Topic: Book of Proverbs
My dear brothers and sisters, be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Your anger can never make things right in God's sight. (James 1:19-20 NLT)
Have you hear the wisdom voice that is in your heart? If so, what advice does the wisdom give you?
In Proverbs 1:20, King Solomon describes the wisdom as a woman shouting in the street. Have you feel like you want to cry out something? Sometimes, I want to cry out to God while I'm in the devotion with God or when the message from the Sunday service touches through my heart. Or even I cry when I talk to someone who is special to me.
Does the wisdom do that?
I believe so. But it's the wisdom from God, who knows you and me before we came out from our mothers' wombs. It's God who gives us the wisdom. As we read Proverbs 1:20-21, we hear that the wisdom wants to something to say to us. But are we going to allow the wisdom to speak to us?
It's not fair that we prevent God to speak to us. Look in the world, there are so many things going on that we usually don't hear God's voice. We see that our economic system becomes great that we don't pay any attention to God. As we saw what happened on September 11, 2001, God gave us the warning to avoid worshipping our own idols. The destruction in World Trade Center and Pentagon might be just a sign of what He will be doing at the end time. Look what happened to the children of Israel when they turned against God:
"Heaven and the earth, listen, because the LORD is speaking: 'I raised my children and helped them grow up, but they turned against me. An ox knows where its owner feeds it, but the people of Israel do not know me; my people do not understand. How terrible! Israel is a nation of sin, a people loaded down with guilt, a group of children doing evil, children who are full of evil. They have left the LORD; they hate God, the Holy One of Israel, and have turned away from him as if he were a stranger." (Isaiah 1:2-4)
Are you listening to the wisdom that God gave you? Try to listen to the wisdom as you are listening to God, because the wisdom is from Him.
In Proverbs 1:22-27, King Solomon gave advice what God would do those who make fun of wisdom and hate knowledge. "You fools, how long will you be foolish? How long will you make fun of wisdom and hate knowledge? If only you had listened when I corrected you, I would have told you what's in my hear; I would have told you what I am thinking." (Proverbs 1:22-23)
Have God say to you to listen to what He's going to say, but you decide to ignore Him? You might say, "Not now, but can You put Your message on the recorder?" It's easy to what the other people say, but not to God. What if God says to us that He has a good plan for us? Do we choose to listen to Him or the opposite? We may turn on the rock music or the TV and make ourselves to be happy. Or we may shut every down and open our Bibles to begin to have conversation with God. God says, "…I know what I am planning for you… I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)
It's hateful act not to listen to God. It's disobedience. It took the people of Israel 40 years to make to the promise land because of their disobedience acts. God has called them to turn to Him, but they decided not to listen to Him. "I called, but you refused to listen; I held out my hand, but you paid no attention. You did not follow my advice and did not listen when I corrected you. So I will laugh when you are in trouble. I will make fun when disaster strikes you, when disaster comes over you like a storm, when trouble strikes you like a whirlwind, when pain and trouble overwhelm you." (Proverbs 1:24-27)
What are you going to about it?
When we realized that we have been sinning while God was trying to call us to stop, is He going to accept our repentance? When we would keep sinning and after we realized that we have been sinning against Him, is He going to accept the forgiveness of our sins?
God knows when we would give ourselves up to Him after we finish to play with sins. For instance, when you decide to lie to your spouse that you arrived home late because of your work rather than tell the truth that you were dating with another woman/man. When your spouse find out that you have been lying, then there is a long solving process. I don't know that you might go through court process or talking things out. Think about what God did to the people of Israel when they were against Him and they realized that they needed Him. Did they think God forgive their sins easy? They might think that God forgive their sins after they played with their toys; and would decide to play them again later.
The answer is that there is a consequence of many sins. God is not just being easy with our repentance of sins. No. God knows when we would give up our sins completely. That is when we are going through hard time. The Lord said, "Then you will call to me, but I will not answer. You will look for me, but you will not find me. It is because you rejected knowledge and did not choose the LORD. You did not accept my advice, and you rejected my correction. So you will get what you deserve; you will get what you planned for others. Fools will die because they refuse to listen; they will be destroyed because they do not care. But those who listen to me will live in safety and be at peace, without fear of injury." (Proverbs 1:28-33)
God will answer us to our needs if we listen to Him. But He will let those are non-listeners experience the painful moment of their lives. God didn't create the disease in our lives but we did ourselves.
"Today you may be bombarded by people giving advice-talk show hosts, psychics, psychologists. Take more time to listen to God than to television. At the end of the day, assess which of wisdom you applied (or should have)."
