Proverbs 2 (ESV)
The Value of Wisdom
2 My son, if you receive my words
and treasure up my commandments with you,
2 making your ear attentive to wisdom
and inclining your heart to understanding;
3 yes, if you call out for insight
and raise your voice for understanding,
4 if you seek it like silver
and search for it as for hidden treasures,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
7 he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
8 guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints.
9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice
and equity, every good path;
10 for wisdom will come into your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
11 discretion will watch over you,
understanding will guard you,
12 delivering you from the way of evil,
from men of perverted speech,
13 who forsake the paths of uprightness
to walk in the ways of darkness,
14 who rejoice in doing evil
and delight in the perverseness of evil,
15 men whose paths are crooked,
and who are devious in their ways.
16 So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words,
17 who forsakes the companion of her youth
and forgets the covenant of her God;
18 for her house sinks down to death,
and her paths to the departed;
19 none who go to her come back,
nor do they regain the paths of life.
20 So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.
The world is deceptive. This probably isn’t news to you. A quick google search produced these affirmations:
Follow your heart.
If it feels good, do it.
Life is what I make of it. I have control of my life.
If I can imagine it, I can achieve it; if I can dream it, I can become it.
I am a magnet for money. Prosperity is drawn to me.
Bruce Jenner is a ‘hero’, a video of a mom surprising her 14 year old with the first hormone dose goes viral, a mass shooting gets major media coverage (like it should) and our President hops up to the podium to declare that we need gun control in our country….but doesn’t ever talk about the millions of babies murdered by government-funded Planned Parenthood or Americans imprisioned for their faith in other countries of the world.
Have I angered or depressed you enough with these few examples?
It’s not my intent….but if we are to realize that the Lord gives wisdom and from his mouth come knowledge (Proverbs 2:6) we also need to be aware of the lies, the ‘spin’, the agenda that is being presented to our society.
So what are we to do about it?
Read your Bible!
It’s just that simple. Read your Bible…read it with your spouse, your friends, your kids. Talk about it. Post about it. Share Bible verses with friends. Memorize Bible verses. Listen to music full of Bible verses.
And pray.
Pray for your family, for your friends, for your church, for your pastor, for our country, for our leaders.
And don’t lose hope. We know who holds the stars in His hand.
Thank you Melissa I finally got to rd proverbs 2-4 and your thoughts on them, as usual I was encouraged it truly helps me to get refocused on what’s really important:(
Thanks Kim! You are such an encouragement to me!!!