WisdomSeeker

"Wisdom calls aloud in the streets, she raises her voice in the public squares; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech:"
~Proverbs 1:20-21

Before I jump into the devotion, I have a couple housekeeping items to take care of.

First, there really is no good excuse for not posting in so long. I let a crazy-hectic semester get in the way of my God-time. I apologize to you for being absent, and I make the same apology to my Heavenly Father. This summer I intend to be more diligent in my posting (which involves overall study, as well).

Second, I'm doing a study of Proverbs with a friend. So, be ready for several entries on Proverbs. I think it will be time well spent. A lot can be learned from that book. That is not to say that I won't do other devotions as well.

Third, Proverbs 1 is awesome. I love the personification of wisdom. Now, I want to focus on the introduction of wisdom, as you see quoted above. However, I encourage you to go read her speech. It will make you think.

Now, for the main event...

A little background, a lot of the Proverbs were written by King Solomon. (The last couple were written by other kings.) It is fitting that Solomon write about wisdom--he was blessed with it, after all. He asked for wisdom, when he could have asked for riches. It is important to note that the wealth followed the wisdom.

I think there is significance in the way wisdom is depicted. Wisdom is feminine--I am not a Hebrew scholar, so I can't tell you if it is simply give a feminine pronoun because the word is feminine or if the writer was specifically trying to make a point. (I don't know if Hebrew assigns gender like that either, if any of you know, I would love for you to share.) I do think it is interesting though. Especially when one considers that in that culture (which I am not an expert on) women were not the ones that led the family. They were homemakers, and expected to be quiet (particularly when in public settings, I believe). So, there is a woman yelling in a public square, on the street corners, and at the gateways. She's trying, desperately, to get people's attention. But they ignore her. They ignore Wisdom. Maybe it's because she is a woman and they believe they know better than her. Maybe it's because all the surrounding noise is drowning her out. I don't know. But I know that she is being ignored. And I know that this is true of us today.

We let the voices of this world get so loud we can't hear Wisdom calling to us. We keep going through life oblivious to our mistakes.

(Let's be honest, we're all pretty good and making ourselves look like fools.)

Sometimes we don't want to hear her because we think we know better. For me, I let the craziness of the semester get in the way of the Word--the ultimate source of Wisdom.

I would get into her speech, but it's long. And I think you should have to do some digging and wrestling yourself. I'm going to let you be a WisdomSeeker, too. So, read Proverbs 1 (and beyond). Don't hide from Wisdom, and don't ignore her. Seek her out.

CharacterStrong

"Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult, but with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing."
~ 1 Peter 3:8-9

I don't know about you, but I really struggle with some of the characteristics listed above.

You may read that and say: "Live in harmony with one another? Is that the same thing as tolerance? Aren't we supposed to live in the world but not of it? How do these things go together?" Well, I think this passage is talking about within the church. As a church body we should live in harmony, and that just doesn't always happen. There is hostility between certain branches of the Body and that breaks my heart. Denominations like to pick out all the difference and just argue. Why can't we all just say, "We may have differences, but the heart of the matter is Christ, and because we have Him we are one in the Body." Paul wrote somewhere that different parts of the body serve different purposes but those parts have to work together.

Sympathy and compassions are pretty heavily ingrained. I am an empathizer, and because of this sympathy is not really a problem for me, and neither is compassion. We are called to help our brothers, and without these two things, we can't help others.

Love as brothers. This isn't always easy, but it ties in with the afore mentioned characteristics.

Be humble. Wow. This can be incredibly difficult. It's really easy to get into this mindset that we are better because we are Christians and we have a strong moral center. (Or we should.) It's important to remember that everything we have is from above and not of ourselves.

It's really easy to want to retaliate against evil and insult with evil and insult. We need to remember that Christ died because of us, because we are evil and we insulted Him, and so He should have repaid that death with death, but instead He gives us life.

We were called to be loving. We were called to be CharacterStrong. Our greatest blessing is the salvation we get from Christ.

ActionPrepared

"Therefore, prepare your minds for action: be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed."
~ 1 Peter 1:13

It's been crazy around here and it's late so this will probably be a short post, sorry about that.

We're nearing the end of 2010. Some people set resolutions for the new year, I've never really participated in this tradition. However, I think this verse is great for a "new year resolution."

This year of 2011, and beyond, I am going to prepare my mind for action and have self-control, and I would encourage you to do the same thing.

How do I plan to prepare my mind? The best way I can think of is by being in the Word every day, which seems to be a basic enough concept. If I'm being totally honest though, I'm not reading my Bible every day. So my goal is to be more diligent in studying God's Word.

Self-control. I don't know what it is you're struggling with, and I'm not going to tell you what my biggest issue is. There are some things that are just hard to say no to, but I encourage you to take back control from any addictions you may have. It's not an easy road, but it's possible, especially since you have God on your side.

We have so much hope in the grace that Christ has given us. Don't let your soul be downtrodden. Be ActionPrepared.

On a slightly unrelated topic, I'm going to be doing something else this year and I want you to be a part of it if you want. Check out my new blog here: http://christmasall365days.blogspot.com/
I'm not going to give you all the details here, but it has something to do with new year resolutions.

God Bless!

StrongholdProtected

"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."
~ Psalm 18:2

Sometimes I like to flip to a random page in my Bible and see if there are any highlights on it. Well, earlier this week, I flipped to the Psalms, which are typically pretty marked up. There are two main reasons for this: I have had my Bible since I was thirteen and I went through this phase of reading the Psalms and highlighting all the verses that offer encouragement (which is the majority of the book) and because I just find the Psalms to be incredibly uplifting. This particular page of Psalms is no different then the others, but this was one of the passages highlighted, and it hit me just when I needed it to. God works in mysterious ways.

When I first read this verse I thought, "Oh cool, God is protecting me from life basically." And then I looked at it some more, and realized that God has built himself around me to be my refuge and my shield. And man, could I need a shield.

The "horn" reference threw me for a loop at first, but my footnote says that horn means strength in this context. God is not only my refuge and shield but also my strength. How incredibly true! If I didn't have God in my life right now I would be a mess. He is the strength of my salvation.

In the New Testament Jesus talks about being the rock after he tells the parable of the man who built his house upon the rock. The psalmist is saying that God his rock, his foundation, and I think it's important to keep that in mind as we go through our daily lives.

Now, when I start to read about strongholds and horns and shields my mind almost automatically goes to The Lord of the Rings (LotR). And then I started thinking about how I could compare the verse with the classic tale so eloquently told by Tolkien. One of the greatest examples of a stronghold or fortress in LotR is at Minas Tirith in the Return of the King. It looks like there is no hope and all is lost, but the enemy cannot get to the heart of the city. Now, in the movie the orcs get through the gate, but it took them a lot of work to get through! And even though they broke down the door, they didn't overrun the city. Just think, there's no way that God is shaken and He will not let anyone through his defenses. He is the ultimate fortress and stronghold.

You and I? We're StrongholdProtected. Don't forget that God has wrapped Himself around you and you can take refuge in that knowledge.

HopeBuilder

"...And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he was given us."
~Romans 5:2-5

I don't know how your month of November has been going, but mine has been difficult. November 1, I found out one of my favorite teachers from middle school was found dead in his apartment. I came home for the visitation and it was one of the most difficult things I have ever done--stand in a room and listen to everyone talk about how he died. The following week, I found out my dad very sick, my mom hadn't seen him so ill since he had his appendicitis attack when I was in eighth grade. The day after that, Mom called and told me my grandpa was in the hospital because of his heart condition. The next week, one of my friends from high school was in the hospital with appendicitis, the day he was having surgery his dad was also admitted to the hospital for kidney stones. Through all of this, my mom has been having serious problems with her right arm. Every week, there has been something new. Some new kind of suffering.

The good news that today brings, my dad is doing quite well, my grandpa is out of the hospital, my friend is recovering, and his dad is doing much better. Mom is still healing, but she's getting there. And my teacher...well, I pray he's in heaven.

This verse has been my motto whenever medical emergencies come up. Or really, when anything bad happens, I look back to Romans 5.

Now, this month, I have failed at rejoicing in my sufferings. While these things were not directly happening to me, they had a serious effect on how I was doing with my school work. We won't get into my emotional state other than it was pretty rocky for a while.

What does it mean to rejoice in our sufferings? I don't think that the passage is saying that the scenario should go like this: "I was just diagnosed with cancer. Woohoo! Let's go celebrate!" No. In fact, that's just ridiculous. I think that we can rejoice in our sufferings by simply reminding ourselves that everything happens for a reason and that something good will come from it. If anything, we gain hope in God.

From our sufferings we gain perseverance. If you wear a back brace for over two years and then find out you need to wear a brace on you arm for tendonitis or tennis elbow a few years later, the time you spend in the arm brace isn't going to seem all that bad at all.

Perseverance builds character. How many of us have heard our dad's tell us, "it builds character!" I know I have... and I know that he was right. I would not be who I am today if it were not for my time in a back brace or any number of other things that have happened in my life.

And because we have character we also have hope. Hope in our God and His faithfulness. As the passage says, "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (v. 5)

This passage is almost like a cycle. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And we also rejoice in sufferings. Sufferings turn into perseverance. Perseverance turns into character. And character becomes hope. Hope. We rejoice in our sufferings because we have hope and we rejoice in it. Not only are you building character, you are a HopeBuilder.

When it seems like you're having a bad week, a bad month, even a bad year, remember to rejoice in the hope and the sufferings.

WorrySlayer

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?"
~ Matthew 6:25

First of all, I am sorry it has taken me so long to get up a new blog! These past couple weeks have just been crazy hectic and I haven't had a lot of time to write. I've been worried about finances, laundry, grades, homework...and Greek.

It's funny, I had this verse written down a long time time ago but found one that I "liked" a little better that I really wanted to write on. I was flipping through my notebook and found this one, and it really hit me.

I am a chronic worrier. There is always something that I'm worried about. It is so easy to let the things of this world pile up around my feet.

Christ said, "do not worry about your life." That's a hard commandment to follow. And "do not worry about your body" wow, tough order.

Jesus specifically mentions what we will eat, drink, and wear. I've listened to my mom fuss over what we will eat and I've worried about what I will wear. I think it's normal and "perfectly" human to worry about these things.

The passage goes on to say that the Father provides food for the birds and they don't farm or work, they don't try to store things up for later. Jesus said in verse 26: "Are you not more valuable than they?" God will provide food for us to eat because He loves us.

After that He talks about the lilies of the field and how the Father has clothed the fields. He says that not even King Solomon had garments like the fields. If God will clothe the fields we need to be confident that He will also clothe us.

We do not need to worry because God will provide for us. We are inclined to worry, but we need to be WorrySlayers.

FragilePottery

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed."

~ 2 Corinthians 4:7-9

This is a bit longer then the passages I normally choose, but it's so good! I was actually having a hard time picking a verse for this week, but my campus Bible study talked about this set of verses on Wednesday. 

I don't know if you've worked with clay, but here's the deal, it's fragile. My parents used to have their own business where my dad would make whistles shaped like animals out of clay and my mom would paint them. I remember having to be careful when they were around. Before they go through the kiln and they're still wet they're easily smooshed back into a lump. After they're dry, before firing, they are crumbly. Finally, after they go through the intense heating process, they are so fragile. Sometimes pieces will explode in the kiln--when this happens it can seriously damage the other pieces. Things made out of clay can be easily broken. 

Why would Paul choose to liken us to jars of clay? Doesn't he call us to be strong and stand firm in the faith? How can we stand firm in the faith if we are breakable? 

He's proving a point that we are nothing without God. Nothing. Without God we are breakable and fragile. We are FragilePottery. 

If you apply pressure to all sides of a jar of clay, it will succumb and crumble. But verse 8 says that we will be hard pressed on all sides and not be crushed. We won't be crushed because we have the power of Christ in our FragilePottery. He is our support system. 

How often do you get confused? I don't know about you, but there are somedays that I am just confused all the time, my brain just doesn't click things together. We can be perplexed, but we are not in despair because we have the hope of Christ in us. 

As Christians we face persecution, I think I've touched on this before. Paul knew what being persecuted was like. But we are not alone, we are not abandoned. Even when things seem to be at their darkest, we are not alone. 

If you strike a pot down, it will break, but we are not destroyed. 

How awesome is it that we have the best support system ever inside of us? We will go through trying times, but our FragilePottery will not be broken. 

God Bless