Poetry – Proverbs 4
I was telling a friend about the Bible Seminars and Theological Seminars conducted in our church for students and youths. And he could not believe that our members would be willing to site through lectures lasting between 1 to 3 weeks at a stretch. For him and in his church, 3 days seems to be the maximum and there has to be sufficient other ciricular activities to get people to commit to attending these events.
Besides the usual Church services, these Bible Seminars and Thelogical Seminars are excellent ways for us to get wisdom and understanding (Proverbs 4:5) for us to live. I managed to attend a few lessons on Bible Geography last week at the ongoing Youth Theolo. And the amazing thing is that even with these few short lessons, it helped me gained an insight to the life of Isaac that I never had before – and this was freely shared with the Katong Home Fellowship we had yesterday.
And that is the theme for today’s passage – gaining wisdom based on God’s Words!
Bible Passage: Proverbs 4
This Proverb is a great reminder to parents that they have a duty to impart wisdom to their children (Prov 4:3-4). Out of our struggles and sufferings, parents can offer experience and insights that will help the next generation get started on the right course.
But these must be based on God’s Words and His principles. And the only way for parents to know it, is for themselves to be learning God’s Words and applying it to their daily lives.
Our kids may not appreciate what we are doing right now, but we as parents, should continually teach – we simply cannot afford not to.
It also reminds me of the role of our Religious Education teachers in church. We have the duty to impart wisdom to our children – not just during class time, but also at other times, be it chit chatting with them after service, playing with them, attending bible camps with them etc.
We must teach our children to embrace wisdom themselves (Prov 4:8).
Time for Reflection
We are almost at the end of June 2009. The next half of the year beckons.
How are we faring? Have we accomplished the goals we have set out in the beginning of the year?
Ok, what about your Christian hopes for this year? Your aspirations for God?
Reading Proverbs 4:25-27 gives me pause for reflection and I thought it may be a good thing for all of us to evaluate our lives and make changes in light of what we see before we continue on blindly into the next part of the year.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead,
And your eyelids look right before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet,
And let all your ways be established.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left;
Remove your foot from evil.
Proverbs encourages us to stay on the path of wisdom, and to be careful not to stray “to the right or to the left”.
Is that the case of you?
In my own personal evaluation, I thought of the following questions and maybe they can be of use to you as you consider where you stand today:
- Honouring God: Can I think of 3 things I have done in the first six months of this year that I can honestly believe that has brought glory to God? The ways of honouring God could be in my home, at work, in our social circles or even in church.
- Influence on Others: Have I been a positive influence to those people that I have come in contact with this year? Is there someone that I have geniunely touched and change for the better this year?
- Avoiding Evil: What one thing have you said “no” to in the first six months of this year in order to “remove your foot from evil”? What did it cost you? But what did you gain?
On reflection – while I do believe that I have grown in some ways in the Lord, I do know that there are many more areas that I can improve on. But for the rest of the year, I intend to …
“… give attention to my words;
Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes;
Keep them in the midst of your heart;
For they are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
Keep your heart with all diligence,
For out of it spring the issues of life.”Proverbs 4:20-23
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PS
Prov 4:1-4 paints a beautiful picture of King Solomon talking to his sons about the good advices that his father, King David, had taught him and now he was teaching them to his sons.
Prov 4:20-22 seems to be our Heavenly Father saying to us:
My son, give attention to My words;
Incline your ears to My sayings. Listen to sermons.
Do not let them depart from your eyes. Read the bible daily.
Keep them in the midst of your heart. Think of the words of God throughout the day rather than day dreaming.
Then King Solomon spoke again:
For the words of God are life to those who find them,
And health to all their flesh.
“I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
Then King Solomon gave 4 ways to be watchful:
1) Watch over our heart with all diligence;
2) Watch over our tongue, talk straight, let no deceitful or perverse words proceed from our mouths;
3) Watch what we look at, look straight; and
4) Watch our steps, walk straight, do not turn left or right.