The Bible Recap - Day 155 (Proverbs 4-6) - Year 3

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible recap. Today we continue in Proverbs with the Father's instructions to his Son. He's telling him general truths for what it looks like to live and walk in the fear of the Lord, in ways that engage with God on a level of delight and awe. Proverbs 4.7 always makes me laugh. It says, the beginning of wisdom is this, get wisdom, which is kind of like saying, the way to be taller is this. Grow. But it does go to show how circular this can actually feel sometimes. We talked about this yesterday. To recognize that you need wisdom is wise. The new pursue wisdom and you get wiser and you realize To recognize that you need wisdom is wise. The new pursue

Starting point is 00:00:45 wisdom and you get wiser and you realize how much more you still have to learn. I've heard a relationship with God described in much the same way, that the closer you get to him, the further you realize you are from him. Maybe you feel that. It's interesting how being closer to the light of God will illuminate the dark places in us all the more. We feel conviction about sins that never bother us before. We see positive changes in negative attitudes that we use to pride ourselves on. He really does work such a change in us that we can't access on our own. He does the doing. Romans 1136 addresses this kind of circular spiritual mystery.

Starting point is 00:01:23 It says, from him, through him, and to him are all things. In verse 14-15, the dad really doubles down on his advice. Actually, he sex doubles down on it six times. He repeats the way to handle the path of the wicked. He says, do not enter. Do not wall. Avoid it. Do not go on it. Turn away from it. Pass on. Okay. God at dad. Then we move on to verse 23, which is a popular verse that people like to apply to dating relationships. It says, keep your heart with all vigilance, or from it, blow the springs of life. There's definitely wisdom in having good boundaries, but this is not a verse about disengaging from your emotions, or trying not to get your hopes up that things might work out with your love interest.

Starting point is 00:02:20 When we look at the context of this verse, we see that it's surrounded by verses about clinging to wisdom and about keeping your tongue from lies and your eyes from evil and your feet from wicked paths. This verse about guarding our hearts seems to be more concerned with eradicating bitterness and malice from our hearts, not romantic feelings, though romantic feelings certainly can lead to bitterness and malice, so maybe this isn't an entirely different subject. But you get the point. Prof. V, on the other hand, has a lot to say about relationships. The dad is emphatic about avoiding adultery and adulterous. He describes her as a simpleton, someone who doesn't ponder the path she's taking. She doesn't weigh consequences and outcomes,

Starting point is 00:03:02 because if she did, she'd never make the decision to commit adultery. The father is basically saying, she's not thinking, so you'd better be the one thinking. And when you think, remember what I'm telling you right now. Don't do it, it's not worth it. He encourages his son to be faithful to his wife and he prays a blessing over their marriage and their love. In chapter 6, we see some interesting advice from the father to the son. He basically says, don't loan people money. Again, this isn't a law. And in fact, scripture marks out

Starting point is 00:03:32 that we should be generous to those in need. And God even forbids Israelites from charging interest to other Israelites they loan money to. So we know this isn't against God's laws. This is a father passing down his experiential wisdom to his son. He also encourages his son to develop a strong work ethic and to deal honestly with others.

Starting point is 00:03:51 Then the dad decides he has more to say about adultery, so he circles back around with, oh, and another thing. He says that if his son walks in wisdom, he will naturally avoid the adulteress. But if he happens to find himself tempted, he should remember that you can't eat coals into your lap without being burned, and a lot of other consequences he list out as a deterrent. Because again, walking in wisdom and nearness with God ushers in peace, but walking outside of his ways ushers in destruction. What was your God shot today? I'm always trying to look for a few different things when I read scripture. What does this say about who God is?

Starting point is 00:04:27 About what He loves, what He hates, and what motivates Him to do what He does? Well, today in 616-19, the author unpacked one of those things directly. He listed out seven things that are in abomination to God and six things He hates. Here they are. Hottie eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who soes discord among brothers. I don't know about you, but a lot of that applies to me. It makes me all the more grateful that Jesus paid the price for my sins, and that I can see God's spirit working those things out of me. I see how generous God is that

Starting point is 00:05:12 He adopted a sinner like me into His family when I do so many things that He hates, and that are an abomination to Him. I also just want to take a second to flip all these things on their head, because if these are the things God hates, then it's because they defile something that he loves. So what does this list teach us about what God loves? He loves humility, honesty, innocence and justice, purity, righteousness, truth, peacemaking and unity. Those things are so beautiful, and they definitely demonstrate who we've seen him to be as we've been reading through Scripture. I want to be more like him, like that list, and less like me, like the first list, because

Starting point is 00:05:54 he's where the joy is. If you're listening to an episode and think, whoa, terribly, slow down, I have great news for you. You are in control of how fast I talk. And there's a good chance you may have accidentally hit the button on your pod catcher that speeds up my voice. Oops. So check that out first.

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The Bible Recap - Day 155 (Proverbs 4-6) - Year 3

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