Tag: Proverbs

Morning Musings: Proverbs 24:13-14

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“My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.  Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.”

When was the last time you enjoyed something good simply because it was good?  So often, if we allow ourselves to experience something good, it is as a stopping point on the way to something else.  The good thing is not the end, but rather part of the means.  This can be especially true for followers of Jesus.  To seek out the experience of something good for no other reason than that it is good feels too self-indulgent.  We are not worth such efforts.  It is selfish.  We don’t deserve such things. Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Proverbs 21:26

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“All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.”  (ESV)

Being righteous doesn’t mean being perfect.  That is certainly the goal, but the two aren’t the same thing.  The righteous person still has desires for all kinds of different things, many of them things which are not good for them.  As Solomon writes here, he craves and craves all day long.  What the righteous person does do is deny those cravings for the sake of others.  He learns to say no to what he wants in order that he might be able to give to those around him.  She is in control of her desires in order leverage her resources for the benefit of people who do not have similar access to them. Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 22:1

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“A good name is to  be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.”  (ESV)

One of the memories from my childhood that will always stick with me is a picture that hung in the hallway of the house where I grew up.  It had a picture of my dad’s dad (whom I never met), a picture of my dad, and a picture of me.  Next to the pictures, in its own space, was a poem.  I never knew who wrote it, and some digging on the internet has revealed more than one version attributed to more than one author.  The version that hung on the wall goes like this:  Read the rest…

Morning Musings: Proverbs 21:2

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“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart.”  (ESV)

There is absolutely no better salesman on the rightness of what we plan to do than ourselves.  We can convince ourselves of literally anything given enough time and motivation.  If left to our own devices, we can justify just about any behavior.

One of the most popular slogans of our culture today is to follow your heart.  As warm and fuzzy as this advice is made to sound, however (and nobody has worked quite so hard to make it the central thought of every young person than Disney), the truth is that it is awful advice.  Absolutely awful.

Because of sin, our hearts are hopelessly corrupt and deceptive.  If we follow our own hearts we are going to find our way into nothing but trouble and lots of it.  If instead we turn ourselves over to the God who defines right and wrong and let Him be our guide regardless of where our heart is telling us to go, the likelihood of our finding ourselves on the right track goes up enormously.

The Lord weighs the heart.  Let us let Him weigh ours so that we stay following after Him on the path to life.

Morning Musings: Proverbs 20:22

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“Do not say, ‘I will repay evil’; wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you.”  (ESV)

When we have been affronted by some evil, or when we see someone else who has been affected by it, our natural response is to want to repay it.

Throughout the whole of human history, our natural response has been to repay in kind when we have been dealt an offense.  And this is right, isn’t it?  If something is wrong, we need to act to set it right.  For someone who doesn’t believe in a just god, this is obviously necessary, because who else is going to do it?  But even for those who believe in a God who is perfect in justice this should be something that is good and right, yes?  After all, this would be our participating in His character of justice.   Read the rest…