Heading off in a new direction

For a couple months now I have been posting various chapters from the Book of Psalms. All very beautiful passages, but I thought it was time for a change. And some wisdom. I thought I would start throwing in some verses from the Book of Proverbs.

Proverbs 1, New Century Version

The Importance of Proverbs

1 These are the wise words of Solomon son of David, king of Israel.

2 They teach wisdom and self-control;

    they will help you understand wise words.

3 They will teach you how to be wise and self-controlled

    and will teach you to do what is honest and fair and right.

4 They make the uneducated wise

    and give knowledge and sense to the young.

5 Wise people can also listen and learn;

    even they can find good advice in these words.

6 Then anyone can understand wise words and stories,

    the words of the wise and their riddles.

7 Knowledge begins with respect for the Lord,

    but fools hate wisdom and discipline.

What better place to start than at the beginning. If you have never read any Proverbs, I think you will be surprised by how many of them apply to our modern lives. Such as “Wine and beer make people loud and uncontrolled; it is not wise to get drunk on them” or “Gossips can’t keep secrets, so avoid people who talk too much”. And just wait until you see how many times adultery is brought up, along with lying, cheating and stealing. God doesn’t hold back. He lets us know what our shortcomings are and He wants us to change. He wants us to learn from our mistakes, or better yet, from the mistakes of others.

And occasionally there will be a verse which no longer applies. “Good people will be remembered as a blessing, but evil people will soon be forgotten.” It seems like the media wants to remember only the evil people.

And sometimes we think of something else when we see a certain word. “The Lord hates dishonest scales, but he is pleased with honest weights”. I know this is talking about scales used to weigh items for sale, but doesn’t everyone first think about their own weight. Every day, at the clinic where I work, at least one patient will tell me that the clinic scale isn’t right and that they like their scale better.

Ok, enough for today. More proverbs coming soon. 

(The only picture I could think of to go with this post was a scale, but I was too lazy to get up and take a picture of mine. The next thing I thought of that had to do with measurements and lying was fishing stories, so I went to my son's fishing trip pictures. This one doesn't have a thing to do with weights and measures, but isn't it pretty? And one other thing, the Book of Proverbs says a lot about laziness. Just thought I would mention that.)