Proverbs 4:17 “for they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence”

We had been visiting the prisons in Central America over a period of many years. There was one regular main prison in La Ceiba, the federal prison that we went to more times than any other prison. We would often wear a shirt or shoes that we intended to swap when were inside. And would take sunglasses or toothbrushes for the guards. The guards were paid ever so little and had a tough job. We met the warden and sat in his office for a chat one time. He allowed us to pray for him when I was there.

There was a woman’s prison attached – I went there with a group once. We held a church service and spent a little time afterwards chatting to some of the women there.

Mostly though it was the men’s prison we went to. You drove through fields of millions of pineapples to get there, and behind the prison were these massive mountains, rising straight upwards to dominate the whole local skyline.

The visits had become something I really looked forwards to. I had come to recognise and know some of the men over the years we had been going, and it was good to catch up with them, before and after the service. We were relaxed with each other.

We got to go to areas of the prison that had been off-limits when we first started visiting. I would go round from the public areas to the cells and chat with the guys there. In a cell, there were six stacks of six high bunk beds, no mattresses, cardboard over springs, and no privacy. Thirty-six men in a cell, with enough room in the middle for maybe five of six men to stand up, fairly close to each other. The cell was surrounded by spaced metal bars, not walls. So it was more like a cage than anything else. We went to the kitchens where the food was made. Each man was given a small bowl of rice and gravy once a day. That was it.

Many of the men in prison had not been to court yet, they did not know when they were going to court. Some of the men were desperate for their families to know where they were. We would try and get messages back to families when we could.

This was the “federal prison” – so in other words, these men were accused of  (or had been found guilty of) serious crimes. There was another prison in the city itself. Where men accused of lesser crimes were kept.

I saw some of the same men each time we visited this prison. And we visited many times over a twenty-year period. I always went with John Taylor, the missionary who invited me to Honduras in the first place. John has had a massive impact on my life. Every time we went to visit the prisoners I was impacted. I’ll tell you more tomorrow………

 

 

KNOWLEDGE

What a foreshadow we see here of Christ. Bethlehem – the house of bread. The bread and the wine. Everything has been provided for the people described here. The same sacrifice, the same instructions, the same insights. We can in our minds go quickly to the New Testament [1 Cor 27:9-11 so then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.]

The way we approach the bread and the wine is what makes the difference, the bread and wine can bring release, forgiveness, freedom from shame, release from guilt, hope for the future, connection to community, purpose and clarity, internal change and external fruit.

However, if we choose to not recognise that Jesus is the only son of God through our lives (regardless of our words) this same bread and wine bring a judgement on us.

The way we approach the wisdom and insights of Proverbs makes a difference. Do we see wisdom and insight as the living person of Christ, who is in a familial relationship with us has made a way for us to follow him?

We have a strong warning following on from a strong warning – the writer wants us to get the point, and the New Testament allows us to see the point through a new lens.

 

 

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 for “bread” in Hebrew is “lehem” as in “beth” – house of. This word “lehem” appears 340 times in the Old Testament and in the ESV is translated in the English words, bread; food; and, loves. There is little room for manoeuvre here in verse seventeen. The verse relates back to verse fourteen, and the “wicked” and “evil”.  These two types of people find their sustenance in how they live.

 

 

WISDOM: what lens do you look at the bread and wine through?

 

 

STRENGTHS THOUGHT: Belief and Achiever as a Theme Dynamic,  show themselves as “all in” to your life’s purpose, with all your resources committed to the outcomes. What are your core values?

 

 

Allan’s Unauthorised Version – [for they fight through life, full of evil and wrongdoing, and they are intoxicated with ruthlessness and destruction.]

 

 

PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Help me please to know how to reach out to those who have lost their way, and at the same time keep my focus on you. Thank you.

 

 

 

I so love feedback – please do scroll down and use a few moments to bless me?