Day 173 – Proverbs 30-31

Talking Points

• Proverbs 30 and 31 are written by a man named Agur and a king named Lemuel, respectively. Both men are unknown outside of these recordings of their God-inspired pieces of wisdom.
• Agur makes the frustrated declaration that human logic is limited. He has sought wisdom and understanding, only to conclude that truth can only come from the Creator. I wonder how many generations of people have sought out truth to come to this same conclusion? How many have sought out truth and, in arrogance, denied this conclusion? How awesome that Jesus reveals Himself as the Truth!
• God’s wisdom includes a prohibition against adding to His Words. Human instinct has always been to adapt God’s Word for our purposes. Maybe it makes it more acceptable to the world or more comfortable for us to digest. Maybe it makes us the hero, exalting us instead of God. Or, maybe it is just an evil move to steal the truth from those who would seek it. Either way, to change the truth, either by addition or subtraction, is to make it no longer the truth. The new words are a lie.
• The writer makes a great case for contentment. God, help us not to be full and deny You, or to be poor and sin against You. Interesting those realities are very real even today.

Thoughts

In the popular, often quoted Proverb 31, we see the greatest thing that could be said of a person, woman or man, is that they feared God. The rest of the impressive, if not honestly daunting list pales in comparison with this declaration. All the good attributes in the world mean little if a person’s heart is not fixed on God. And, if a person’s heart is set on Him, the tremendous attributes listed become all the more beautiful, because of the motivation.

I remember my Granny, Verna Lee. I could tell story after story of hard work, profitable characteristics — gardens tended to, kids raised, meals cooked. But, I most love to remember her voice as it sang to no human audience (she thought no one was listening), “Leaning on the everlasting arms.”

Lord, help us not to strive for checklists of things to do, trying to measure up. Help us to love our Savior, who came because we never could.