is increased. Our ability to recognize fiery darts becomes keener, and we do not succumb to their influences so readily. We will recognize the battle going on between our flesh and our spirit and we will choose to cooperate with God’s plan instead. p 80 FD’s 3rd ed 

     So please, please heed my warning. You are not doomed to repeating my mistake. Know that the enemy is whispering the same lies into your thoughts as he did to mine. Be aware only the power of God’s word can successfully expose Satan’s lies.

     So go get your Bible. Open it up and start reading it everyday. (I recommend a read your Bible through in a year plan.) I can’t tell you how many times God will highlight a verse for me in my daily readings that speaks directly to something I’m dealing with. I add that verse to my prayer notebook (oh yeah, keeping up with verses like that helps keep them in your focus).

Start NOW letting God’s Truth’s rule your thinking and not Satan’s lies.

You will never regret it!