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FAMILY AND FRIENDS

 Proverbs 7:4 “Say to wisdom, ‘You are my sister,’ and call insight your intimate friend,”

CURIOUS WORDS

 When Solomon used these two analogies I took a step back to ponder.  I understand calling insight my intimate friend.  An intimate friend is one you can rely on. You know them deeply and they know you. You can call on them anytime for help. That’s insight.

But calling wisdom my sister?  What does that mean?  I have two sisters.  I love them both.  A brother defends his sister.  He stands up for her.  He wants no harm to come to her.  That’s how we should treat wisdom.  We should protect it and do nothing to hurt it.  We should love wisdom.

TEACHING MOMENT

 If you are blessed with boys and girls, you know the love/hate relationship that exists between brothers and sisters.  One minute they are hugging or playing well together.  The next they are ready to kill each other.  Our job as parents is to teach them how to treat each other because they will always be family.

Read this verse to them and ask them to tell you what they think it means.  Do you think your little Johnny is going to equate wisdom with his sister Susie?  Probably not.  Do you think Susie is going to consider Johnny her intimate friend?  My guess is no.  But because God uses these pictures in His Word, we know it is possible.

Who is your intimate friend?  I hope it is insight.  Who is your sister?  I pray it is wisdom.  We all need that in our lives.  If you are lacking wisdom and insight right now about something, turn to the One who can give it to you.

Thank You, Lord, for giving me wisdom and insight. Let me see these as my sister and intimate friend.  Let me hold them close and turn to them daily.

 

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DISCIPLINE

Proverbs 5:23 “He dies for lack of discipline, and because of his great folly he is led astray.”

IT’S NOT A BAD WORD

In our permissive society today discipline is looked upon as bad or unnecessary.  Our verse for today reminds me of Hebrews 12:11 “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  Without discipline, Solomon says we die and are led astray.

Discipline is really conditioning.  It’s conditioning our spirits to obey a holy God. It’s conditioning our minds to dwell on His Word.  It’s conditioning our mouths to speak truth.  It’s conditioning our ears to not listen to gossip.  It’s conditioning our eyes to look on godly things.

TEACHING MOMENT

 If you ask your little Gertrude or Elrod what discipline is, they would probably say a “whooping.”  Children equate discipline with pain unless we teach them otherwise.  Discipline may not be pleasant, as the writer of Hebrews says, but it does not have to be painful.

In fact, when we learn to discipline ourselves, the pain subsides quickly.  When we learn to practice self-discipline we don’t have problems with authority.  When our children learn that discipline is a good thing, parenting becomes so much easier.

How about you?  Are you disciplined or self-disciplined?  Do you require God to take you to the woodshed or do you deny yourself those things that you KNOW will lead you astray?  Discipline yourself.  Listen to the Spirit.  He will always point you correctly.

God of discipline, I know You love me and only discipline me because of that.  When I complain of the discipline remind me why You do it.  Your goal is to make me more like You and that is not possible until I yield to Your Spirit.

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UNJUST AND UNCLEAN

 Job 25:4 “‘How then can a man be just with God? Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?’”

MADE JUST AND CLEAN

 The shortest man in the Bible is talking to Job here.  This is Bildad the Shuhite (shoe height, get it?  You will later, lol).   Bildad is telling Job, “There is no man who is just before God, including you!” Oh, what Bildad didn’t know.  He assumed Job’s guilt.  He assumed Job had sinned some terrible sin or sins.  But he didn’t know the real story. Continue reading →

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