GOOD MORNING SIBLINGS!
Today’s readings are Proverbs 19-21

Click here to read today’s passages on BibleGateway.

Rabbit Trails 

Today’s rabbit trails will be brief. I just dipped my toes in a little and then went off on a tangent that I feel we all need to hear.

Proverbs 19:2 It is dangerous to have zeal without knowledge. 

The immediate scenario that comes to mind is what my husband refers to as the hammer of knowledge. Some people take a little Biblical knowledge and, rather than use it to season their words in their interactions with others, they use it as a hammer to beat them over the head with. It has proven to be as effective as it sounds in every scenario I have witnessed. It is good to have knowledge, but we can know a lot about the Bible and have that only serve to make us one amazing Pharisee. However, knowledge, tempered by the Holy Spirit, can grow into wisdom.

Proverbs 19:11 Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.

This is a verse I think of often and strive to live up to. In our easily offended world, I want to be so anchored in the peace and assurance of the Father and so filled with His love and compassion for others that I am unoffendable!

If you’re still finding yourself offended and running off at the mouth by a simple scroll through Facebook, it is long past time to get off of Facebook and into His Book.

Proverbs 19:16 The one who obeys commandments guards his life… 

Guards his very life, y’all. I’m telling you, they are protections and blessings! Only the World would tell you any different.

Proverbs 19:27 Cease to hear instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge. 

One of the translations says “If you cease to listen to instruction”. I see this as a reminder. When these words were spoken to the son, He was an obedient, trusted, beloved child seeking his father’s wisdom, just as we are now. But the father foresaw a time in which the boy could easily cease, by choice, to listen to instruction. How much more are we prone to this very thing. We see this again in Proverbs 21:16. The best way to fight falling away is to cling each day. Do not miss a day in the Word. He doesn’t take days off from being our Father, we shouldn’t take days off from being His child. 

Proverbs 20:19 reminds us that if someone is a gossip, we are not to even associate with them. The Father gives us a model, time and again, in the type of company we keep. He has warned us that those set against His ways will not help keep us on the path of following Him.

Proverbs 20:29 is some wisdom for anyone who was worried about getting their roots done during the pandemic. 

And now I’m going to veer away from Proverbs a bit and share something I hope will encourage you. I need to issue a disclaimer that this was written at the onset of the global pandemic in 2020. However, in reading it over, I decided to keep it here because I think it perfectly applies to the increasing instability taking place around the world as we draw nearer to the Messiah’s return.

You know that saying, “May you live in interesting times”? It is actually an old English expression which was initially borrowed from the Chinese. The ironic thing is that the English took it as a blessing but it was meant as a curse.

In this day and age, I think we can certainly understand how the phrase would match the original intent. To say life has been interesting would be the understatement of this century.

I’ve struggled with how to address this to my audience for a few reasons. The first one being that it took me a bit to get my own head above water and acclimate to the acceleration of change in our world. I have struggled during my life and I’m still struggling, but there is honor and blessing in the struggle and I have committed my spirit to struggling on as long as need be. Seriously, though, who isn’t struggling in some form right now? There is a great shaking, a great sifting by the Father and one by one we are watching parts of our lives that we’ve always known fall right through the sieve. Though the Father is calling our attention to the nuggets that remain, it is still difficult to watch so very much fall through.

But what happens when things get rough for people of wisdom?

They get wiser.

What happens when the world gets scary for people who have the spirit of YHWH within them?

They love stronger.

And when we are required to walk by faith even more than we normally endeavor to do, what happens then?

We walk with more determination.

Because when the world gets dark, His light shines even brighter – and we are bearers of that light.

So, crank up the wattage folks. This world is getting darker by the minute and we must remain steadfast in the Word, trust in His timing, and focus on being faithful. He has never asked us to do anything more than that.

Years from now people will read this note from today and remember the time we are living in right now. At some point, all of this will all be a memory. This, too, shall pass.

The question we will have to face then will be: Did I redeem that time for the Father?

This moment. This day. This week. Will you be able to look back and say that you came out wiser, closer to the Father, more deeply rooted in His word, more like Messiah?

We are passing through the refiner’s fire. Two things can happen in that fire. The difference in whether or not we are refined or just come out covered in soot rests solely on what we choose to trust in.

And never, not once, has he ever given us a reason not to trust Him.

Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21

We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!

May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!

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Christy Jordan
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