Prov 8:9 [ESV] They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.
I remember sitting at my dining table late one night. It would have been after midnight I think. This was many years before I got married. It was a Sunday night (Monday morning) and we had been at church a few times that day – I was a bit too wired to go straight to bed, so was sitting up for a while on my own just thinking. I sensed that God may be saying something to me, so I was taking time to sit with my eyes closed and just to wait.
The words that came to me were “come away with me my lovely”. I cried. I did not know if this was something that was perhaps from the bible – it sounded like it might be, so I went on a seach through my concordance – and found in Song of Songs 2:10 [ESV] My beloved speaks and says to me; Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away…” I cried some more. I cried because I felt anything other than beautiful of lovely, and yet here was my God speaking to me a word of his truth and from his view – my acceptance of Jesus, caused me to be beautiful and lovely and his desire was to be with me. And more importantly, for me to be with Him…..
KNOWLEDGE – Both verses eight and nine are taking time to re-emphasise the value, the purity, the strength, and the purpose of Gods words – of every single one of God’s words. There are two partners at play in these verses – one is obviously God and everything he says, the second is us, and how we choose to listen to Gods words. Do. We listen with bias, or perhaps with already pre-conceived beliefs and life structure. Or do we listen with a heart to simply obey what we hear, and to work with all we have to be able to best understand to meaning of God’s word for us as a first stop.
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? This scripture is a continuation from the previous verse and the attributed mentions are connected back to “all the words”. The word used for “twisted” in the previous verse is pronounced as “patal” in Hebrew and carries the meaning of “to have a struggle; to be wily; be crooked and to show oneself as being shrewd”.
In the LXX the word used is στραγγαλιώδες [straggalio-oes] and this word is translated as “insidious”. There appears to be no direct use of this word in the New Testament.
WISDOM
What will I do today to put this scripture into my learning and application?
STRENGTHS THOUGHT: Learner as a Gallup Strength has a great aspect of curiosity, frequently considering a sense of “what if” alongside “why”. It’s healthy to approach learning with as few biases as possible and to have a thinking partner who can identify any blind spots.
Allan’s Unauthorised Version They are proper, right and honest to those who consider with full attention and are discerning; and innocent and morally straight to those who discover and uncover learning and understanding with knowledge.
They are all straight – they are proper, right and honest
to him who understands – to those who consider with full attention and are discerning
and right to – and innocent and morally straight
those who find – to those who discover and uncover
knowledge – learning and understanding with knowledge
PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Help me to continue to approach you and your words with an open mind to receive from you fresh understanding and insights, that lead to great foresight.
To chat to me as a professional coach/mentor – [email protected]
I so love feedback – please do scroll down and use a few moments to bless me?