The Proverbs 31 Project: Commenting July2nd on Proverbs 2:9-11

Got 31 days in the month?  

God's got 31 chapters in the book of Proverbs! 

What a coincidence!

For each date then, again this month, you will find commentary on a few verses from the corresponding chapter. There are 7 months in the year with 31 days, so I divided each chapter into 7 parts and spread them out so that each verse will be reviewed on the date related to its chapter by the same number name.  No, I am not deliberately trying to make this explanation complicated! (But, if you can explain my system any better than I have tried to do in the past three 31-day months, there is probably a proverb proclaiming your wisdom, and you will be recognized here for your high achievement!).

Below this introduction you will find the whole chapter representing today's date, with this month's verses highlighted in red, and my amateur comments for today low lighted in blue. Enjoy!

PROVERBS 2

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.


9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.

9) What a promise!  But what a Promiser!  God's promises are not like man's: He does not blow smoke or bait and switch or dabble in semantics.  Romans 3:4 makes the distinction:   Let God be true, and every human being a liar.  Perhaps you have trouble even imagining that what God says, He means.  But He does, and you can cling to His word. 

10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

10) Go back and re read verses 1-4 above.  They are the "ifs" that lead to these precious "thens" we are reading now.  Anybody can do the "ifs", and they can be done from anywhere at anytime under any circumstances.  Let me gather the verbs together here, and you tell me if they can be done in heavy traffic, in the sickest of sickbeds, or in the direst of dire straights: Accept, store-up, turn, apply, call out, cry aloud, look and search for.  The only one that might be difficult to do if you were locked in the trunk of a car is to store-up His commands within you.  Unless you have a Bible and a flashlight, it may be too late for the storing up so do that now!

11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.

11) Thank you Lord, for this great promise.  Please help me to accept your offer and practice the ifs you have given me.  I can always use discretion and understanding!

12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,
13 who have left the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,
14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.


16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.[a]
18 Surely her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life.


20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.




[Anyone willing to author an explanation of my system, let me know, and if it makes more sense than my attempts (how could it not?) I will use it in October.]

By the way...MILLERWRITES copy is COPYRIGHTED. Why cut and paste when you can simply copy the link?

The Proverbs 31 Project: Commenting May 2nd on Proverbs 2:7,8

"Thirty days hath September, 

April, June and November

All the rest have 31

Except February which has 28

Except during leap year when it has 29"

NO I DID NOT WRITE THIS "POEM"!  (Talk about free verse!)

Why didn't somebody just point out that the four months that do NOT have 31 days (except February, and everyone knows all about February The Exceptional) come every other month except that there is no 30 day month between July and August?  The silly poem mixes up the order just to hide the fact that the real 30 day months come in two orderly pairs: April/June and September/November.  Can somebody please write a non-silly poem for us that will make this clear, and stick in our minds, but without gooping them up with exceptions (and please just leave February out of it!)?

And to make matters (far) worse, MILLERWRITES has decided to make a Proverbs Pull-A-Part Plan that decimates that fine collection of wisdom in the book of Proverbs, by spreading commentary on each chapter out over 7 months (the good 31 day months)!  Oh don't ask me to explain my system.  You can try to decipher what I said about it at the top of any P31P posts from January or March if you like, or just follow along this month and figure it out.  All Bible passages are from the NIV, and are copied here from Biblegateway.com

So today I will offer my amateur comments on verses 7-8.  Today's inspired verses are in red, and my comments....are not (either red, or inspired).




REMEMBER: My comments may be oh so mesmerizing, but you will get more benefit today just from reading the chapter itself!

PROVERBS 2

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

1 My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2 turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding —
3 indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7 He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 

7) Can uprightness and blamelessness be discerned through the witness of success or failure?  This verse would suggest as much.  But then it says that "He holds success...", which may imply that the true success of a person's life may come after a time.  In fact, it may only appear in a certain indiscernible, or even invisible form that only an all knowing God (and the smiling soul deep inside a person) can recognize.  Anyway, choosing to be anything but upright and blameless is an obvious mistake.  We must follow God's ways, or hurt.

8 for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.

8) More wonderful promises along the same lines for the upright among us.
Phrases like "Guarding the course", and "protecting the way" sure make it sound like we have an active, personal, and involved God.  What a comfort!

I might be quick to add that his guarding and protecting doesn't necessarily result in an absolutely care free life!  (I always have had a firm grasp of the obvious!)  But God does make sure that we are given a way out of temptation, for example, and that we are never tried beyond what we can bear, while His spirit is given free reign within.

9 Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
10 For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11 Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.


12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,
13 who have left the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,
14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways.


16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
17 who has left the partner of her youth
and ignored the covenant she made before God.
18 Surely her house leads down to death
and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
19 None who go to her return
or attain the paths of life.


20 Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will live in the land,
and the blameless will remain in it;
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the unfaithful will be torn from it.




By the way...MILLERWRITES copy is COPYRIGHTED. Why cut and paste when you can simply copy the link?

The Proverbs 31 Project, Commenting March 2nd on Proverbs 2:4-6

March 2nd?   Read Proverbs 2


[Please note: The first two paragraphs below are repeated each day for new readers.  My amateur comments are offered below each of today's verses from Proverbs.]

Have you ever noticed that, like most months have 31 days, the Book of Proverbs has 31 chapters?  Fascinating right?  Well, it is at least interesting, and coincidentally beneficial to those who would like to read a portion of thought provoking scripture every day of the month.  You might like to read the calendar coordinated chapter from Proverbs every day this month (I've included the whole chapter below!) and then see if my comments on a few of those verses line up with your observations.  My plan is to go through the year, writing my response to about one seventh of each chapter's verses every day, during each of the 7 months that have 31 days.  Clear as mud?  That's what I thought.

I hope you check in, and leave a comment.  Especially if I say something really off base and need to be corrected, because, as we will learn this month on the 27th, Proverbs 27:5 says
               "Better is open rebuke than hidden love."   

Proverbs 2:4-6


4  and if you look for it as for silver
   and search for it as for hidden treasure,


4)  If you don't look over the previous verses (see below) you may miss the antecedent of the impersonal pronoun "it" in verse 4.  The object of our intense looking and undistracted searching should be this vital collection of transcendent goods:  Wisdom, Understanding and Insight!  In a word; TRUTH.


5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
   and find the knowledge of God.


5) Mathew 7 speaks to this, but a bit differently.  


⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.


Yes, God will make sure we find the whole truth if we but look for it.  But the "it" can not be found just ANY where.  The knowledge of God is not hidden in your navel, a refracting crystal or in the works of Jihad.  As silver will be found in a silver mine, and a hidden treasure only where X marks the spot, so we must look diligently and reasonably through the portals of wisdom, understanding and insight which are all revealed through the gift of His Word. 


6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
   from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.


6) God isn't counting on any of us to have what it takes to do anything for ourselves!  He repeatedly tells us in the Bible that He does it all for us.  Ephesians 2:8, 9 holds the classic back-handed compliment, as it were: 


For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—  not by works, so that no one can boast.


All we can do (and it is challenge enough to our pride) is receive.








[All Bible passages are from the NIV, and today's chapter is copied here from www.Biblegateway.com for your convenience.]

Proverbs 2

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

 ¹ My son, if you accept my words 
   and store up my commands within you, 
² turning your ear to wisdom 
   and applying your heart to understanding— 
³ indeed, if you call out for insight 
   and cry aloud for understanding, 
⁴ and if you look for it as for silver 
   and search for it as for hidden treasure, 
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the LORD 
   and find the knowledge of God. 
⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom; 
   from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. 
⁷ He holds success in store for the upright, 
   he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, 
⁸ for he guards the course of the just 
   and protects the way of his faithful ones.

 ⁹ Then you will understand what is right and just
   and fair—every good path.
¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart,
   and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
¹¹ Discretion will protect you,
   and understanding will guard you.

 ¹² Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
   from men whose words are perverse,
¹³ who have left the straight paths
   to walk in dark ways,
¹⁴ who delight in doing wrong
   and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
¹⁵ whose paths are crooked
   and who are devious in their ways.

 ¹⁶ Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
   from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
¹⁷ who has left the partner of her youth
   and ignored the covenant she made before God.^[a]
18 Surely her house leads down to death
   and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
¹⁹ None who go to her return
   or attain the paths of life.

 ²⁰ Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
   and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹ For the upright will live in the land,
   and the blameless will remain in it;
²² but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
   and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

The Proverbs 31 Project: Commenting January 2nd on Proverbs 2:1-3

January 2; Proverbs Chapter 2:1-3

Christians looking for a simple way to review the Bible regularly have long been convenienced by the fact that the book of Proverbs has 31 chapters.  Each chapter includes multiple bite-sized verses (uhm, proverbs) and can be read through simply in one sitting, one appropriately numbered chapter per day through a month.  My simple mind balks at the idea of trying this pattern in any month with less than 31 days  (It just does, all right?), but there are 7 months every year that are suitable for the effort.

My idea here is to share about 1/7 of the verses of each day's chapter on my blog throughout this year, every time a 31 day month pops up, along with a few comments from The Barking Owl.  So in January, we will get through the first few verses of every chapter and then in March, the next group, so that by the time December comes around we can finally get to the last set of verses in each chapter and complete the book's reading.  If you  are smarter than I am, you will read the whole chapter related to each day, every 31 day month, and then you will have read the whole book 7 times this year!  By then you are guaranteed to be wiser than Solomon AND The Barking Owl together!

January 2; Proverbs 2:1-3

¹ My son, if you accept my words 
   and store up my commands within you, 
² turning your ear to wisdom 
   and applying your heart to understanding— 
³ indeed, if you call out for insight 
   and cry aloud for understanding, 


In three verses, I see 6 vital action words!  Each one is an option.  These are given in this if/then statement as the positive choices that we must make if we are going to....well, I don't know what.  We won't get to the 'then' part of the statement until March 2nd!  See why I suggested you read the whole chapter each day?


But we must not only hear (James tells us to "be doers, not hearers only"), the words of wisdom, whether given by our fathers, mothers, teachers, preachers, bosses, or God Himself; but we must 


*accept
*store up
*turn toward
*apply
*call out for
and again for emphasis
*cry aloud for


in order to fully appropriate the real life benefits available!