Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Wisdom from Proverbs”
Our Bible verse for today: “My son, pay attention to my wisdom; listen closely to my understanding so that you may maintain discretion and your lips safeguard knowledge. Though the lips of the forbidden woman drip honey and her words are smoother than oil, in the end she’s as bitter as wormwood and as sharp as a double-edged sword.” Proverbs 5:1-4 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Wise decisions lead to blessings; foolish decisions lead to suffering.”
The editors of “The Daily Walk Bible” offer this insight in conjunction with Proverbs 5:1-4, “Few people plan to ruin their lives. Yet many a life ends in ruin. Why? Because someone else planned to ruin it for them. Satan is alive and well … and craftily cunning in his attempts to destroy the moral fiber of God’s children.”
In Proverbs 5:1-4 Solomon used the literary device of portraying the seductive temptations of evil in the form of a promiscuous woman, and the unwise person as the one who gives-in to her seductions. This is a common metaphor used frequently in the Bible and we will see it again in our future discussions of upcoming Proverbs.
The point being made here is that in the Bible God has clearly established the boundaries within which He wants us to live. These are standards of conduct that are pleasing to Him and which are therefore allowable for us. Living within those boundaries is what constitutes living according to Biblical wisdom. Straying outside of those boundaries, and engaging in conduct that is prohibited by God, is portrayed as being Biblically unwise and it is conduct that always leads to disaster. This is why as the people of God we must know our Bibles and then live accordingly.
Coming back to that insight from the Daily Walk Bible, few people actually plan to ruin their lives. But their lives do end up being ruined anyway and it happens because they foolishly stray outside the boundaries of Biblical wisdom. Satan cunningly entices them with seemingly attractive alternatives, and they end up sinking in the muck and the mire of a sin-filled life. There’s a lot of truth to the old adage, “Sin will take you further than you wanted to go, keep you longer than you wanted to stay, and cost you more than you wanted to pay.”
The wise person will know his or her Bible and then live by it. The foolish person will allow themselves to be led astray by Satan and they will end up paying a big price for it. Biblical wisdom opens our eyes to the blessings of God’s way.
Wise decisions lead to blessings; foolish decisions lead to suffering.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 