Proverbs 19:16
Those who are heedless of their ways will die.
It has been said that the unexamined life is not worth living.
Do you ever take note of your ways? Of how you live and what you live for? What is the course of your life? Your goal? Your telos?
How does the activity of each day bring you closer to your life’s purpose-fulfillment?
Have you ever examined where the bulk of your time goes by logging it hour by hour for a week or so?
Proverbs 19:21
The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established.
Thank God!
Proverbs 19:23
The fear of the LORD is life indeed; filled with it one rests secure and suffers no harm.
I wonder if the key word here is “suffers”.
Stuff may come your way, but if you totally live in the awe of YHWH, you do not suffer. You trust and walk thru it. You know everything works together for good and so you do rest securely in YHWH’s hands.
We all go through difficult times, but it depends on what we pay attention to during said times which determines if we indeed suffer. Which all goes back to our perception of God. Is He good? Does He care for us? Will He secure us to the end/in the end?
Also helpful, is Professor Tremper Longman’s translation and commentary of this verse:
The fear of Yahweh leads to life, and those who spend the night are contented; they don’t pay attention to evil.
The fear of Yahweh drives out all other fears and leads to life and not death. The specific fear in colon 2 seems odd but may be illustrated by a couple of well-known stories in the OT. In Genesis 19 and in Judges 19, we have stories of travelers who lodge for the evening in a strange town and face incredible evil, even though they have sought refuge in someone’s home. These stories inform us that travel in the ancient world was not a secure matter, and the only sure recourse was Yahweh.
We can only find true refuge in Yahweh, even though we may seek it in others. It is possible to find some rest in others, albeit temporary and dependent on finitude.
Luke 5:1-11
“Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.”
“Do not be afraid…”
And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.
The two stages of receiving the gospel are wonderfully manifested in the story. First, it is necessary that we see ourselves clearly-as sinful and broken before the holy God-even as Peter did (Luke 5:8). But this alone will result in despair if the second stage is lacking-seeing Jesus as gracious, forgiving, and inviting us to follow (v.10).
This story invites us daily to apply the gospel to our lives in the same way. We should ask God to enable us to understand our own sinful hearts and to enlighten our eyes to see Him as He truly is (Isaiah 6:1-13;Ephesians 3:14-19), both in His majesty and in His kindness toward us. This vision alone will enable us to follow Him and proclaim His greatness to others.
-from The Gospel Transformation Bible
We talk about the “Success Model” where you must know where you are at in an honest way, where you wanna go, clearly, and then how you get there. What is a clear pathway to get exactly where you want to go?