Void of Understanding

Bible Reading:  Proverbs 9

Key Verse: Verse 1 – “Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:”

Key Words: she (wisdom) hath hewn out her seven pillars 

There is much speculation as to what these seven pillars of wisdom may be.

Some say that the seven pillars are found in Proverbs 16, they are the seven things God hates.  Still others believe that the Holy of Holies contained seven pillars and that comes from being in the presence of God.  Still others believe that the seven pillars are found in Acts 2: the pillars of salvation, baptism, doctrine, fellowship, communion, prayer, and giving.

In Proverbs 9 we find Solomon inspired by the Holy Spirit of God writing to his son, Rehoboam.  Inside this chapter, you find seven solid pieces of advice.  It could be that these seven pices of counsel are the seven pillars of wisdom.

Pillar Number One: prepare in advance  (verses 2-3).

Pillar Number Two: partake of it all (verses 4-6).

Pillar Number Three: wisdom is practical in its advice (verse 7-8).

Pillar Number Four: wisdom is proper in its attitude (verse 9).

Pillar Number Five: wisdom is profitable in its application (verses 10-11).

Pillar Number Six: wisdom is piercing in its arm (verse 12).

Pillar Number Seven: wisdom is priceless in its association (verses 13-16).

When we are void of understanding we are bound for destruction.

I’ve been told that in certain portions of Africa that monkey meat is considered a delicacy, and that the men of Africa have a unique way of capturing the monkey.  The monkey has a particular nut that he loves to eat so the natives will cut out a hole in the base of a tree just large enough for the monkey to fit its hand into.  But if the monkey folds his fist, his hand will not come out of the hole.  The Africans know that the monkey will not turn loose of the nuts; therefore, he is trapped.  His choices are simply to turn loose of the nuts and live, or hang onto the nuts and thus he dies.

There are thaose who refuse to let go of their foolishness and grab hold of wisdom, and because of this they are bound for destruction.  How sad!

                                                                                

                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

            ✞Apply wisdom to every situation in your life.

✞Turn loose of your vices and  sins that are destroying you.

✞We all have a choice to be wise or foolish.  Which do you choose?

Death Wish

 Bible Reading:  Proverbs 8

Key Verse: Verse 36 – “But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.”

Key Words: all they that hate me [wisdom} love death 

It was in the spring of 1979, on a lonely three-mile stretch of Florida beach tht one hundred pilot whales hurled themselves onto dry ground in a apparent mass suicide.  It was another rexample of self=destruction behavior that continues to baffle marine biologists.  These hugh creatures had beached themselves in a kind of follow –the-leader fashion.  People came from miles around to try to turn them back.  At one point a human fence was formed between the whales and the shoreline.  But even when those sea mammals wre pushed, pulled, and forced back into deeper water, many of them repeated their death surge and threw them selves onto dry ground again.  Several theories have been advanced to explain this seeming bent toward self-destruction.  One is that the whale’s directional sonar, which steers it clear of danger, may have gotten fouled up.  Biologists found parasites in the inner ears of some of the huge creatures that may have disoriented them.

Do you suppose we humans look like tht to the angels?  As God’s ministers for our good, they might wonder what strange urge causes us to self-destruct en masse.  It’s clear to them that the Creator has provided a sea of wisdom for us to live in.  Yet there’s something about man that mimics these whales.  Like an unreasoning animal, he seems obsessed with a desire to break out of that element for which he was created.  Instead of remaining in the expanse of a loving, conscious submission to God, he throws himself onto the dry ground of disobedience.

We may think we’d never do that.  But believe what God says: All who hate wisdom love death.

                                                                                 Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞Hear wisdom.

✞Love wisom.

✞Apply wisdom.

Pre-Marital Promiscuity

 Bible Reading:  Proverbs 7                

Key Verse: Verse 5 – “That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.”

Key Words: from the stranger which flattereth with her words 

Solomon, in Proverbs chapter five, deals with pre-marital sex and here in chapter seven, Solomon once again is dealing with the same subject.

The essence of the chapter is that of a young man out on the town.  He encounters a harlot who invites him to come lay with her (verses 16-18).  Solomon closes out the chapter by giving a stern warning,  “Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.”

Sometime back, I learned an illustration that I like to use when talking to teens.  I attempt to draw an analogy between the bonding capacity of the body and adhesive tape.  Adhesive tape is not made for repetitive use.  The strongest bond adhesive tape is capable of making is formed with the first surface to which it is applied.  You can remove the tape and reapply it to other surfaces several times, and it will stick.  However, with every application, some of the adhesiveness has been compromised.  Finally, if you continue the practice long enough, there will not be enough adhesiveness left to make the tape stick to any surface.  God intended that the bond between mates be the closest and strongest one that can be formed.  If you want to really stick to your spouse, then your wedding night should be the first opportunity that you’ve had to stick.  If you get my drift.

                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

      ✞We can make a difference by being different (from the world).

What God Hates

Bible Reading:  Proverbs 6

Key Verse: Verse 16 – “These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him”

Key Words: These six things doth the LORD hate 

God hates sin.  In our Scripture reading for today, the author of Proverbs singles out seven specific transgressions that are an abomination to the Lord (it would be good to read verses 17-19 often).  Sin is so horrible that when the Lord Jesus, the perfect Son of God, bore our guilt on the cross, the Father turned His back on His beloved Son.  And Christ, in the blackness of that dreadful hour, cried out, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46).  If sin is so terrible in the sight of God, then we must fear it, hate it, and avoid it.

In F.B. Proctor’s Treasury of Quotations there is a story told by Johann Peter Lange, the 19^th century German theologian and author.  He said that a religious leader was viciously hated by the emperor of his day.  Some of the ruler’s advisors said to the monarch, “Burn him, confiscate his property, put him in irons, or have him killed.”

But others disagreed.  They said, “you will not gain anything by all this; for in exile, he would find a home with his God…he kisses his chains, death opens heaven to him.  There is only one way to render him unhappy, force him to sin.  He fears nothing in the world but sin.”

Note that last sentence: “He fears nothing in the world but sin.”  How many people do we know tlike that?  Unfortunately, we often become so comfortable in sin’s presence that we practice it rather than fear it.  But remember how God views it.  May we therefore, as lovers of Him, be haters of sin! 

                                                                                     Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞Evaluate your own life.  Are you comfortable in the presence of sin?

✞Do you fear sin or practice sin? Are you real of artificial in your Christian life?

Your Own Cistern

Bible Reading:  Proverbs 5

Key Verse: Verse 15 – “Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.”

Key Words: Drink waters out of thine own cistern 

Sexual purity is the plea from Proverbs, chapter five.  In verse three we are warned not to be taken in by smooth words.  In verses four and five we are cautioned about the end result of adultery, “But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.  Her feet go down to death, her steps take hold on hell.”

Then in verse fifteen we are commanded to drink waters out of our own cistern.  The principle is that we are to be faithful to our spouse and satisfied with them as well.  Divorce is not an option.

A man came to his pastor for help because he was considering a divorce.  The pastor counseled him to stay in the marriage and began to show the man Scriptures which spoke to the issue of marital commitment.  He first used Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives.”  The man responded by saying, “I don’t love her.”  The pastor then turned to John 13:35, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  The man responded, “I can’t love her, we fight all the time.  The longer I stay with her, the less I like her.”

The pastor was determined though, so he quoted Matthew 22:39, “…Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.”

“Pastor,” the man responded, “you don’t understand, we’re not even friends anymore.”

The pastor’s face lighted up with relief, “Well, then I’ve got just the verse you need.”  Triumphantly, he read Matthew 5:44, “…Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.”

Let me encourage each of you going through marital trials today, stay with it, be faithful, and trust in God.

                                                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞Be satisfied with the wife of your youth – and husband, I might add.

            ✞Be faithful to your mate.

✞Remember sexual indiscretion can kill a marriage.

The Principle Thing

Bible Reading:  Proverbs 4

Key Verse: Verse 7 – “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all                                             thy getting get understanding.”

Key Words: Wisdom is the principal thing 

The word principal is an agricultural term meaning first fruit. It carries the idea of being the most productive, the most fruitful. The principle is that without wisdom we’ll never be productive or fruitful.

There are at least five promises made in Proverbs 4 in regard to wisdom:

·         Wisdom will preserve you (verse 6),

·         Wisdom will protect (keep) you (verse 6),

·         Wisdom will promote you (verse 8),

·         Wisdom will keep you from being straitened (distressed) (verse 12),

·         Wisdom will keep you from stumbling (verse 12).

No wonder Solomon said that wisdom is the principal thing.

We do live in a world that is void of wisdom. The following was taken from Dear Abby, and it proves my point that we are void of wisdom.

·         Dear Abby: Our son was married in January. Five months later his wife had a ten-pound baby girl. They said the baby was premature. Tell me can a baby this big be that early? – Wondering. - Dear Wondering: The baby was on time, the wedding was late. Forget it.

·         Dear Abby: Do you think about dying much? – Curious.  Dear Curious: No, it’s the last thing I want to do.

·         Dear Abby: I am forty-four years old and I would like to meet a man my age with no bad habits – Rose.  Dear Rose: So would I.

·         Dear Abby: What’s the difference between a wife and a mistress? – Bess. Dear Bess: Night and Day.

No wonder Solomon said, “Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore, get wisdom.”

There is a TV commercial that asks, “Got milk?” My question for you is, “Got Wisdom?”

                                                                                               Dr. Mike Rouse        

What to do:

✞Be teachable (verse 1)

✞Desire to have Godly wisdom.

✞As God for wisdom daily.

Our Own Understanding

Bible Reading:  Proverbs 3

Key Verse: Verses 5 & 6 – (vs5)  “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  (vs 6) In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Key Words: own understanding 

One of the real deterrents to living a life of faith in God is human knowledge. We, more often than not, lean upon our own understanding of things, and act upon this understanding, rather than living a life trusting God and acting and living off His Word.

Is this not what happened in the life of King Saul? He was specifically told to go and destroy Amalek ad all that they had (1 Samuel 15:3). Now, we know he failed to obey and we know why he failed in his obedience. The people of Israel brought back from Amalek the best of their sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord (1 Samuel 15:21). Rather than simply obeying God, they leaned upon their own understanding.

Some years ago, a couple came to me and asked if I could marry them. I gave my usual answer, “If you’ll call the office and set up an appointment, I’ll be happy to talk with you about it.” They did call and make an appointment. I did not know the couple. They had attended our church for a couple of weeks so I had many questions for which I needed answers. Question number one was, “Are you saved?” The girl quickly responded, “Yes” and gave a clear testimony to her salvation. The man, on the other hand, was a different story. Now, he was clear on his answer. He said, “No sir, I am not saved and don’t care to be.”

I informed them that there was a problem Scripturally. I quoted a couple of verses: II Corinthians 6:14 and Amos 3:3. I even went to Genesis 24 and talked about Isaac and Rebekah. The young lady looked at me and said, “But, I’ve prayed about this and I believe it’s all right if I marry him. I have peace about this.”

He believing that the marriage was right, and even her being at peace, came not from God’s Book, but from her own understanding. Needless to say, I didn’t marry them, but they did get married and are now divorced – and the divorce was a bitter battle because she leaned upon her own understanding.

Abraham got in trouble because he leaned upon his own understanding – so did Jonah and David, and the list goes on and on. Don’t lean upon your own understanding, but rather trust in the Lord and His Word.

                                                                     Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞If your conscience tells you one thing and God’s Word tells you another, obey the                Word.

✞Always remember, God gives us a free will to choose. You are free to do what you                want, but you are not free to choose the consequences of your actions.