v1 My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
v2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
Here we see a benefit to us which requires little effort on our part. It tells us here that all we have to do is simply “remember”. Remember to keep the commandments. Just by remembering to keep the commandments it extends our days, life and peace. Psalm 119:11 tells us why it’s important to not just read but memorize His Word. “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” So if we get off course, because we have memorized and remembered to keep His law, we are always nudged back in doing the right thing according to His Word. This is one thing I love about how the Lord operates. He keeps it simple. We have little to do while He does much. Who wouldn’t want that trade-off. You remember to keep my commandments and I’ll throw your way long days, long life and peace. What an awesome way to live in the favor of the Lord and be blessed!
v5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
v6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
One of my favorite scriptures which can be used in just about any circumstance. Simply put, Trust Him, even when it goes against all of your natural understanding or basically what you know for yourself. Our thoughts are limited in comparison to His.How can we begin to understand all that He does or even all that He is able to do? The Lord is the Supreme Authority in our lives. We must Trust Him. He does not fail. He does not leave, Trust Him. Every way that you go, whichever direction you choose in life, acknowledge His ever abiding presence. Acknowledge Him and seek His guidance, because He is available to direct your paths. He knows the plan, path and direction to success. He will lead us there if we maintain awareness of His presence in our lives. He will direct you towards peace and prosperity when you recognize that He is in every way that you may go.
v7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
Stupid Faith. That’s what this verse is all about. Being stupid to man and sometimes even to your own self. Not trusting in our own limited knowledge but being obedient to Him. Following Him to the point that it’s crazy to us yet it yields amazing results. Then upon refection can only be credited to our Lord who says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope”. Jeremiah 29:11 He will ALWAYS provide and His way will always be better than our own. We oftentimes live in a “controlled” environment where we do things that make common sense to us. But God is an uncommon God and in order for us to be blessed uncommonly and extraordinarily we need to follow Him in uncommon places and in uncommon ways. So fear and reverence Him, following Him in spite of our own reservations or thoughts. We must rely on Him. If we don’t, we rely on our own ability and that’s where evil comes in to play. Evil is anything contrary to God. Evil is the opposite to love, to God our Father.. If we rely on our own wisdom we are in evil and not really living the life He has for us.
v9 Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
What belongs to the Lord is not simply any portion of what you have. But we have to remember that what we have is what He has given to us. It all belongs to the Lord. So giving or honoring the Lord with our firstfruits is a minimal requirement with maximum benefit. It signifies that we chose to place Him in His rightful position as Sovereign, above all other things. We keep Him first and are not distracted by the blessings. We are more focused on the Blessor. In putting things in proper perspective, in distribution order, we put Him first. So He never gets the leftovers or the scraps of our increase. Before we take out to give anywhere else, or to pay anything else, we consider our Lord and give Him first. Once we do that He will bless us with more than we can handle. He will give us more than we can hold or contain. The key to such abundant overflow is to always remember Him first.
Lessons For Life – Proverbs 3
Posted by: samuelstewart at 00:00, June 22 2010.
Video Synopsis: Samuel with Zephaniah and Josiah; Josiah was quiet. The children have memorized prov. 3:5-6 from a long time ago. Trust in the Lord and not man and do not trust your own understanding. This scripture is good for any situation. There are so many different directions we can take in life but we must acknowledge Him, his presence. Know that He is there and is the Supreme Authority in our lives. Remember Him and He will direct you. You can count on Him.
One of my favorite passages in the entire Bible. There is sooo much to gain from this Proverb.
Firstly, it tells us to not forget the law. This is key. Remember the Word, memorize it. Make it a part of you, bind it about your neck. Make it become so much a part of you, that you have no choice but to do it. This is how we can keep the law by memorizing it so that when we go off course – it nudges us to do the right thing, according to His word.
So much more… I’ll add more comments and video to this post. Stay tuned…
Also from Proverbs 3, We must go out of our way to avoid the paths of evil men. They are stumbling blocks for our journey and can take us away from the destiny we are to achieve. So once we have identified who is righteous, in right standing, we should associate with those people. But whomever is not, we need to avoid. They can potentially pull us in their direction. Even if we have good intentions to save, or help them, we need to be wise and if they do not receive what we say then we must shake the dust off of our shoes and move on before we get pulled in. It is not merely that they may get pulled in, but also they will reap the consequences for their actions and we do not want to be around to join them in their rewards.
