Prov 7:3 [ESV] Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.
For the last thirty or forty years of my life I have been so intentional about gathering wisdom. Looking to read the right books at the right time, and to précis the wisdom from each of these books into my own notes so that I can continue to reflect and grow from the learning and work that I have undertaken. I have this massive organised library of information at my fingertips every day. And every day I add to it.
I have studied at home and at University year after year, intentionally selecting courses that equip me to be best positioned to help others.
For twenty-five years I laboured in “business turnarounds” gleaning from every success and every mistake I made, and from others battles, challenges and victories.
For thirty-five years I have volunteered and worked in pastoral roles learning and experiencing what it is like to do life with others, sometimes in the darkest seasons of the soul.
That in itself may seem like a remarkable focus. But actually, without you, it’s pointless. The drive for me, is that I am positioned to help others. My greatest joy is when you win. If I can do or say the tiniest thing that helps you win, then in my mind I am running around with my jersey pulled over my head like I have just seen you score the winning goal for Scotland or Australia in the World Cup.
I was born to be a coach.
KNOWLEDGE
There is an echo here from proverbs 3:3 “Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you, bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart”.
In ancient times, writing on a tablet meant inscribing something permanently. So, this phrase tells me today that these teachings should be deeply ingrained in my character and daily life, becoming an integral part of who I am.
By embedding these values in my heart, I can emphasize the importance of living out wisdom in my thoughts, actions, and decisions, rather than just knowing it in my intellect.
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 “write” is pronounced as “katah” in Hebrew and appears 225 time in the Old Testament. Notably in Exodus 24:12 “The Lord said to Moses “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction”
Moses has to wait and to receive something that is critical for him, his leadership, and for all those he is connected to. Do I understand how to “wait” and how to “receive” from God today? He has something of value for my heart.
In the LXX the word used is “επίγραψον” [inscribe them] “epigraphon” – epi – upon & grapho – to write. We see this word used five times in the New Testament – such as in Hebrews 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord; I will put my laws into their minds, and write them [επίγραψw] on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
WISDOM – when you stop and reflect on what core values you treasure in your heart, and when you audit your daily life to look for those values in action, what do you see?
STRENGTHS THOUGHT: Input as a Gallup Strength has this desire to gather things of value (or at least of perceived value) and to then organise these so that there can be effective output that results in support for others. Input, with no recourse to output loses its value.
Allan’s Unauthorised Version –
Conspire together with your hands and fingers, inscribe them as if on tablets of stone in the seat of your thoughts, emotions, conscience, courage, mind and understanding.
Bind them – conspire together with
on your fingers – your hands and fingers
write them – inscribe them
on the tablet – on tablets of stone
of your heart – in the seat of your thought, emotion, conscience, courage, mind and understanding.
PRAYER: Father, thank you for today. Help me to take your words at face value and to allow you to plant them as seeds into the deepest areas of my life, that I will offer no resistance to your touch and your plans. Thank you Jesus.
To chat to me as a professional coach/mentor – allan@theallankey.com
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