May 26, 2022 - Proverbs 4-7

The Bible is a fascinating book. It directs us to God. It tells us the truth about ourselves and invites us to the Savior. It tells us that all we have is a gift from God, and at the same time, instructs us that we must labor diligently for what we would have (6:6-11). It tells us how to live and how to act in specific situations, for instance:

“My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger, if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber” (6:1-4). Solomon instructs us, if one has acted foolishly in making loans or spoken wrongly to someone, the proper course of action is immediately – “Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber” – to seek out the person and make things right. Do not let a bad decision or word linger and the hurt fester like an infected wound. Get the matter taken care of.

O, the blessed Word of God!

as I roam the earth abroad,

It will lead me, safely lead me;

If its precepts I obey,

and with Jesus walk each day,

In the pastures of his love He will feed me. –Elisha A. Hoffman (1892)