Proverbs 3:7 “be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil”

There was a time in Scotland when I was about 32 years old that I was looking for a job. I had made a couple of career decisions that were not really so well thought out and had tumbled from a well-paid career job with prospects to working in a low-paid role to help the long-term unemployed back to work through repairing broken walls and paths in our district. I absolutely loved this role, but financially it was really tough, barely enough to just survive. I started looking for better-paid work and saw a role that I might be suited for in a town about 100k away from where I lived. I got caught up in the thoughts of having another well-paid job with status and position.

 

I did not really want to leave the town I was living in, or the job I did, and really did not want to leave my local church. But the lure of money and position started to impact my thinking. I got offered the job and accepted, but did not tell anyone (other than handing in my notice at my existing job – and they were very sad to hear I was leaving).

 

The Sunday before I was due to leave (and start work the next day in the new town) I was so unsettled and was really struggling with the decision I had made. A lady in the church service that day came and stood behind me and laid her hands on my shoulders (she really never did stuff like this) and spoke to me saying that “God wanted me to stop struggling and stay where I was planted”. She had no idea of what was going on inside me.

 

I prayed and said to God, this is with you now – please help me. When I got home there was a message on my answerphone to say the Company was rescinding their job offer and not to start tomorrow. I called the old employer that I had finished with on Friday and they took me back on Monday. Possibly to some people, this sounds like a bit of a crazy story, or maybe even a non-event. But to me, it was a moment where God was ordering my steps, and I sensed he had a plan that I should not knowingly step out of. My own wisdom could easily get in the way.

 

KNOWLEDGE

How do you see yourself, what is your self-image? How do you think others see you? What does your internal dialogue sound like? Where is the focus – is it on God, and His provision and His wisdom, or is it on you and your cleverness? There is a very simple and clear caution underlined here. The writer asked for and received wisdom from God [2 Chronicles 1:10]. His counsel to us now is to remember where all wisdom has its source – it’s not in you or me, but rather from the relational, covenant-keeping God, Yahweh. Let’s pause for a moment and allow our minds to focus on that thought – all we have, everything, is from God. Our moment right now considering this concept, our next heartbeat, the air we breathe, our children, our food, our opportunities for growth, our finances, our spouses………….all……..from……..God.

 

Where is the opportunity to think that somehow some of this is from us – that we made it, and it belongs to us – it’s our wisdom? How do we glide to that conclusion? It’s an illusion.

 

Let us take time to sit with God and gain the right perspective, the right sense of awe and reverence along with intimacy and closeness. Take time to gain the right insights each morning. Who you are and who God is. Then we will live from gratitude, not appropriating what was never ours, and no sense of entitlement robbing us of our potential. Rather we revere and love God as our all providing father. We plug into his strength and his wisdom so that we can have the power and authority over sin in our own lives. When faced with a choice – we can calmly make the right decision every time – when to speak, when to stay silent, when to ask a question and when to offer an idea, when to step in, and when to stand by. 

UNDERSTANDING

Let’s pick one word from this verse to look closer at and see if that can help us gain a deeper insight into how God would love us to live?

The word that most resonates with me from this short scripture is “turn away” which is derived from the Hebrew “sur”  which has 297 mentions in the Old Testament – translated as, removed; aside; took off; depart; away; turn aside; clogging; leave, and undone. So we catch the sense of this word in Proverbs 3:7 as to be rejected, to turn totally away, to get rid off, and to totally forsake. We totally forsake evil.

 

 

WISDOM: what are you plugged into this morning?

 

STRENGTHS THOUGHT: Input – gather in the information and understanding that will make a genuine difference to you and to those you support and care for. Be careful not to see yourself as the source.

 

 

Allan’s Unauthorised Version – [don’t think of yourself as shrewd or focus on your outward appearance, rather, stand in awe of the covenant-keeping God, who holds as precious his personal relationship with you. Make every human effort you can every second of every day to be removed from misery, calamity and the ethically wicked actions that are so disagreeable to God.]

 

 

PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Help me to walk humbly, to love mercy and to do justly. Thank you!

 

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