Proverbs 3
Bible Passage: Proverbs 3
Human beings are limited in many ways, and as we can see from many different races and cultures, people worship different objects as reliance, hoping to obtain wisdom to fill up their lack in dealing with problems of their lives.
The God that we worship is a divine being, the supreme and sovereign Creator of all things that are visible and invisible.
He is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last; and He is in control of all things. God proclaimed through the mouth of Prophet Isaiah,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’
Isaiah 46:10
Indeed the world’s wisdom put together will not be able to even come near to the wisdom that is from this supreme God.
In this chapter, Proverbs 3, God urges all His children not to forsake the law and commandments of God, for they will not only add long life to us, but also peace to the length of life.
We are indeed very blessed to come to know the One True God, for He is indeed a loving Father, but not many of us can feel His constant presence, so it is inevitable that we find it hard to trust in Him in all that we want to do, but God assures us in vs 5 and 6,
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
Yes, all that we have to do is to trust Him with all our hearts, and we will experience His guidance in all that we do.
As we receive such abundant love from God, we are also being reminded to love our fellow man; and I think this is being summed up in v27
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
When it is in the power of your hand to do so.
Diffusing the loving fragrance of Christ is part of our duty on earth (ref. 2 Cor. 2:15), so that man can come to be reconciled with our Heavenly Father.
This also reminds me of a warning from Elder James regarding doing good to others,
Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
James 4:17
We all bear the image of God, and God’s image is filled with love, so if we do not even exercise the love that we have received and learnt from our Lord Jesus, can we be called Christians?
May God continue to bless us with divine wisdom, and also a heart of love so that we can keep ourselves in the grace of God, never to leave His fold; and that we can diffuse the sweet aroma of the love of our Heavenly Father.
Shalom.
6 Comments
PS
Do not withhold good from those whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. (Proverbs 3:27)
Once a group of us had lunch at a hawker center. A physically challenged person who earned his living by singing was there too. When he came to our table. He stood there and sang. We ignored him. None of us moved. He refused to go away. He just stood and continued to sing.
Then a brother finally stood up and dropped something into his box and he moved onto to another table.
At that moment, i felt ashamed of my hard-heartedness and prejudice.
Later i heard a sermon, my heart pricked me again.
Yes, indeed “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.”, i m guilty.
Till now i m still ashamed of myself.
Thank you for the good reminder.
This sunday i shall go back to the same hawker center and hopefully i can meet him and offer my appreciation for his music and my quiet apology.
InHisTime
“And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man.”
Prov 3:4
Today’s chapter speaks so much to me, but this was the verse that stood out most. We got to do right not only in the eyes of God, but the eyes of man too.
Today, my new boss arrives to replace my previous one who i have a close relationship with. I heard truckloads of negative remarks/comments about my new boss and because of that I plan to do my work halfheartedly/sloppily.
This verse is a timely reminder for me, to put in my best effort, be responsible and not do anything wrong before man, no matter how unreasonable or mean they are.
Pray that God will guide.
isfp
Hi InHisTiming,
I have heard a wonderful sermon on how to treat others from tjc ia site. In it, the preacher speaks about being responsible and faithful in the things we do. Maybe this will be edifying to you.
Title: Christian Principles on Treating Others (1)
Speaker: C.H.Chou
Place: San Jose
http://ia.tjc.org/elibrary/ContentDetail.aspx?ItemID=22665
isfp
Many verses that i really like on today’s bible read.
v11-12 “Dont despise God’s discipline.” Of course, we wish that God will forgive our trespasses and to “spare the rod”. However, God want us to learn and to truly repent of our stubborn ways and He will discipline us. No children likes to be caned/scolded, neither adults too. It is pain. It is suffering. You will think that God doesn’t care or love you anymore. For example, I have seen a parent asking his child to sit on a crowded bus. but the child for some reason do not want to sit and wants to stand next to his father. The father is worry for the child safety on a crowded bus, sternly urged his son to sit. The son didnt listen. Finally, He haul him up to the seat. Immediately, the child burst out crying. There might be many reason why the child cry, maybe, he feel hurt by his dad’s action or he may feel his dad does not love him… etc. Something to ponder: are we like the kid? when God discipline us do we cry? do we throw tandrum? do we blame God? We all know that God is good and His intention is good. Just like the father on the bus, his intention is for the safety of his child. But most of the time we(the child) do not understand God’s intention because we “don’t know about tomorrow”, can’t foresee the danger ahead of our actions. He discipline us so that we don’t hurt ourselves. He discipline us so that we can turn away from our sins and iniquities. He discipline us so that our soul can be saved(i.e path of sins leads to death). And He loves us. Therefore, when His discipline comes, let us not question “God how come like this?” “God, why ?” etc… Instead, have faith in His goodness and what He do on your life is according to His beautiful will.
v19-20 Reminds me of God rebuking Job. Job 38:4. It also alert me to be humble before God whose knowledge is beyond our understanding. Can we really question Him when we cant even understand how the world is created from nothingness?
v27-30 in short, teaches us how to “Love thy neighbor” To expand a bit: these verses admonishes us to seize the opportunity to do good or love our neighbors. v29-30 To live amicably with our neighbors.
v31 Is quite practical in today’s society, where violence runs amok. We see it in movies, games, media etc. What society is glorifying is that violence solves everything. Resulting in youths involving in staring fights. School shootings. Others incident like family abuses, jealousy murder etc. Sometimes even good people are forced to take up violence to solve their problem because they couldn’t wait for the Law. They take the law into their hands. So as christian chosen by God, we shouldn’t envy those that take Law into their hands through violent ways. And we should abstain from violent games/media… So hard indeed, esp the movies we watch all contains some form of violence.
v34. Haiz… another hard to do thing. That is to control our tongue. Are we guilty of mocking/gossiping others in church or outside? Something to consider… James 13:1-12
v24. Finally, if we submit to wisdom our sleep will be sweet and not afraid.
Treasureinearthernvessel
There are many verses that I love from Proverbs 3 too! 🙂
But just to share on one verse that really stood out for me, like it did for InHisTime.
And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:4)
InHisTime reminded us that we ought to not only do right in the sight of God, but also in the sight of man. Didn’t Jesus too? 🙂
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (Luke 2:52)
But what if those men aren’t exactly with God? Do we still seek their favour? Why should we? Didn’t the Bible said friendship with the world is enmity with God (James 4:4)?
I don’t really know how to answer that… although the Bible also mentioned about loving your enemies (but we know that it is really hard too)… However, I hope to change our perspective a bit by highlighting verse 3 together with verse 4.
Let not mercy and truth forsake you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart,
And so find favor and high esteem
In the sight of God and man. (Proverbs 3:3-4)
I think this means that as long as we keep ourselves in the love and mercy of God, practise the truth, live out the ways of the Lord, then naturally, we will find ourselves in favour with God (and men).
I think there is a verse that says that God can make even our enemies reconciled with us? 🙂
Coincidentally, I am having a change of boss too. My previous boss was also very supportive of me and helped me a lot in my career advancement and interest. A new change is always scary, because everything is uncertain. Who knows if my new boss will just decide that she doesn’t like me?
However, I have confidence that as long as I keep my faith, practise the truth and mercy of God, in my daily life honour Him, then God would be pleased. And if God is pleased, who cares what people think if they chose to think otherwise?
If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)
God bless.
isfp
Hi Treasureinearthenvessel,
You could also listen to the above sermon in the link. I think it answers some of your questions on friendship with world and worries on the new boss.
1) Friend ship with the world doesn’t mean accommodating them. We have to be close to them in order to save them but also at the same time hate their sins. It is by separating the sins from the person himself then you can truly love him. That is God’s love. He hates our action of sin but love our soul. So often do we judge/grade a person by his sins that we feel that he is not worthy of been saved. But then who is truly worthy of God’s grace?
2) As spoken in the sermon, by carrying out your work diligently and faithfully, you will gain your new boss/people trust.