Proverbs 29:3 Searching, or waiting?

A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

Are you looking at the verse above, and wondering why I have a picture portraying Rebekah and Abraham's servant up there? Ahh, glad you asked!

Well, let's start at the verse, which speaks of a person who sounds a lot like the prodigal son in Luke 15:
Luke 15:11 ¶ And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.
 
Now the prodigal son had the same opportunity to read in the proverbs of Solomon that every other young man did, and he should have seen the warnings, right? (Proverbs chapter 7 is a great example.)
But hey! Why should we think that the young man would be any wiser than Solomon, who was without a doubt, the wisest man of his time? And Solomon fell prey to the wiles of his many (go ahead, say "many" several times there) wives, who wanted to mix in their pagan religions with the worship of the true God. These pagan religions had sexual immorality wound tightly around and through their rituals and practices, and that is just one of the reasons why God had admonished Israel to avoid intermarriage with other nations.

God had set forth the ways for the Hebrew people to sacrifice and worship, and they did not include temple prostitutes, the way other religions did. Apparently those practices had persisted, since Paul mentions them in Corinthians.
To bring this to our era, there are many Christian men and women (of all ages) who have abandoned their faith because of the allure of sexual immorality, and the siren song of today, "if it feels good, do it!" Sometimes young Christians fail in this area because of their own sinful hearts. Sometimes they fail because of the failure of adult Christians in their lives to model selfless marriage and the joy that it can bring. Today's media often portrays marriage as a conflict-filled shouting match, instead of the "honorable" and "undefiled" union that God can bless with peace and love. The media also presents the union of male and female as best and most exciting, if it is outside of marriage.

Is it any wonder that so many young people fall into sexual sin? Is it any wonder that many adults do the same?
We need to counsel our young people against that path --- we need to let them know that it will rob them of more than just their "substance" and their money. It will rob them of joy, and make their lives miserable. What can we offer them instead?

Let's tell them to search God's word for the fulfillment of their desires and needs, and find a mate that God has expressly chosen for them -- a Christian who will love the Lord as they do. And let's tell them that the way to find that mate is not to go out and search . . . but to be a Rebekah. Be in the place that God has for you. Be waiting. Be ready. Be the kind of person that you should be for Christ and wait for Him to provide.
If there are any single ladies reading today, I hope that you will feel this is directed to you, as well. Please don't feel that you must go out and search; please don't be in a rush.  Be the Christian that the Bible tells you how to be. Be ready and waiting. God will bring the right person to you.

“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day. Psalm 25:5

Proverbs 26:10 Aren't you glad He is patient?

10  The great God that formed all things both rewards the fool, and rewards transgressors.

The commentaries actual say some conflicting things about this verse, and some translations have very different words here. I went back to my old faithful King James, and as I studied, I was struck by this fact . . . our Father is so patient.

Not that we are always happy about that. Sometimes we are like little kids and we want to see God point His finger at the wicked sinner that is causing us trouble, or that has more goodies and prosperity than we do, and zap 'em with some lightning. Leave a little sooty spot behind, nothing more.

Listen to what Job said, as he said in chapter 21:

7 Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? 8 They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not upon them. 10 Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry. 11 They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about. 12 They sing to the music of tambourine and harp; they make merry to the sound of the flute. 13 They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. 14 Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. 15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?'

I had to chuckle when I read that --- Job says that even their livestock lead charmed lives! On a more serious note, Jeremiah asked a similar question in Jer. 12:1:

You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? 

And Jesus addressed this, too:

 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45)

Sure, it bothers us that the wicked people can prosper now. Sure, we know that we are in it for the long haul -- that our rewards will be mighty in the eternal scheme of things. And that is nothing to belittle . . . it's a promise to treasure. Jesus' words in Matthew tell us that, for the Christian, God’s patience, His mercy on those who have no regard for Him, is an example for us to follow in treating those who hate us.
If our holy and righteous Father can be patient and kind, then so can we. The time of the sinner, of the fool and the transgressor, is coming.  Don't fuss and fume about it. After all, we should be glad that He had patience with us --- He could have terminated our lives before the light of His truth dawned on us!
God will settle these accounts in His own time --- He gives sinful men and women lots of time to repent and turn their lives around.

II Peter 3:9 tells us: The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

I don't know about you, but I sure am glad that He was patient with me!

Proverbs 16:32-33

Start by reading todays passage please.

Patience, Patience, Patience. Why do these verses keep popping up? I am sure that I can tell you. They are all for me. Although, I am getting better. I never thought that a patient person should be more decorated than a soldier. Did you?

The second verse talks about 'casting lots'. Casting lots was a way of making decisions in Biblical times. I did some googling to see if I could find a better way to explain it, and I really liked what answerstoprayer.org had to say, so I hope that you don't mind if I copy it here for you:

Casting lots is quite Biblical. The word "lots" appears 70 times in the Old Testament and seven times in the New Testament.

It was used by priests to separate the scapegoat from the one being sacrificed: Lev 16:8 "He is to cast lots for the two goats--one lot for the LORD and the other for the scapegoat." NIV

It was used to divide the promised land among the Israelites: Num 26:55 "Be sure that the land is distributed by lot." NIV

Several functions in the Temple were determined by lots: 1 Chron 24:5 "They divided them impartially by drawing lots, for there were officials of the sanctuary and officials of God among the descendants of both Eleazar and Ithamar." NIV

The sailors on Jonah's boat determined who was responsible for that terrible storm by casting lots (notice that the guilty party was discovered that way!): Jonah 1:7 "Then the sailors said to each other, "Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity." They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah." NIV

When the apostles met after Jesus ascended to heaven they determined who would replace Judas by casting lots: Acts 1:26 "Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles." NIV

None of the Biblical illustrations of casting lots had to do with games of chance. Every time it was used, the Israelites depended on the Lord 100% to reveal to them His will. It was an impartial way to find God's will when choices had to occur. This concept is still applicable today. In all our decisions we should impartially depend on God and search for His decisions.

However, the book of Proverbs indicate some neat things about casting lots:

Prov 18:18 "Casting the lot settles disputes and keeps strong opponents apart." NIV

Prov 16:33 "The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD." NIV


In close, how about we flip a little coin. Go grab a quarter and flip it. Heads or Tails. Heads you Pray for my patience, Tails you pray for yours. Ha...just being silly. Have a good rest of your day.