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  • Two Women: Wisdom & Folly

    Posted on December 19th, 2012 rhonda No comments

     

    A man’s own folly ruins his life,

    Yet his heart rages against the Lord.

    Proverbs 19:3

     You hit rock bottom when you stop digging.

    Becoming teachable is to stop digging.  We become teachable when we acknowledge the reality that our way isn’t working for us – so we accept Christ as Lord, and allow Him to lead.

    As the psalm says, that’s only the beginning.  When I read Proverbs 4:6 – “Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you” – I realized that “she” is the Holy Spirit.  The first few chapters of Proverbs contrast the benefits of remaining faithful to Wisdom, or running off with Folly, an adulteress (Ch 5).  Faith is being led by God; and adultery is following the world’s wisdom.  Teachable people admit God’s thoughts are not ours (Isaiah 55:8) – they’re better.

    The Holy Spirit also speaks to us through other people.  A televangelist said that part of the reason that we haven’t been successful in life is because we keep getting in our own way.  Maybe we complain too much, or we’re not working hard enough, or we don’t treat people as well as we should.  The Pastor said that we have to allow people who love us to look us in the eye and tell us the truth about ourselves.

    That’s a hard piece of advice to take, because sometimes we don’t know who does and does not love us.  However, we do know that God loves us (John 15:9-13) because He laid down His life for us.  God will place people in our lives to tell us the truth; and give us enough discernment to figure out who has our best-interests at heart.

    In church, we sing “I feel better, so much better, since I laid my burdens down”.  It’s true.  When I stop struggling and accept Wisdom’s guidance and protection, suddenly I feel like a weight’s been lifted.  It’s a good feeling.  It’s a relief.

    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

    All who follow His precepts have good understanding.

    To Him belongs eternal praise.

    Psalm 111:10