For many years I've used Charles Spurgeon's little devotional book, "Morning and Evening", as an encouragement for my own quiet time. I'm reading from his entry for evening, August 31. "If we walk in thFe light, as he is in the light (1 John 1:7) As he is in the light! Can we ever attain this?... I cannot attain to that perfection of purity and truth which belongs to the Lord of Hosts by nature as the infinitely good, yet I can set the Lord always before me, and strive, by the help of the indwelling Spirit, after conformity to His image."
What a thought for sleep - I want to wake up tomorrow morning with thoughts of my Lord. David says, I will wake the dawn!
Join me in praising Him in the morning and the evening.
Will you send me your devotional thoughts and encouragements so I can post them here for our sisters in Christ? Sometimes when I wake up in the night or get up in the early morning I feel I'm like the owl of Psalm 102:6&7, "I am like the vulture of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places; I lie awake, I am like a lonely bird on the housetop..." How wonderful to think of God's women bowing before Him in the morning and offering their homes and lives to Him for the day.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Proverbs 14:1 gives this admonition:
"The wise woman builds her house but the foolish tears it down with her own hands."
This proverb has always intrigued me. Who is this wise woman? What constitutes her house? Who is the foolish woman? Note the contrast between building and tearing down--how do we determine which we are doing?
Solomon tells us the answer in Proverbs 9:1-12. "Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven pillars." The verses which follow tell us what wisdom, personified as this wise woman, has done to build her house according to seven pillars which will keep her house strong. She has prepared a banquet and calls the young woman to come and learn what to do to build her house.
1. Leave the foolish life; determine to live the wise life. (v.6)
2. Walk in the way of insight. (v. 6) Paul prays in Eph. 1:17: "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened…" We must have this insight into the Word of God and live according to it.
3. Accept correction and reproof – love it. (v. 8)
4. Look for those who will teach you wisdom, being willing to learn and increase in learning. (v. 9)
5. Fear of the Lord stands at the head of the class – our pledge before we begin our time of learning. (v. 10a)
6. Knowledge of God as the Holy One opens our eyes and enables us to learn wisdom. (v.10b) Proverbs 30:3-4 says "I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His Name and what is His Son's Name? Surely you know!"
7. The wise woman stays at the banquet laid out for her in the Word of God though the world calls out to her to join in the feast of foolishness. (13-16)
We must be women who fear God, love life and want to walk in the way of insight and knowledge of the Holy One, Jesus Christ, following those who will love us enough to use the Scripture not only as a tool of love but also as a rod of reproof and correction. We need teachers who want to increase in righteousness themselves but also want to instruct us in righteousness.
"The wise woman builds her house but the foolish tears it down with her own hands."
This proverb has always intrigued me. Who is this wise woman? What constitutes her house? Who is the foolish woman? Note the contrast between building and tearing down--how do we determine which we are doing?
Solomon tells us the answer in Proverbs 9:1-12. "Wisdom has built her house, she has set up her seven pillars." The verses which follow tell us what wisdom, personified as this wise woman, has done to build her house according to seven pillars which will keep her house strong. She has prepared a banquet and calls the young woman to come and learn what to do to build her house.
1. Leave the foolish life; determine to live the wise life. (v.6)
2. Walk in the way of insight. (v. 6) Paul prays in Eph. 1:17: "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened…" We must have this insight into the Word of God and live according to it.
3. Accept correction and reproof – love it. (v. 8)
4. Look for those who will teach you wisdom, being willing to learn and increase in learning. (v. 9)
5. Fear of the Lord stands at the head of the class – our pledge before we begin our time of learning. (v. 10a)
6. Knowledge of God as the Holy One opens our eyes and enables us to learn wisdom. (v.10b) Proverbs 30:3-4 says "I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His Name and what is His Son's Name? Surely you know!"
7. The wise woman stays at the banquet laid out for her in the Word of God though the world calls out to her to join in the feast of foolishness. (13-16)
We must be women who fear God, love life and want to walk in the way of insight and knowledge of the Holy One, Jesus Christ, following those who will love us enough to use the Scripture not only as a tool of love but also as a rod of reproof and correction. We need teachers who want to increase in righteousness themselves but also want to instruct us in righteousness.
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