Say Cheese

Proverbs 31:25 (KJV) Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.

When you hear the news does it drive you to despair?  When you think of your children or grandchildren and what’s ahead of them, do you spend a lot of time in worry?  Will you have enough for retirement?  Will the tires last another six months?  Life is so full of things to worry about.

I sympathize.  I do my share of worrying.  I tell myself I shouldn’t, but I do it anyway.  What alleviates the concern ,though, is my trust in Almighty God.  I love the term Providence. It reminds me that God is in charge and it helps me to look back and focus on all the blessings that encompass my life.

So?  With that in mind, I can look to the future and I can rejoice.  Trust God.  Live with enthusiasm.  Rejoice.  

Running on Empty

Proverbs 30:8 (KJV) Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:

These couple of verses are really powerful as a basis for our prayer requests.  We spent so much time on long list of concerns or desires.  We pray for friends and relatives.  We pray for the nation.  All that is good, but there’s a basis that we need to start with and that’s found here.

The first thing mentions here in the KV is “vanity”.  Other translations use words that have to do with deception and lies.  The basic idea behind it is emptiness.  A lie can be a statement of truth that has no truth.  Deception is giving the appearance of something that is not shown.  This is a basic call to honesty.  It’s a call for us to rely on truth and reality and not just what we want.

So?  Make it a request maybe each morning.  Make it a conscious desire of your life.  Strive to get rid of the emptiness of vanity and fill your life with the substance of truth.  Of course the place to start with that is in reading your Bible and seeing what God has to say about life.  

Hold to the Vision

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV) Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

This is one of those verses where we really need to compare the translations.  The King James says that people will perish when they have no vision.  The modern translations have more of the idea of losing all restraint, and casting off any kind of standards.  When we stop looking at the word, and considering what God tells us, we come up with all kinds of wild and crazy ideas. 

Here in Proverbs, the concentration is on the law.  I think that you could almost confine this to the 10 Commandments.  Any culture or society that focuses upon these basic values of God will find itself doing very well.  When you look away, anything goes.  If you’ve ever tried to drive a car while watching a bunch of teenagers do stupid stuff on the sidewalk you’ll often find that your options break quickly or different.

So?  In the end, the life that is lived paying attention to the road signs and the lines on the road will be much happier than the person who falls asleep at the wheel.  Stay awake.  Stay focused.  Live in righteousness.  

Open Eyes

Proverbs 28:14 (KJV) Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.

Fear makes us flexible and helps us adapt when we understand it correctly.  Keep in mind that this kind of fear that is being talked about is not the craven, quivering phobias that everybody likes to accuse you of.  This is the fear and respect that we have for things of great power and dominance.  Ultimately, this is talking about fear of God.

Fear can bring happiness.  That is the statement that is made here.  Actually, it’s the results of the fear that seem to be so beneficial.  When I am afraid to sit on a fire-ant nest, I find that I am a happier person.  In fact, I don’t even have to sit on it.  All I have to do is stand not moving when someone else is yelling, “Get away from the fire ants.”  That will rapidly make me unhappy.  A healthy fear will make my lunch go down better.

So?  Don’t try to pull a John Wayne when you’re surrounded by Indians and you have a back door to get out of.  Show intelligent, healthy fear.  Be aware of who God is and the fact that He loved you enough to send Jesus to die for you.  

Observing Curfew

Proverbs 27:14 (KJV) He that blesseth his friend with a loud voice, rising early in the morning, it shall be counted a curse to him.

I must confess that this verse mystifies me.  I can’t ever think of a time where I got up early in the morning to shout blessings across the lawn at my neighbor.  Rarely do I see my neighbor early in the morning and when I do he’s inside a car with his stereo on, and his windows rolled up.  I do wave, but I don’t shout.

I think part of the issue here is us wanting attention when we do things that are correct.  I think we should be asking God’s blessing upon our neighbors.  We should double that if they are our friends.  Triple it if they are family.  We should be willing to offer up prayers for people around us without calling attention to ourselves.

So?  Just as our giving to charity and the needy should be done in a quiet way that does not embarrass them, so our blessings should also be restrained.  Let God be the one that hears.  

Dawning on Me

1 John 1:5 (NASB95) This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

(Proverbs 26 also read)

This morning I was reading in Psalm 27 and it talked about God being my light and my salvation.  In thinking about that and following the train I came to this passage.  Light is one of God’s attributes.  Sitting on the porch in the early morning, you see different contributions that light makes to your life.

Light as it grows pushes back the vagueness and the unknown qualities of the world around you.  In the predawn darkness, I can make out blobs and vague shapes and light spots, you know all those vague qualities of the dark.  As the light grows the dark spots become rocks.  The big plateau in front of me becomes a lawn with weeds, showing up and obviously in need of mowing.  The colors begin to nuance.  What was once a cross between gray and black becomes multiple shades of green.

I think of the light bringing photosynthesis into play.  It contributes its energy in that mysterious way, so that the plants start changing carbon dioxide into oxygen.

Light also has an effect on our emotions.  It’s easier to be optimistic in the daylight than it is at night.  Energy levels may increase.  All by simply increasing the light around us.

So?  May your day be filled with light.  May you enjoy the details and the variety that surrounds.   Rejoice.  

Vistas of Worship

Psalms 26:8 (KJV) LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

(Proverbs 25 also read)

We hear people talk about how they don’t need to go to church in order to worship.  That is one of those statements that is totally correct in it’s details and facts and yet totally wrong in it’s intent and attitude.  When I’ve heard people say this, they generally are people who do not want to submit themselves to any other spiritual authority and so they avoid the church.  Sometimes the problem is that the church has gotten so culturally compliant that it no longer seems to be a place to worship.  I can understand that.

Here we have David who does not yet have a temple to worship in but he does have a location which is looked at as being the house of God.  He loved that location and you pick up part of the reason in the second part of the verse.  He talks about the place where God’s honor dwells.  The modern translation says glory instead of honor.  When we go to church to worship, we should understand that we are going there because it is a place that God has ordained to meet Him.  His honor dwells there.

But I think there’s a second thought here, which goes along with the original people we were talking about.  There are many places there you can go and recognize God’s glory as being there.  I think of my front porch in the morning as I worship before dawn.  I can think of many other locations where I’ve been where it is easy to worship God.  Often that is out in nature somewhere.  Sometimes it’s the most unexpected places, but God is there.

So?  Realize that you can honor God almost anywhere by focusing on Him.  His radiance and glory are powerful enough to overcome any obstacles.