Proverbs, Chapter 7

Pro 7:1 My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;
Pro 7:2 keep my commandments and live; keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
Pro 7:3 bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
Pro 7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call insight your intimate friend,
Pro 7:5 to keep you from the forbidden woman, from the adulteress with her smooth words.
Pro 7:6 For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice,
Pro 7:7 and I have seen among the simple, I have perceived among the youths, a young man lacking sense,
Pro 7:8 passing along the street near her corner, taking the road to her house
Pro 7:9 in the twilight, in the evening, at the time of night and darkness.
Pro 7:10 And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
Pro 7:11 She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home;
Pro 7:12 now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait.
Pro 7:13 She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him,
Pro 7:14 “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows;
Pro 7:15 so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
Pro 7:16 I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen;
Pro 7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Pro 7:18 Come, let us take our fill of love till morning; let us delight ourselves with love.
Pro 7:19 For my husband is not at home; he has gone on a long journey;
Pro 7:20 he took a bag of money with him; at full moon he will come home.”
Pro 7:21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.
Pro 7:22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast
Pro 7:23 till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
Pro 7:24 And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
Pro 7:25 Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths,
Pro 7:26 for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng.
Pro 7:27 Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death.

Notes on Proverbs 7

1) Treasuring up God’s commandments can be as simple as carving out a few minutes each day to dig into God’s word. Strive for it each day, as it shows in verse 3, that God’s words bring longer life (tangible years).

4) We should seek a close relationship with God’s wisdom and protect it, much like a man would his sister.

14) Shows the flippant attitude of God’s people towards repentance - the offerings became just a transaction of physical goods, not a spiritual transaction that heals the relationship between man and God.

Men - watch out for sexual impurity and give it no opportunity to take hold in our lives! Check out yesterday’s post for more information on how to avoid this. This is a dangerous part of our lives. We do not talk about these temptations and sins in the open because of the obvious damage to current relationships (wives, girlfriends), and of our reputation. Find a Christian men’s group and meet with them on at least a monthly basis. I also highly, highly, highly recommend going to the Promise Keepers conference.

Women, there are a few tips in the previous post related to avoiding infidelity. I’ll try to get my wife to share more as it comes up in future posts, but the best advice I have heard came from a recent marriage retreat here in Hilton Head, SC that I attended. One female pastor suggested to avoid creating any “soul ties” between yourselves and another man besides your husband. That includes not speaking of deep emotional issues. Women may speak with one another of these things - that’s what women do best : ) Involving a man in the process rarely leads to any good.

Gospel of John, Chapter 7

Joh 7:1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
Joh 7:2 Now the Jews’ Feast of Booths was at hand.
Joh 7:3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.
Joh 7:4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”
Joh 7:5 For not even his brothers believed in him.
Joh 7:6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.
Joh 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.
Joh 7:8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come.”
Joh 7:9 After saying this, he remained in Galilee.
Joh 7:10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private.
Joh 7:11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?”
Joh 7:12 And there was much muttering about him among the people. While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, he is leading the people astray.”
Joh 7:13 Yet for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.
Joh 7:14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and began teaching.
Joh 7:15 The Jews therefore marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?”
Joh 7:16 So Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
Joh 7:17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
Joh 7:18 The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory, but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood.
Joh 7:19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?”
Joh 7:20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”
Joh 7:21 Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel at it.
Joh 7:22 Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
Joh 7:23 If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well?
Joh 7:24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
Joh 7:25 Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill?
Joh 7:26 And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ?
Joh 7:27 But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.”
Joh 7:28 So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from? But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know.
Joh 7:29 I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.”
Joh 7:30 So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
Joh 7:31 Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
Joh 7:32 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
Joh 7:33 Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me.
Joh 7:34 You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.”
Joh 7:35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
Joh 7:36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
Joh 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
Joh 7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”
Joh 7:39 Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
Joh 7:40 When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.”
Joh 7:41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee?
Joh 7:42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
Joh 7:43 So there was a division among the people over him.
Joh 7:44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
Joh 7:45 The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?”
Joh 7:46 The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man!”
Joh 7:47 The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived?
Joh 7:48 Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him?
Joh 7:49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
Joh 7:50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them,
Joh 7:51 “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?”
Joh 7:52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
Joh 7:53 They went each to his own house,

Notes on John, Chapter 7

53) Yes, the chapter does actually stop there - no typo : )

4) This is a delicate balance. The world needs to see the good works of Christ through us so that God is glorified, but we must not be doing it to benefit ourselves.

Jesus operated on God’s timing. The feast was to honor God, but it was a tradition of men. Jesus knew the difference between the two. We see other examples in Jesus’ life where this occurs. A noticeable one takes place when Lazarus is raised from the dead. Jesus learns that Lazarus is sick and dying. However, Jesus does not race to heal him. He stays three days longer at his current location before traveling to Lazarus’ town. By the time Jesus arrives Lazarus is long dead. As we learn though, that matters little to an all-powerful God.

17) This applies to words we hear from others today who say “God told me X”. Check the statement against God’s word.

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