Proverbs 22

Thank you for your prayers for me and our church.  What a week!  Yesterday afternoon and early this morning God allowed me to complete the message for Sunday.  You might remember what I taught last Sunday about waiting for wisdom.  God was checking to make sure I practice what I preach.

Wise is the man or woman who remembers the teaching of verse 1 during a compromising situation.  How sad that so many have sacrificed their good name for riches.  Sitting in a jail cell or going through a bankruptcy, they realize the wisdom of this verse.

Many of us are living the fulfillment of verse 6.  We sowed our wild oats but couldn’t run from the training and truth of the Gospel we received as a child.

I’m so proud to be a part of GC.  You are living verse 9.  We asked you to help needy families in our church and in the area, to date you have donated over $500 in gift cards and cash.  We’ve also collected a ton of can goods.  We hope to deliver them this week to 4 families in our church who are having a hard time buying a Thanksgiving meal.  Anything left over will be given to the local food pantry.  Thank you for your generosity.  You will be blessed.

In this economy, we need to remember and obey verse 7 and verses 26-27.  The failure to obey these verses is one of the reasons our country and our economy is in such disarray.  I don’t want to be an “I told you so” guy, and I certainly don’t think God is one.  Instead, let’s put the past behind us and make a commitment to be financially wise in the future.  Let’s make a commitment to get out of debt and stay out of debt.

Have a great day.  I look forward to worshipping with you tomorrow.

Special Request

I apologize that I have no wisdom or commentary to share with you today. Instead I want to ask you for prayer. It has been an unusually busy, stressful week for me. A lot of unexpected counseling and difficult conversations. It is Thursday morning and I have yet to start writing my sermon for Sunday. I know your life is busy as well, but would you mind stopping and saying a prayer for me? Pray that God will give me wisdom as a husband, father, pastor, and preacher. Pray that God will multiply my time, bless my message preparation, and allow me to rest and be ready for Sunday. Thanks for your love and prayers.

Proverbs 19

Verse 1 must have been a painful verse for Solomon to write.  He wasn’t poor and he certainly wasn’t blameless.  He had chosen the way of perversity and lived to regret it.  Perhaps he penned this Proverb while watching a poor man whose walk was blameless.  Sitting in his palace walls, having chosen the way of a fool, he would have traded it all to be blameless.  Doing the right thing, whether it be telling the truth, paying our tithe, paying our taxes, staying faithful to our vows, whatever, seems so hard initially.  But in the end... life is good.

How typical of the human race.  God gives us a choice, we reject His way (v.3), then we blame Him for our pain.

The Proverbs were written over 3,000 years ago, yet what was true of people then, is still true today.  The wealthy have plenty of friends and the poor struggle to keep them (v.4 & 7).

It is encouraging to know that as we grow in wisdom, we also grow in patience (v.11).  I need patience.  Patience with God.  Patience with my kids.  Patience with my finances.  It’s so easy to react without thinking.

Speaking of reacting, verse 19 teaches us to let the hot-tempered man pay the penalty for his anger.  If we keep bailing him out, he will never learn.

Proverbs 18

This morning I overslept and don’t have the time to read the entire chapter.  That’s okay, remember it’s quality over quantity.  There’s so much wealth in the first few verses.  If we spend a few minutes reflecting on those, it’s better than hurrying through the whole chapter just to say that we read it.

Verse 1 reminds me that the unfriendly man is the epitome of self-destruction and selfishness.  To be unfriendly toward others defies all sound judgment.  When we are unfriendly we only hurt ourselves.  No one wants to hire, marry, or even hang around with an unfriendly person.

In the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey points us to habit 5, which is, “seek first to understand, then to be understood.”  Not only does it show value to other person, according to verse 2, it keeps us from behaving like a fool.  Autobiographical listening doesn’t accomplish anything other than airing our own opinions.  It doesn’t help us understand the person we are trying to help.

I hope you a great day full of God’s Wisdom!

Proverbs 17

I love the hope of verse 2.  No matter where we start in life, if we are wise, we will be successful.

If I want to purify silver or gold, I use heat.  When God wants to purify me, He does the same (v.3).  Pain will reveal the motives of my heart faster than anything else.

Solomon is not condoning bribery (v.8).  In verse 23, he actually condemns it as a perversion of justice.  He is simply saying it works.   In some parts of the world, it’s how things get done.

One of the things we read about frequently in Proverbs are the situations and people that we should avoid.  Wise people avoid fools bent on folly (v.12),repaying evil for good (v.13), quarrels (v.14 & 19), co-signing loans (v.18), deception (v.19), and too many words (v.28).  Do you find yourself frequently engaging in something the Proverbs teach us to avoid?  What has been the result of your behavior?