Just Stop and Ask

Lost as usual

"Does not wisdom call?  Does not understanding raise her voice?  On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand, beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud."

Proverbs 8:1-3

The other day I was on my way to an unfamiliar place.  I've already told you that I am directionally challenged, so this is not an unusual occurrence for me, but I came to something of a crossroads and didn't know which way to go.  Now my husband would rather cut off his right arm than to stop and ask for directions, mainly because he has this uncanny sense of direction that can get him almost anywhere--even if he has never been there before.  As for me, the nearest gas station was calling out, raising its voice, begging me to come in and ask for the right way to go.  So I did.  And I went the right way and made it safely to my final destination. 

I love gas stations!

Just as I personified the gas station, the Scriptures in Proverbs 8 personifies wisdom.  She speaks to us, she calls, she raises her voice and cries out to us.  In my own mind I often see the ability to make wise choices somewhat like the brass ring that can never quite be grasped.  Just beyond my reach.  Yet this passage is not portraying a brass ring, but a very attainable thing.  

Wisdom is crying out to us.  

God tells us through personification about this wonderful attendant that promises to show us the right way to travel.

"And now, O sons, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.  Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.  Blessed is the one who 

listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. 

For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord."

Proverbs 8:32-35

I am so happy that I stopped at the gas station that was calling to me.

I am so happy I listened to the directions. 

I am so glad that I didn't neglect them. 

I am so happy that I found the right way!  

If something so simple as asking directions and following them gave me such assurance and understanding, just think what I will gain by listening to the advice of the Wisdom of God.  He has laid out His road map before us.  Let's follow it precisely.

Stopping and asking,

Gloria

In the Dark

"For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice, and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense, passing along the street near her corner, 

taking the road to her house in the twilight, in the

 evening, at the time of night and darkness."

Proverbs 7:7-9

The Scripture doesn't tell us whether this young man who is seen through the lattice has been taught the truth or not.  It doesn't say whether he had a mother and father who were diligent to school him in wisdom and knowledge or who disciplined him properly. 

It does say that he was simple. The word simple means silly, not quick of thought, without prudence or discernment.

It also indicates that the young man was very aware of the sinfulness of his pending action.  When did this sinful deed take place?  "In the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness." 

How many times have we done something, oh surely not as wrong as adultery, that we  knew we should not do, and rather than doing it openly we have done it in secret?  For me, more than I would like to say.  Have you ever purchased something and hidden it from your husband?  Have you ever taken that extra brownie after everyone has left your vision?  

What constitutes sin?  "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."  James 4:17.  Can we be Scriptural in saying, "Whoever knows what it is wrong and does it anyway, for him it is sin?"  I suggest that we may.  Therefore if we had to hide in order to eat that extra brownie, it is most likely because we knew we should not be doing it.

I don't want to minimize the importance of this passage of Scripture.  Again, the king is exhorting his son to run from the adulterous woman.  Adultery, one of the overarching commandments that the Lord gave to the children of Israel in the wilderness, is sin.  God hates it.  We must hate it as God does, making it our life goal to be pure before marriage and faithful afterward.  

Yet I believe that one clue that an action may be a sin is found in this passage. When do we do it?  Are we hiding? Are we doing it in the dark?

Praying for grace and wisdom to walk in the light,

Gloria

Eyes to See and Ears to Hear

"My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching. Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them arond your neck.  when you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.  For these commands are a lamp, this teaching is a light, and the corrections of discipline are the way to life."

Proverbs 6:20-23

Let's say that you are a blind and deaf person. You are struggling through life hearing and seeing nothing.  Feeble efforts to teach you to communicate have helped you little.  You are destined for a life of silence and darkness.  You, as Helen Keller did, may be making a real difference in your world, contributing in unique ways to society as best you can.  But what if someone came along with a new invention?  A skilled surgeon had the ability to place something in the heart which could change your life forever.  You would be able to see and to hear!  It would become light for your eyes and hearing for your ears.  How much would you spend to receive that wonderful new invention? I dare say it would be worth all you have. 

You now have eyes to see, 

ears to hear, 

and 

a new life.

There are several things that strike me as essential in this passage:

What are the "commands" that the father and mother 
are teaching the children?  

Undoubtedly the Word of God.  

Parents, it is essential that in order to properly teach your children, you must be a student of God's Word.  No other philosophy, "spiritual" teaching, history, science--or anything else, for that matter--can replace the Scriptures.  I beg of you, spend time learning what God has to say.  His Word has the answer to the problems that we face with our children (and everything else) day in and day out.

What is the child's responsibility?  

Keep them;

don't forsake them;

make them your heart's desire.  

Please, children, when Mom and Dad teach you the truth make it your life's goal to obey it.  Don't forsake the teachings of your childhood as youth approaches when you are tempted to think you know more than your parents.  They are smarter, and more importantly, wiser than you think!  Don't be deaf and blind to their teachings.

What are the results of making them our heart's desire and the goal of our life? 

We have guidance and protection.  

We can hear with spiritual ears! 

We can see with spiritual eyes! 

We have a new life!

I know that sometimes my musings seem redundant, but if God sees it so important that He emphasizes it over and over, then I must, too.  So bear with me!

Seeking God for eyes to see, ears to hear,

Gloria

 

Held Fast

"The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in the cords of his sin.  He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray."

Proverbs 5:23-24

Three of the next 4 chapters in Proverbs are warnings against adultery.  God hates it; that is obvious.  Since I am penning these words primarily for my children and grandchildren (and encouraged by any others who read), I do not want to skip over passages that sound so negative, but instead I desire through them to find a way to exhort to godly living.

There is never an excused absence from marital faithfulness in the eyes of God.  This is especially true for followers of Christ, because marriage is a picture of Christ and His marriage to the church (Ephesians 5:22-24).

Let's illustrate the passage that we are using today:

Johnny (not the name of one of my grandchildren), 10 years old, lied to his mom and dad.  He feels guilty about it, knowing that he shouldn't have done it (a cord of sin is being wrapped around him.)  The truth is, he stole an electronic game.  His dad had said he must work for it.  That would have taken way too long, he thought. Only this once would he do it.  After all, they were on sale and there were so many of them no one would ever miss it.  

Ouch!  

That was where the rope  began to twist around him.  But when mom  and dad asked where the game came from, he couldn't tell them that he stole it.  So he said that Randy had given it to him, that he got two for his birthday.  In order to be sure that they wouldn't find out that he had lied, he bribed Randy with his ticket to the soccer tournament. 

It's getting tighter!  

Of course, when he didn't go to the tournament he would have to make up some excuse to tell his folks why he gave away his ticket, or maybe he could just go somewhere else and come home and let them think he had gone to the game.  

By this time, Johnny is "held fast in the cords of his sin." 

It won't stop there.  What if Randy tells?  He must think of something..........

and on and on it goes.

Sadly enough, unless a wise mom and dad search this sinful act out, discover the truth and deal with it promptly, Johnny will likely go on to do other things that are a travesty in the eyes of God.  King Solomon had such a desire to see his children grow up in wisdom that he spent much time both teaching them the way of truth and disciplining them when they erred.  None of us wants to see our sons and daughters go the way of the adulterous man or woman.  Therefore, we must be alert to the subtle signs of indiscretion in their lives, and never fail to show by teaching, and perhaps even more importantly example, what it means to live a godly life.

Praying for my children and grandchildren,

Gloria

The Responsibility!

The Family

 "When I was a son with my father, tender, the only one in the sight of my mother, he taught me and said to me, 'Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.'"

Proverbs 4:3-4

"So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, you power to all those to come."

Psalm 71:18

Proverbs 4 is replete with wonderful exhortations for godly living for a young person.  Seeing that we have quite a few "young persons" in our family--13 grandchildren as of October--this passage is very meaningful to me.  And very convicting!  And when Psalm 71 also popped up in my morning devotional, I saw God's handwriting on the wall of my heart.

So many times we tend to focus on what the child should do and how he should act.  It's a good focus and not to be discarded.  But how does a child become who he is to become?  We cannot deny the responsibility of the parent to nurture, protect, and train. How did the sons in Proverbs 4 know that they should get wisdom, walk away from evil, or put away devious talk?

The parents taught and trained them!  

Notice in Proverbs 4:3 that even though the father was speaking, the mother was not left out of the picture.  In fact in Proverbs 1:8 the child is exhorted not to forsake his mother's teaching.  This applies to moms and dads alike.

But I am a grandmother. Where do I fit in?  Why does this bring conviction to my heart?  Not only do we have 13 grandchildren, but we have the privilege of having them close by.  Four (going on 5) of them live with us along with their mom and dad.  The Psalmist realized that he had a responsibility, and obviously a desire to proclaim God's might to the next generation.  

I do not want to settle into old age with the attitude that my job is done, that I have no more responsibility.  My heart's desire is to proclaim God's might to the next generation, to help train these wonderful blessings to become mighty men and women of God.  

There's plenty of time to rest when I get to heaven!

Asking for the mind and strength to continue on,

Gloria

Ever Wondered About This?

"The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the dwelling of the righteous.  Toward the scorners he is scornful, but to the humble He gives favor. 

The wise will inherit honor, but fools get disgrace."

Proverbs 3:33-35

Be honest with me.  Have you ever looked at a passage of Scripture like this and thought, "How can that be true?  I know some wicked people, some scorners, some fools who are flourishing like crazy.  They have nice homes, nice cars and toys, and besides all that, everyone envies them."  To be honest with you, so have I. It's just hard to understand that what God is telling us is true.

We are in good company!  The remainder of my thoughts today are surely written better by the inspired writer in Psalm 73:

¹Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped.
³ For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek.
⁵ They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment.
⁷ Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies.
⁸ They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression.
⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth.
¹⁰ Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them.
¹¹ And they say, "How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?"
¹² Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.
¹³ All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴ For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning.
¹⁵ If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task,
¹⁷ until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end.

¹⁸Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin.
¹⁹ How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors!
²⁰ Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
²¹ When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart,
²² I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you.

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

²⁷For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
²⁸ But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

Remembering that this world is not our home,

Gloria

"For the Lord gives wisdom, from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.  He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of His saints."

Proverbs 2:6-7

When the Lord passed out the gene for a sense of direction, He left me out!  I can hardly find my way out of a paper bag.  When we moved to the Little Rock area years ago, my son had to be taken to Baptist Hospital for treatment on his ears.  Every time we left the hospital to go home, we would end up in Mayflower, AR, 15 miles the opposite direction from our house.  You would think I would learn!  It appears to my brain that in order to go back the way I came, I should turn the same direction as I came, not the opposite!

But if you give me directions and I write them down (turn left here, turn right there, go past the third red light and turn left, etc.) I can pretty much go anywhere.  Just tell me what to do!

Proverbs 2 speaks of different paths.  Very different paths.

The path of justice    or    The way of evil.

The way of the saints   or   The way of  men of perverted speech.

Every good path   or   Crooked paths.

The path of uprightness   or   The way of darkness

The path of life   or   Path to the departed.

The way of the good  or   The way of no return.

The paths of the righteous  or  Cut off from the land.

God has clear directions.  He has written them down through the pens of inspired men over a period of 1600 years, and without error.  He has told me what to do.  All I have to do is follow those directions, and I am sure not to get lost.  Every good path is available to me, and I can take the route to the path of life.  If I ignore the directions or fail to read them, I am sure to be lost.  Left to our own devices, we just cannot do it. 

Thanking God for clear directions,

Gloria