Opening Prayer for the Lord’s wisdom and guidance

Lord, thank you for leading us these past 30 days in your truth. Thank you for shining a light in our hearts. We also pray that you bless all those who have joined us this month, seeking your will and rule.

We look forward with joyful expectation to the coming months and years in our life and give it to you to do with it what you wish. We are so eager to discover your plan for our lives Lord, and will take this insight as you dole it out - no faster, no slower.

We love you Lord, and pray that you open our minds to receive greater knowledge of you and your character through your word. We ask also that the Holy Spirit fall upon all those reading this today and that they be filled to overflowing with your word and truth.

In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Christian Wisdom from Proverbs, Chapter 30

Pro 30:1 The words of Agur son of Jakeh. The oracle. The man declares, I am weary, O God; I am weary, O God, and worn out.
Pro 30:2 Surely I am too stupid to be a man. I have not the understanding of a man.
Pro 30:3 I have not learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One.
Pro 30:4 Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped up the waters in a garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Surely you know!
Pro 30:5 Every word of God proves true; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Pro 30:6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.
Pro 30:7 Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die:
Pro 30:8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me,
Pro 30:9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.
Pro 30:10 Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you and you be held guilty.
Pro 30:11 There are those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.
Pro 30:12 There are those who are clean in their own eyes but are not washed of their filth.
Pro 30:13 There are those–how lofty are their eyes, how high their eyelids lift!
Pro 30:14 There are those whose teeth are swords, whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, the needy from among mankind.
Pro 30:15 The leech has two daughters; “Give” and “Give,” they cry. Three things are never satisfied; four never say, “Enough”:
Pro 30:16 Sheol, the barren womb, the land never satisfied with water, and the fire that never says, “Enough.”
Pro 30:17 The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.
Pro 30:18 Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand:
Pro 30:19 the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a virgin.
Pro 30:20 This is the way of an adulteress: she eats and wipes her mouth and says, “I have done no wrong.”
Pro 30:21 Under three things the earth trembles; under four it cannot bear up:
Pro 30:22 a slave when he becomes king, and a fool when he is filled with food;
Pro 30:23 an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she displaces her mistress.
Pro 30:24 Four things on earth are small, but they are exceedingly wise:
Pro 30:25 the ants are a people not strong, yet they provide their food in the summer;
Pro 30:26 the rock badgers are a people not mighty, yet they make their homes in the cliffs;
Pro 30:27 the locusts have no king, yet all of them march in rank;
Pro 30:28 the lizard you can take in your hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.
Pro 30:29 Three things are stately in their tread; four are stately in their stride:
Pro 30:30 the lion, which is mightiest among beasts and does not turn back before any;
Pro 30:31 the strutting rooster, the he-goat, and a king whose army is with him.
Pro 30:32 If you have been foolish, exalting yourself, or if you have been devising evil, put your hand on your mouth.
Pro 30:33 For pressing milk produces curds, pressing the nose produces blood, and pressing anger produces strife.

Notes of Wisdom from Proverbs, Chapter 30

1-3) Who is Agur? There is some disagreement among scholars. Some Jewish writers say that this was Solomon, and that he identified himself with the word that means “gatherer” or “collector” (as he gathered the wisdom and the law). This is entirely plausible to me. Really, it does not matter much, as the words are coming from the Lord. It is interesting to look back into history though.

Solomon was pretty tough on himself - I suppose he had pretty good reason for it, though. Even with all the wisdom and blessings Solomon was given, he strayed from God and fell into idolatry, drunkenness, and a multitude of sin. We all do this in one way or another - falling short of the glory of God and presenting ourselves to sin.

We should hate the sin, but we must also be mindful of not hating the sinner when we encounter the truth of the Lord and come face-to-face with our sin. Doing this leaves us open to lies of the devil to infiltrate our lives and either convince us to give up hope, or to persue a feeling of cleansing through works of the flesh. Doing this denies the power of Jesus, who removed our sin 2000 years ago with one act that was only of his doing, not ours.

I spent the first year after returning to the Lord wandering between two stages; the joy of the Lord, and one where I tried to do things through the flesh - sheer will not to sin. I spent so much time gathering the word that I never really let it sink into my heart. This was more because I had other things (cares of the world - career, etc) that were holding my true attention.

Fortunately God can free us from all this. He can free us from mentally beating ourselves up and looking at each day as a failure because we sinned and made mistakes. This comes through forgiveness. We often teach about forgiving others, but we must also learn to forgive ourselves. Forgiveness does not mean that we forget wrongs or make excuses for them. Forgiveness means that we allow God to heal our hurt emotions and we no longer hold these sins against ourselves.

Pray to God right now. After you are done forgiving others who have wronged you, forgive yourself. Ask for the power of Jesus Christ to break the strongholds in your mind that have been built up over time by meditating on the words of the enemy, rather than the words of God. Pray for the Holy Spirit to loose love and peace in your life. Now believe that God’s word is true and it is done. You may not feel any different - but remember that the spiritual walk trancends feelings.

4) Sounds like the writer is talking about Jesus well before His earthly ministry was established.

5) This is a serious paradigm shift that all Christians must go through. God is always right… always. The word is always right… always. If we something in the word that bothers us, or we do not agree with it, the problem is ours, not the Bible. Too many times we would explain away passages in the Bible saying, “that is the way things were in that culture and that time. Things are done differently now” (since we’re much smarter).

This is incorrect thinking. The more I have experienced of God this past year or so the more I have realized that when my thinking contradicts the Bible, I step out in faith and believe God’s word first. He then reveals the “whys” soon after.

Faith is a tricky subject. We always want proof first. If we get this proof, it is not faith. It is like a child standing at the edge of a swimming pool. The parent is in the pool and calls for the child to jump out. The child does not know that the parent will catch them, since they have never done it before. The child has to have faith. This “child-like faith” is referred to by Jesus himself in the Gospels. When we have faith and leap towards God, he always catches us. The next time it is a bit easier to make the leap. After awhile the leap is second-nature.

Polarity can be dangerous, unless we are “on fire” for God. This verse also approves some of what the faith movement teach, that God does indeed want us to be blessed on this earth. It makes 100% sense and is totally Biblical, though some go too far. Most of those that really twist God’s word are ones that we do not hear of in most mainstream TV. God keeps the worst from getting too much of the limelight.

23) This was a bit confusing. Why would it be that an unloved woman getting a husband is a bad thing? Other translations of this show “hated”, “odious”, and “whore”. When the woman gets married, she stops hiding her faults and becomes comfortable in her despicable behavior. This applies to men, too.

Situations like this are why it is good to have several translations. There is no perfect one (no, not even the King James) so if you can get a couple different copies, please do so.

I take this time to mention e-sword again. It is 100% free Bible software that you can download on your computer. There is no catch - there is no spyware included either. It was created by a fellow Christian who wanted to bring the Gospel to all corners of the Globe.

E-sword has Bibles in many different languages. It also integrates multiple translations of the Bible with commentaries, Bible dictionaries, Maps, and a study note recorder.

25-28) This is a good last one to end the series on. These animals are praised as being wise. How can that be? They are just animals - they surely can’t have wisdom.

Here is another paradigm shift which you have probably learned throughout your personal study of Proverbs these last 30 days. Wisdom is not about knowledge, per se. Wisdom is about obedience to God, much like even the lowliest of animals display. God will show us what to say, and when to say it. The Lord will lead us to what we should do and eat, where we should live and sleep.

This is wisdom. This is the answer - the sum total of this series. We fear the Lord in awesome reverence. We draw near to the Lord by studying his word and by setting aside time for prayer and communion with Him. We listen to his leading through the Holy Spirit. This comes in many ways. Only in time spent with God will we discern what those ways are. We will then have wisdom so we may effectively share the light of Christ with our fellow man. That is our primary job. Our second is to enjoy the various promises listed in Proverbs. God put us here to enjoy this beautiful planet and to enjoy relationships with people that God has set in our path.

Commit yourself to the Lord. I can only begin to tell you what embarking on this study has done in my life. I pray that it has also sparked a fire in your heart as well to commit yourself to the Lord fully, and taste the Kingdom of God.

The end… just kidding. It’s actually just the beginning

Thanks so much for joining with us. Just this month people from over 40 nations around the world tuned in to receive God’s wisdom and truth through the book of Proverbs.

We have other wonderful series coming up, and now I will have an opportunity to post about some things that the Lord has brought before me, but did not fit well in the context of this series.

It is such a blessing to be able to share the word with you all. I will be posting some of the ministries that I am listening too in the next few days; all of which have extensive libraries of sermons that are available for free on the Internet.

We also plan to have “30 lessons of Leadership from the book of Nehemiah” in the future. The series comes from a couple sermons from Woodrow Kroll of Back to the Bible. We will then seek out personal stories from ordinary people who have had leadership experience. Businesspeople, parents, government leaders, church officials, small group leaders, whatever - we want everyone’s perspective. With so many international readers this should be really exciting, in that we get a multicultural perspective. Sure beats my “in America this,” and, “In America that” : )

Please take the time to subscribe to our RSS feed or our email listing. We don’t share your information with anyone. Acually, we never even see your email address. Feedburner keeps track of it for us and sends you a small email that tells you when we have a new message.

God bless each one of you and I look forward to hearing from you!

Categories: Wisdom
Tags: