Skip to main content

Belly Check

I enjoyed reading Proverbs 20. In Solomon's style of pointing out observations, he reminds us we need God's counsel to be the compass for our soul. I want to highlight my observations of his message to us.

Our Compass: Proverbs 20:9-13
Solomon implores us to assess our actions through the lens of what's right in God's eyes. God is our guide and measurement for what is good and evil. Solomon's warning about sleep points to a spiritual slumber caused by not growing in our faith in God. This leads to an impoverished soul. Solomon says to "open thine eyes." We need to be alert and be aware of our spiritual state of being. We need to cultivate our spirit with God's word and direction. Solomon points out that when our eyes are open, we "shalt be satisfied with bread," meaning our soul will be filled.

Our Counsel: Proverbs 20:5, 20:18, 20:24
I pondered over these verses for some time because I had a feeling there was something good that needed to be unpacked within these words. What I've come to understand so far, is that we cannot decipher wisdom on our own, or base it off of our surface level experiences. We (humans) behave like we are in control of our life and can dictate our experiences, but in reality, we are only acting and reacting to the life we've been given. Even more pertinent is the fact that God knows everything about us and knows how we can fail when certain complications come our way. He knows us! It's best to depend on God to guide us because he can help us avoid our own shortcomings. We don't truly understand it all nor can we handle it all, but with God's guidance, we can get a deeper understanding of life, our purpose, and gain direction for our path.

Our Soul Scars: Proverbs 20:27, 20:30
There is an internal battle taking place in our soul. It is happening even if we close our eyes to it and never look inwards to check on the health of our soul. When we use God's Word to whip our flesh into submission to God's will, we acknowledge this internal battle. Solomon's words indicate that this battle results in wounds and bruises that bring about our righteousness. This process of holy transformation is one that can be painful because we go against what feels easy and comfortable in order to progress towards what is perfect and pure.

Lord help us to keep an eye on our spiritual health. Help us to stay awake so that laziness doesn't allow evil to dwell within us. You know us Lord - please be our constant guide.

Comments

Post a Comment

Please share your thoughts and reflections spurred on by this post. :)

Popular posts from this blog

Comfort in Discomfort

Our small group chatted recently about a comment our pastor mentioned a few Sundays ago. The comment left some of us scratching our heads and trying to understand how we really  felt about it. Our pastor said that he's noticed a common thread stated by people who experience hardships. They all said they would not change their bad experiences because they now value the good lessons they learned following their trials. The common sentiment was that the pain and hard lessons were worth it in order to grow. I intellectually understood this point, but my physical and emotional, pain-understanding being, disagreed! Do I want to experience hurt and discomfort just to learn how to lean into God and understand that He is my shelter and Comforter? The answer is no , not really. I'd rather just know it. Unfortunately, that's not the way it works. We live with our human nature, ripe with opportunities for exercising freewill. This freewill can positively and negatively impact our live...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Wisdom Walk

I'm reading Proverbs 4 and 5 and some of the takeaway points were: (1) learn about wisdom and instruction, (2) let your whole body be in submission to wisdom, and (3) embrace correction Proverbs 4 implores us to get wisdom and understanding. We learn from this chapter that King Solomon's "father" taught Solomon the value of gaining wisdom and the dangers of ignoring it. ( Proverbs 4:3-4 ) "Wisdom is the principal thing" which sets you up for promotion, honor, grace and glory. ( Proverbs 4:7-9 ) If we want all of these good things, we need to be given wisdom and shown the right paths. We need to be teachable. Proverbs 4 is written in a dual way where it's implied that Solomon was taught by his father King David. We can also read Solomon's words and see him speaking metaphorically as a "father" to us. This writing style was oddly soothing because it helped me get past the thoughts of - well, what should people do if they don't hav...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Expanse

I participated in a Zoom prayer call tonight with other women at my church and at the end I just had that feeling of loveliness. It felt good, it felt connected, and it made me want to connect with God even more. I opened my Bible and read Jeremiah 2:2 .  Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.” My thoughts after reading this was: Lord increase my wonder of You.  When things are brand new we have a strong urge to learn more, seek more, engage more. When the shine wears off, we become complacent and less interested. Maybe it’s because we feel we’ve learned all we need to know. Maybe it’s because we are too comfortable in the now. Maybe it’s because we can’t see the possibility of there being so much more for us to gain.  When it comes to my spirit and You, God, please open my eyes to see the expanse of all that you have for me to...
Post a Comment
Read more