Proverbs 31:8

As Christ followers, we are to speak up for those with no real voice in our society–the poor (those with no means), the oppressed…This is just what we do.

Is there anyone in your life you are truly helping?

Proverbs 31:26,30

A good wife is one who fears the Lord.

All I want from my wife is that she puts God first in her life–before me, before our girls. Then I know all is well.

John 21:6-11

The net was not torn.

That many fish should’ve torn that net.

Do what Jesus says, the way He says to do it, in His strength and not yours, and you will have the abundance and capacity to do whatever He asks you to do.

Being filled with Him will make burnout impossible.

People burn out on their own energy, never God’s infinite supply.

Proverbs 30:5-6

Every word of God proves true. He is a shield to all who come to him for protection. Do not add to his words, or he may rebuke you and expose you as a liar.

The true seeker of God needs very little.

God’s grace is sufficient, His word enough.

The more you feel you need may very well be evidence that it is “more” than God that you are seeking.

How can there be more than God when He is everything?

It can only be in our ignorance and twisted conviction that we need something else or, just as ridiculous, God and…

Has God given us enough in order to know Him sufficiently? Do you trust this to be true? Or is He some sort of cosmic mind-messing game-player who provides insufficiently while commanding us to find Him, even though we’ve not been given enough data to really even start looking?

Trust.

I believe He asks for our trust in Him and in His providence for all we need, whether it be food, clothing, and shelter, or whether it be enough evidence to know Him as He would desire to be known.

Once we realize we have all we need from God (enough), we move from a sense of ignorance to a sense of mystery. From “I know not” to “I know not, but it is known.” Yes, God is incomprehensible, yet has He not provided enough for us to know Him as He would have Himself be known by His created image-bearers?

Do you trust in Divine Providence? That God has given us enough?

Or do you need more? And if more, what would be enough?

Proverbs 29:1

One who becomes stiff-necked, after many reprimands will be shattered instantly–beyond recovery.

The Hebrew literally reads, “A man of reproofs who hardens his neck shall suddenly be broken, and no healing.”

“Man of reproofs” seems to indicate those whose lives are characterized by reproofs, by offered correction and constructive criticism, and yet they simply do not respond to any of it.

“Stiff-necked” is an idiom that means “extremely stubborn.”

The obstinate person refuses to learn.

“Those who are repeatedly warned about behavior that has potentially dangerous consequences but do not listen (are stiff-necked) will find all of a sudden that the consequences have caught up with them, and they will have moved beyond the point where an easy fix is possible,” says Biblical Studies Professor Tremper Longman in his interpretation of this verse.

This proverb does not only point to the bad end of some people, but is a plea to the wise to not reject criticism.

Wise people can hear the actual content of criticism and apply it to themselves in order to learn, in order to grow. Wise people accept it because they desire to grow as a person, even if it hurts a little.

Foolish people cannot get past thinking all criticism is some sort of attack on their personality, an undermining of them as people. Sure, that might be the intent of some, but surely not all who give critique. Foolish people do not hear well. Perhaps because they have refused to listen for so long, their ability to hear anything of substance may be dulled and atrophied to the point of moral deafitude (totally made up word).

The very wise can even listen for the profitable nugget lying hidden beneath the scathing surface of vitriol from an ill-motivated attacker. They know life is deeper than than this person’s childish offering, so that is where they are always looking–the depths, where wisdom may be hiding and God is probably speaking.

John 20:17

I’ve always wondered why Jesus told Mary not to cling to Him. For one, He was going to see her again. This was not their final meeting. Two, she had a task to do-to tell the dudes He was going to His Father. Third, the form they had come to know and love would not be the permanent form they or all followers thereafter would hold on to. It would now be the Paraclete.

We have the best Counselor ever.