Read the Bible in a Year (13JUL19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, July 13’s Bible reading is Proverbs 1-3.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, July 14’s Bible reading is Proverbs 4-6. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD. 

PROVERBS Introduction  

The word “proverb” in Hebrew has several broad meanings. It can be defined as taunt, oracle, or parable (Isaiah 14:4; Numbers 23:7,18; Ezekiel 17:2). Proverbs are normally condensed statements that tell a truth normally in figurative language regarding human behavior. The book of Proverbs is largely contributed the King Solomon, but some of the later chapters lead scholars to believe that there was other authors who wrote its ending. Its authorship is believed to have been around the tenth century. Proverbs was written for the simpleminded, to give the young wisdom, and to expand the knowledge of those already wise with age. The book centers around having a fear for the Lord in one’s daily thoughts, actions and deeds. 

PROVERBS MOMENT – (13JUL19) Solomon wrote, “Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, from the wayward woman with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God” (Proverbs 2:16-17). Solomon, the wisest man in the Bible, knew all too well about the seduction of the adulterous woman that leads one down the path of foolishness. God had blessed Solomon to have wisdom beyond his years and natural ability, but he became foolish by allowing his heart to turn away from God because of his love for foreign women. The Lord had given Israel instructions when they left Egypt that they were not to intermingle or marry heathen nations, so that their eyes would not turn away from Him. The Bible says, “When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations… Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you” (Deuteronomy 7:1a,3). God had foreseen how the Israelites would be seduced away from Him. He was not preserving them for a racist agenda and ideology as some have misinterpreted the scriptures to mean. God was preserving His people to be a nation that would adhere to His laws so that they could be a witness to the surrounding nations concerning Him. The plan of Salvation had already been made, but God was working this plan out through His children for the whole world to be saved. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Therefore, the Bible refers to the lack of wisdom as a wayward unfaithful wife, but this is gender neutral in its interpretation.

Throughout the proverbs, we will see that the writer often refers to the lack of wisdom as being a woman of folly. Therefore, we will refer to her as Lady Folly and the words of the wise as Lady Wisdom. Solomon did not want his son to listen to Lady Folly, for she was very seductive with her words, and would lead him down the path of destruction. Lady Folly likes to entice her targets with the luxuries of sin, greed, selfishness and vanity. She seeks after dishonest gain and pays no attention to Lady Wisdom who cries out for all to hear that calamity is coming if they follow Lady Folly. Lady Wisdom acts as an armor of protection against Lady Folly and invites all to her table to dine on the fear of the Lord. Unfortunately, too many people love the delicacies of Lady Folly whose table is filled with the empty calories of iniquity. God, however, has warned the nations concerning Lady Folly, but few pay attention, so when calamity strikes, He will not answer because they hated knowledge and did not fear the Lord. The Bible says, “Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me, since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord” (Proverbs 1:28-29). Many people are mocking God and His true servants right now, but God will have the last laugh. It will not be due to their destruction for having not been warned, but it will be due to their persistence in listening to Lady Folly who cares for nothing and no one. Something to ponder….

QUESTION OF THE DAY - (13JUL19) “Blessed are those who find wisdom…for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold” (Proverbs 3:13-14). Have you ever heard of lottery winners who won the “Mega Millions,” only to hear about them years later being in total financial ruin? What about celebrities who were famous at some point in their career, only to have their wills read upon their death, giving the bitter news for family to find out that they died broke with mountain stacks of debt? The writer of Proverbs wrote that wisdom was more valuable than money, so why is that? If you were to think about the ones who had money and blew it, you may find that they were NOT wise with their spending. Many people have regretfully said that they blew their money on fast cars, sexual escapades, gambling, luxury vacations, people, and other various pleasures, but they failed to invest wisely. Therefore, their lack of “wisdom” was the cause for them to be in a financial prison of their own making.

King Solomon, who is credited with writing the majority of the Book of Proverbs told his son that the fear of the Lord was the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction (Proverbs 1:7). Have you ever heard the term educated idiot? One can obtain knowledge, but do not have the wisdom as to how to use what they have obtained. Therefore, the Apostle James gives us a solution for this crisis that many find themselves even in today’s times. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5). I used to hear my teachers say all the time, “There is no such thing as a dumb question.” Now, we may disagree when it comes to those in Congress…we’ll leave that for another day. Nevertheless, God is all too willing to give us wisdom in the ways of Him if we desire to have it. All we have to do is ask and He will grant it to us without having any fault against us. We would probably all agree that there is no human being that knows everything. It doesn’t matter how many degrees that we earn, there is always something that we do not know and can benefit from learning. The thing, however, is knowing how to apply the knowledge that we have. 

The late Steve Hawking, a well-known physicist among other things attributed to him, was known to be a brilliant man of science despite his crippling disability. Unfortunately, despite all the knowledge that he had, he was a self-professed atheist. Here is a quote from the Washington Post which was done prior to his death: “He said during an interview with El Mundo in 2014: ‘Before we understand science, it is natural to believe that God created the universe. But now science offers a more convincing explanation. What I meant by ‘we would know the mind of God’ is, we would know everything that God would know, if there were a God, which there isn’t. I’m an atheist.’ ” How sad to think that a man with such a brilliant mind would deny the existence of God. The Bible says, “The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good” (Psalm 14:1). All the power, fame, money, wealth, and possessions in the world is nothing if we do not have the wisdom of the Lord. Let us seek wisdom from God above all else because as Mastercard ad campaigns used to say, “it’s PRICELESS.” Something to ponder….