A new month begins a new walk in Proverbs. If you don't want your toes stepped on, it is best to remove your slippers and lace up the steel-toed boots! I have yet to be able to read/study and not get my toes stepped on each month. Our pastor said something during our Sunday School lesson that has stuck with me. I have heard it before, but I needed to be reminded. "You can't help people if you are a mess! God gave us His Word to help people learn about Himself. How do we know what is good and acceptable to God? We must get in God's Word and study it...be under the teaching and preaching of God's Word...on a daily basis. The Holy Spirit does the work to change people's lives. That can only happen...when people set aside their pride, confess, and submit to God's Word."
The Proverb for Monday...chapter 9...can cause some ruffled feathers! When I read through this chapter, certain words jump out at me: simple, foolish, scorner, wisdom, clamorous, understanding, fear, instruction.
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shall bear it. A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing."
The walk continued today...chapter 10...why do our feathers get so ruffled with truth? Maybe because of the directness of God's Words? He doesn't "sugar-coat" the truth to make us feel good. His desire is that we walk in the way of truth...the narrow way...the way towards blessing...the way of hope...the way of life everlasting. Our feelings, our likes/dislikes, and our thoughts about a subject do not impress God. God's Word never changes. It doesn't have to change, because God knows the beginning from the end!
"The wise in heart will receive commandments: but a prating fool shall fall. He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known. He that winketh with the eye causeth sorrow: but a prating fool shall fall."
This chapter deals with the mouth, the lips, the words, and the tongue. Whenever the word fool is used in the Bible, it doesn't mean a mentally deficient person. It has the idea of a person who is arrogant and self-sufficient, who orders his/her life as if there were no God.
Your feathers should be ruffled and your toes will be stepped on! It really makes no difference if all you do is just spend time clucking about or stomping your feet like a fool. What matters to God...that you accept instruction and reproof, set aside your prideful opinions, and start giving thought to your eternal wellbeing.
"The way of the Lord is strength to the upright: but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity."
These two chapters had better do more than just ruffle my feathers!
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