Readings for today: Proverbs 1-4
So many people treat God like the fire hose in the wall at the office. “Just break glass in case of emergency.” We’re not really interested in a relationship with God. We’re not really interested in walking with God. We’re not really interested in having God as a part of our lives. But when things go wrong or significant mistakes are made or terribly tragic things happen, we not only expect Him to show up, we demand it. The problem is God doesn’t work that way. You can’t keep Him under glass. You can’t ignore Him until you need Him. You can’t even find Him if you’ve never truly sought Him. And none of this is God’s fault. It’s our senses that have dulled. It’s our sense of direction that is skewed. It’s our lack of intentionality in nurturing a relationship with God that comes back to bite us.
This is the message from Solomon today as he opens up the Book of Proverbs. “Because you hated Knowledge and had nothing to do with the Fear-of-God, Because you wouldn’t take my advice and brushed aside all my offers to train you, Well, you’ve made your bed—now lie in it; you wanted your own way—now, how do you like it? Don’t you see what happens, you simpletons, you idiots? Carelessness kills; complacency is murder. First pay attention to me, and then relax. Now you can take it easy—you’re in good hands.” (Proverbs 1:29-33 MSG) We talk a lot in my family with our kids about logical consequences. How the decisions we make or don’t make often come back to haunt us. I think of my daughter who decided to work only 20 hours a week one summer while in college. She had just enough to pay the bills but then an emergency came along and she was behind the eight ball. We had a hard conversation about why she rejected my advice to work forty hours so she could build a cushion. I think of my son who decided to ignore the oil light in his car. Instead of taking it in to get checked out, he kept driving it. Of course the engine seized up on him and left him stranded. Not only that but he still had payments to make on his loan. He was shocked when he found out those payments were still due! We’ve all experienced these things in our lives and the same is true when it comes to our relationship with God. If we listen to Him and learn from Him, we can relax. We can rest. We can have confidence we’re in good hands. If we choose to ignore Him or dismiss Him or reject Him, we will find ourselves feeling all alone when trouble comes.
This is why Solomon encourages us to cling to wisdom. He encourages us to make knowledge of God our close companion. He knows what it’s like to walk with God and sadly, he will find out what it’s like to not walk with God. Here are his words again from Proverbs 2:9-13, “So now you can pick out what’s true and fair, find all the good trails! Lady Wisdom will be your close friend, and Brother Knowledge your pleasant companion. Good Sense will scout ahead for danger, Insight will keep an eye out for you. They’ll keep you from making wrong turns, or following the bad directions.” Today, make it your aim to walk with God. Today, make it your goal to cultivate a greater awareness of His presence. Today, when given the choice, follow His ways and watch what happens in your life.
Readings for tomorrow: Proverbs 5-8