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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Wisdom Project 2/14


A heart at peace gives life to the body,
but envy rots the bones.

Commentary:

. . . Would you have your peace flow as a river? — then rest in the Lord, be silent unto Him; fret not thyself; turn away from the things that are seen and temporal; set thy face to those that are unseen and eternal. Live in the secret place of the Most High, and hide under the shadow of the Almighty. Say of the Lord that He is thy fortress and high tower. Put God between thyself and everything. Let the one aim of thy life be to please Him, and do the one small piece of work He has entrusted thee with. Look away from all others to Him alone. And learn to look out on others with a tender sympathetic gaze, turning to prayer about them and all things else that might ruffle and sadden. Let all thy requests be made known unto God, so shall his peace keep heart and mind.

“Draw me to Thee, till far within thy rest, In stillness of thy peace, thy voice I hear— For ever quieted upon thy breast, So loved, so near.”


From: FB Meyers - Proverbs Illustrations - Precepts

Blessings
3 John 8
Bill H.
_________

WISDOM PROJECT: For this month, I will supply links to both the NIV and ESV versions of the chapter each day (Feb. 1 = Proverbs 1, etc.) in the post—both of which contain the audio.

And in the month of February a unique feature for the WP will be Commentaries on selected passages/verses from within the chapter for the day. And for the most part, these comments will be from links in the Online Bible Study Resources feature here on the 3 John 8 blog (scroll down in the column to the right to find the links).

Note to Proverbs class participants: this is the place where you should post your application comments for the Daily Proverbs Reading Assignment.

24 comments:

Unknown said...

“…it is well…”
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge (1:7); … is the beginning of wisdom (9:10); … prolongs life (10:27); and (v27) the fear of the LORD is a fountain of life. Simply praising God, our LORD and Savior, for the ability and availability (opportunity) to be able to FEAR HIM! Not only because of the intellectual benefits that are to be obtained, but also for the life-giving, life-sustaining power that a genuinely fearful, reverential, exceedingly dreadful respect for the LORD JEHOVAH provides. “Praising God today for … ‘HE IS’”.
John 15:13 – greater love has no one than this …

Anonymous said...

Response 2/14/2010 12:53 PM
Proverbs 14:30 . . .
A heart at peace gives life to the body,
but envy rots the bones.
This verse brings to mind two verse from the New Testament.
Php 4:7 and the peace of God, which surpasses every understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts by Christ Jesus.
And…
16For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
There is a peace that we can experience that will bring spiritual health to our lives when we are obedient trusting children of God. There is an ill effect upon believers when the fruit of the flesh is manifest in our walks.

John Erbentraut

Unknown said...

Proverbs 14:6
"A scoffer seeks wisdom in vain,
but knowledge is easy for a man of understanding."
- It is interesting to realize that it is not only knowledge/wisdom that we are to be seeking after; if we are not able/willing to understand, than we are like the scoffer that no matter what he tries to seek turns into vanity. Being wise is more than just seeking for wisdom, but knowing how to correctly use the knowledge with the proper understanding.

Unknown said...

Prov 14:29...
"Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding..."
I want and desire great understanding. I have struggled in the past with anger so this is a great reminder of the rewards that God may bestow upon me when i follow his teachings to be SLOW to (unrighteous) anger.

Rachel said...

"In the fear of the Lord one has strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may turn away from the snares of death."
I have been contemplating lately the utter lack of fear and trembling we as God's people display. It is tragic, horrific, and sinful how irreverent and lackadaisical we are when we approach our God. We may only intimately know, and thus love, God by first being in awe of Him.

Gabe Vanderstel said...

12. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death"
This reminds me of the fact that man can not come to salvation except by Christ. Mankind has been inventing ways to be spiritual and achieve eternal life for thousands of years, but in the end, the ways of man lead only to death." I am the way, the truth, and the life" said Christ. God's way is the only way, not on;y for salvation, but this applies to believers. we must stop living life on our own terms and submit to God's plan.

julee said...

Often I think that I know best.. also the world is constantly saying that this or that is the correct way.. but God's way is the way of life. Humans' ways lead to death.

Danielle Cummings said...

This chapter really hit home for me because there were alot of issues dealt with in this chapter that i stuggle with: anger, thinking before i act, and choosing my actions wisely in regard to te longhall instead of the moment. I think alot of people make choices based on the moment and, depending on whether or not they are wise, their reward may be only temporary or eternal. Verses 14 and 15 are really important for us to remember because wisdom is everything when it comes to how we act, speak, and think.

Danyelle Steckiel said...

verse 26 is such a huge comfort to me as a child of God. "He who fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for His children it will be a refuge." What a great and awesome God we serve! He loves us so much that we can find our protection and refuge in Him. We are safe in God's arms and never have to worry about being alone.

Renee K said...

14:1 The wisest of women builds her house,
but folly with her own hands tears it down.
This verse stuck out to me right away. Seeing that I will be getting married in August, I tend to pay attention to stuff like this a little more than I used to maybe. It really reminds me that a lot of how my house will be is going to be up to me. In terms of making sure it is clean, welcoming, comfortable for my family. These are all responsibilities that I take seriously. While yes, I will have help from Ken and in the future my children as well, a lot of it still falls to me. If I am foolish in the dealings with my house, it will be torn down. If I am wise with the dealings of my house, it will be built up. I truly desire to be wise in the way that I handle my household responsibilities so that my home is one that can be honoring and glorifying to the Lord.

Carrie L. said...

10 "Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can share its joy".

This verse shows that no one can really know the joys or sorrows of another person. We may try to find out but only the LORD knows what goes on in the hearts of man.

13 "Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in greif".

Many times we find ourselves putting on a mask for other people to hide our true feelings. Everyone asks " How are you doing?" and the expected and many times untruthful answer " Oh good, good". Our face may be smiling but our hearts could be crying on the inside.

SarahK said...

"The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down" Is so clearly seen in many homes I see. The importance of the woman in a home is incredible. She can make or break it.

Unknown said...

Verse 29 - "He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly." This continues to go along with the flow of Proverbs. It teaches to consider our speech and our emotions before we let them 'just happen'; being in control.

Unknown said...

32 When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous have a refuge.
This verse gives me a remind of the hope I have in Christ. Sometimes things get tough, are we cowarding in the corner or dwelling on the hope we have in heaven? Sometimes I think we get wrapped up in our earthly existence that we do not think past it. How can we be true Christian witnesses if we do not truly ache for the lost and their eternal destination. If we do not keep an eternal attitude we lose the importance of witnessing not only but also it shakes our trust, peace and convidence in God.

Melissa Jordan said...

Verse 29 - "He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly. This verse struck me and is a help to me because I have a tendency to react immediately when I get angry and I often react in a way that later I regret. I am working on keeping my anger under control and not allowing it to get the best of me. I want to act in a manner pleasing to the Lord and my hope is that my reaction would be one that pleases Him even when I am angry.

Renee said...

A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Knowing that the Hebrew poetry often compares and contrasts two ideas, I had a hard time at first seeing the relationship between peace and envy. But I think that when a person is envious they want everything for themselves and make life miserable for those around them and for themselves because they are not content. But when a person is peaceful they are content with their situation and can even be so concerned about other people that they give out of their possessions to give comfort to others. True peace is a self-sacrifice.

Jilli Bair said...

"Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly" (vs. 29)

Coming from a family with quick tempers, this verse is hard to swallow. By learning and being discplined enough to be slow to anger, I can avoid many embarassing conversations and misguided words. By letting my anger get the best of me and words flying out of control, I dig a pit for myself instead of letting God lead me in the ways of His understanding.

Jessica said...

"Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly" This verse is a great reminder to me that I need to control my anger. I tend to not get angry alot but when I do its not very good. I need to be slow to anger and learn to control it when those times come

Mandi said...

17 A quick-tempered man does foolish things, and a crafty man is hated.

The first part of this verse really hit home for me today because there is so many times that i act out before thinking and i need to tame my tongue and think before i react.

Ashlie said...

This passage really does show the difference between the ways of the World and the way of the Lord. It shows the result that both could bring to an individual. It really made me think about how many times I make my choice of following either one and sometimes I chose the way of the world because it seems easier but the result that I was looking for only last for so long.

Cody F said...

Prov 14:13 'Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief.' When I read that it made me think about times in my life that I have been hurting and just try to cover it up without telling anyone or doing anything about it. It made me think, I need to be willing to seek out others when I need help and comfort. It can hurt even more when you try to cover it up, give others a chance to help and serve, it is what the body of Christ is for.

Unknown said...

“26 He who fears the LORD has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge. 27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.”
Those who fear the Lord so as to obey and serve him, have a strong ground of confidence, and will be preserved. It is important to continue to seek this "Fountain of life," that we can escape the snares of death.

Erin said...

Proverbs 14 teaches me that if I give him my life and my everything that I will find peace in him. I so often takes things in my own hands, stress out, and forget about the peace that God gives through everything.

Chris Howard said...

An area of my life that I've have seen great improvement over the last 3 years can be summed up in verse 29. With Gods help I've been able to mature into a much more easy going, take it as it comes, roll with the punches kind of guy. Let me tell you, the ministry isn't always perfect and orderly, especially youth ministry. If we are not slow to wrath then we'll be a great tool for the opposition. But if we are slow to wrath what great things one could accomplish for God in the lives of young people.