PROVERBS 6:23

"For the commandment is a lamp 

and the teaching is light;

And reproofs for discipline are the way of life."

Things go bump in the dark.

Tis the season of darkness called a children's holiday of Halloween.  Good parents do not send their children into the darkness without at least a flashlight.  They only lead them to porches with lights on and candles in pumpkins as beacons.  Neither does our Father.  He leads us with the lamp of His commandments and with the light of His teaching with the rewards of sweet things of God, ultimately eternal life.  

Adam Clarke says, "'For the commandment is a lamp'  It illuminates the path.  It shews us how we should walk and praise God.  'And the law is light'  A general light, shewing the nature and will of God, and the interest and duty of Man.  'And reproofs of instruction'  Or, that instruction which reproves us for our sins and errors leads us into the way of life."

Pulpit Commentary, "light is light in general, as light of day and the sun, while a lamp is a particular light like that of a candle, which is enkindled by some other source...'Reproofs of instruction;' disciplinary reproofs, i.e. reproofs whose object is the discipline of the soul and the moral elevation of the character...education in its highest sense."

Matthew Poole's Commentary, 'Is a lamp;' it enlightens thy dark mind, and clearly discovers to thee the plain and right way.  'Reproofs of instruction;' wise and instructive reproofs or admonitions.  'The way to life;' both to preserve and prolong this life, and to procure eternal life to those that obey them."

Gill's Commentary, "'For the commandment is a lamp...'  The law of God is a lamp or candle to see to work by and to walk by and to walking; it enlightens the eyes and directs the feet..."

So you see, we are children of light.

John 12:36, "...ye may be the children of light." Ephesians 5:8, "...walk as children of light."  I Thessalonians 5:5 "...ye are all the children of light." 

So little ones of God, hold tightly to His hands and beware the darkness.

PROVERBS 6:20-22

"My son, observe the commandment of your father

And do not forsake the teaching of your mother;

Bind them continually on your heart;

Tie them around your neck.

When you walk about, they will guide you;

When you sleep, they will watch over you;

And when you awake, they will talk to you."

A good parent will not only give instruction, but will lead by example giving them something to observe.  The point of good parenting is to have their principles and instructions instilled and internalized by their child to take them to heart into their adulthood and ultimately to influence them when their parents are no longer there.  This is a beautiful binding, like pearls of wisdom to wear around their hearts and around their necks, to wear when they walk to guide them and even to give them a refreshing sleep.  These things imprinted upon their hearts will speak beyond you and these words will talk to them when they awake.

"These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 

You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them

when you sit in your house and  when you walk by the way

and when you lie down and when you rise up.  

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand

and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.

You shall write them on the doorposts of your house

and on your gates."

(Deuteronomy 6:6-9)

By the way, the Israelites did not have doorposts  or houses or gates to write them upon, only tents. 

It was given as a future hope.

The Originals!

Since God is our Father, He is the One who gives us the commandments to follow, who guides us, who wants to give us a new heart and have His words written upon our hearts, who wants to take out our heart of stone and remove our stiff necks and to make us soft hearted.  

"And I will give them one heart,

and put a new spirit within them.

And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh

and give them a heart of flesh,

that they may walk in My statutes

and keep My ordinances and do them.

Then they will be My people,

and I shall be their God."

Ezekiel 11:19-20

"I will put My law within them and on their heart.

I will write it; and I will be their God, 

and they shall be My people.  

They will not each again, 

each man his neighbor

and each man his brother, saying, 

'Know the Lord,' for they will all know Me,

from the least of them to the greatest of them,'

declares the Lord, 'for I will forgive their iniquity,

and their sin I will remember no more."

Jeremiah 31:33-34

Adam Clarke says, "Here the law is personified; and is represented as a nurse, teacher, and guardian, by night and day.  An upright man never goes but as directed by God's word, and led by God's Spirit.  'When thou sleepest'  He commends his body and soul to the protection of his Maker when he lies down, and sleeps in peace.  And when he awakes in the morning, the promises and mercies of God are the first things that present themselves to his recollection."

Does that happen to you?  When you awake, do they will talk to you?  Sometimes I wake up thinking upon the Scriptures upon with which I will blog and have impressions on what they mean to me.  One thing's for sure, if you don't read God's word, they can't talk to you.  Hide God's word in your heart.  You can't be spoon forever with just a sermon every seven days or so.  

PROVERBS 6:16-19

"There are six things which the Lord hates,

Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him (to His soul):

Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, 

And hands that shed innocent blood, 

A heart that devises wicked plans,

Feet that run rapidly to evil,

A false witness who utters lies, 

And one who spreads strife among brothers."

God has a hate list, a no-no list.  Abominations.  

It is not because He is a hateful Person,
rather a loving One, a protective One.

Have you ever wondered if it was fall during the fall in the Garden,
when the leaves were stripped away to reveal their sin?

Going back to verse 12, Adam Clarke says, "'A naughty person' 'Adam belial,' 'Adam good for nothing.'  'When he lost his innocence.' 'A man apostate, Old MS. Bible.'  'A wicked man, soon became a general transgressor after he had departed from his God.  All his posterity, unless restored by Divine grace, are men of Belial, and sinners by trade; and most of them, in one form or other, answer the character here given.  They yield their members instruments of unrighteousness to sin.'"  Then verse 14, "He deviseth mischief  He plots schemes and plans to bring it to pass.  'He soweth discord'  Between men and their wives, by seducing the latter from their fidelity."  

Now in verses 16-19, "These six--doth the Lord hate  1.  A proud look--exalted eyes; those who will not condescend to look on the rest of mankind.  2.  A lying tongue.  He who neither loves nor tells truth.  3.  Hands that shed innocent blood, whether by murder or by battery.  4.  A heart that deviseth wicked imaginations.  The heart that fabricates such, lays the foundation, builds upon it, and completes the superstructure of iniquity.  5.  Feet that be swift in running to mischief.  He who works iniquity with greediness.  6.  A false witness that speaketh lies.  One who even on his oath before a court of justice, tells any thing but the truth." 

"Siven are an abomination unto him 'to His soul.'  The seventh is, him that soweth discord among brethren.  He who troubles the peace of a family, of a village, of the state: all who, by lies and misrepresents, strive to make men's minds evil affected towards their brethren."

It comes full circle: evil practiced is breaking the unity of the brethren, just like the snake in the Garden breaking fellowship.  Beware anything that comes between us and look at the source.

PROVERBS 6:12

"A worthless person, a wicked man,

Is the one who walks with a perverse mouth,

Who winks with his eyes,

who signals with his feet,

Who points with his fingers;

Who continually devises evil,

Who spreads strife.  

Therefore his calamity will come suddenly;

Instantly he will be broken and

there will be no healing."

Who has met such a person?  Perhaps you have experienced such a betrayal by a wicked person. Well, I would suggest it is currently someone who is invited into our homes, watched on our televisions and listened to on the internet.  What saturates our perceptions and smears our nations conscience?  His name is fake news.  Wink, winking and pointing fingers.  Fool me once...Fool me twice...  

There is worth in the "Me Too," confessions and the current exposures of perpetrators in Hollywood and politics though most have experienced such perversion more often from broken trust in a family or from a close friend.    Certainly these are the wicked and perverse man.  

However, another blatant example is shown in the exposing revelations that have shown a purposeful wickedness by creating a false and perverted "Russian dossier" hoax colluded by and paid for by the DNC and Hillary's campaign to smear Trump and have caused the year long "investigation" of our president's Russian ties.  Further more, evidence has revealed the previous administration, President, Attorney General and Head of State involved in the treasonous selling of 20% of uranium used in nuclear weapons to Russia, with the Clintons and Clinton Foundation benefiting to the tune of millions.  This is devising evil and spreading strife.  Warning: his calamity will come suddenly and instantly he will be broken.  

Most choose to ignore the news unless it interferes with their entertainment such as bending the knee as a political statement in the NFL or with the exposure of favorite actors and producers.  As a society, we are more lulled by entertainment while the ship is sinking.   They are adverse to being informed of such holes in our mother ship.   

So, heads up.  Proverbs warns us against this evil.  

Not ready to jump back (after surgery) into my daily devotional blogging because,

believe it or not, it takes a great deal of energy to study and compose them.

But, even though I missed my pastor's sermon on idols, Isaiah 44 & 46,

these chapters hit upon the thoughts that I have been pondering upon...

The cup of communion or another. 

What are we teaching our children?

Perhaps it is because our eyes watched in horror the fires that consumed homes and lives in its flames in the outskirts of our community as well as that of the wine country calling it the worst in our state's history.   Wine is one of the biggest industries of our state (though perhaps not so great as the marijuana industry which also lost 34 uninsured pot farms).   The leaders of the industry call it a special craft, including the making of wooden barrels made for its brewing.  In fact, the  front page headlines in our paper Sunday called "Beer, a Work of Art." 

But lately, I've been thinking of how the children of God have grown weary of waiting on God and instead have sacrificed their gold for an idol.  It is the center of debauchery in our world.  So dance they may around it and sip from its glass and laugh scornfully at me, I refuse to join in their celebration.  Now, even formerly conservative churches have joined in raising the glass in order to  what, welcome the world?  Rather, they become those not only in the world but of the world.

Meditrina

It reminds me of the prophecy of Ezekiel 16..."As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing...No eye looked with pity on you to  any of these things for you, to have compassion on you.  Rather you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.  When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in our blood, 'Live!'  Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine ornaments...Then I spread My skirt over and covered your nakedness.  I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine," declares the Lord God...I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on our hands and a necklace around your neck.  I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.  Thus you were adorned with gold and silver...Then your fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,' declares the Lord God...But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot ...You took your beautiful jewels made of My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them...you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in our blood."

After saving us and giving us life, the beauty God gives His Church is the beauty of holiness.  Instead, these adornments are being sacrificed to the idols of this world.  The Hebrew children, set apart for God as His own, sinned by giving their adornments, gold and silver bracelets and earrings in order for Aaron to make them a golden calf to worship.  His salvation, His splendor, His beauty is spurned trusting instead on their own beauty and the idols made by hands: the harlotry of the Hebrews is still a temptation for the Church.  Yet, He calls us back over and over to Himself offering forgiveness and a return as the remnant of God.  Being called the remnant means not the popular way, but being God's peculiar people who follow the narrow way.

Bacchus, the Roman God of wine and debachery

The cup of which they partake is not the cup our Lord offers us as a symbol of His life blood shed for us.  Rather, the historic symbols of wine are the gods and goddesses of drinking, fertility and orgies, such as Bacchus and Dionysus and Meditrina.   

 Dionysus was the god of wine and winemaking,

theater, ecstasy, and madness in Greek mythology,

Son of Zeus and Semele.

Zeus took the still unborn Dionysus

and sewed him into his thigh, 

thus resulting in Dionysus becoming 

'twice born.'  A little blasphemous?

Hmm.

I am thankful that the Assembly of God who offers Teen Challenge

as a missionary outreach still stands strong against alcohol for its membership,

one of the only ones.

PROVERBS 6:9-11

"How long will you lie down, O sluggard?

When will you arise from your sleep?

'A little sleep, a little slumber,

A little folding of the hands to rest'--

Your poverty will come in like a vagabond

And your need like an armed man."

I married an industrious man, one who is a hard-worker.  In the last many years, he worked two full-time jobs to provide for his family.  We had felt the compelling urge of the necessity of buying our own home instead of continuing to live in a parsonage.  God blessed.  Now in retirement, we still have a roof over our heads and the $200 a month retirement for twenty-five years of service as a pastor in our previous denomination.  Whoopie!  It's a good thing he took it upon himself to provide a little more than that.  Now in retirement, sleep may elude him as he is so used to get-up-and-get-going (while I am still sleeping).  His relished early mornings are still dedicated to studying the Word in Greek and Hebrew and looks for ways to serve.  

Then there is me.  He runs circles around me.  I am definitely the tortoise instead of the hare.  Instead of just sleeping, I read and read and read.  Please tell me these verses don't apply to that.  It would take an armed man to take my books away from me! 

When filling out paperwork for my upcoming surgery, I again had to fill out the blanks that ask my employment and hand them over to someone who is gainfully employed.  Once again I write, "housewife."  That is an archaic  foreign language to most of our world which implies laziness.  It is not the place to write about my autoimmune-limited lifestyle or to explain what keeps us occupied. Imagine us in our sixties, still having a teenager at home: that is like riding herd on a cat; even with the both of us, at times it's a little exhausting.  Instead of working myself to the nubbins to take care of him, my job is to round him up and teach him to do life-tasks that will propel him to independence.  Often it would be easier to do it myself instead of being his supervisor.  

Matthew Henry writes, "Diligence in business is every man's wisdom and duty; not so much that he may attain worldly wealth, as that he may not be a burden to others or a scandal to the church.  The ants are more diligent than slothful men.  We may learn wisdom from the meanest insects and be shamed by them.  Habits of indolence and indulgence grow upon people.  Thus life runs to waste; and poverty, though at first at a distance, gradually draws near, like a traveler; and when it arrives, is like an armed man, too strong to be resisted.  All this may be applied to the concerns of our souls.  How many love their sleep of sin, and their dreams of worldly happiness !...shall we not give diligence to secure our own salvation?

Gil's Exposition of the Entire Bible says, "It is always high time for the sinner to awake out of sleep, and arise from the dead; and for the drowsy saint to arise out of his lethargy."

Me immortalized!

+

PROVERBS 6:6-8

"Go to the ant, O sluggard,

Observe her ways and be wise,

Which having no chief, officer or ruler,

Prepares her food in the summer

And gathers her provision in the harvest."

Proverbs 6:30:24-25

"Four things are small on earth

(ants, conies, locusts, lizards),

But they are exceedingly wise:

The ants are not a strong people,

But they prepare their food in the summer..."

If you've observed an ant, they at times are the most determined to breach the thresholds in order to have access to that crumb that calls their name.  Ants are not my worst nightmare, but at times their presence is not appreciated.  Have you fought the ant wars, an invasion?  When the rain begins, they will be knocking at my door desiring to come in and feast.  Yet, the proverb tells us to observe her ways.  Imagine the author of the proverb sitting on his throne watching an ant carrying a crumb upon her back in a steady march like a soldier in a conquering army.

It is a reminder to not be a sluggard.  Okay, guilty as charged.  I operate on a slow perk and am blessed to have a partner in this life who delights in serving and spoiling me.  While I have been typing away, he has swept the floors, and cleaned out the fireplace to make it ready for the fall.  Yesterday, he made a mean pot of beans (slow-cooked with onions, chopped tomatoes, green chilies, and bacon) and served it along with cornbread.  O, the joys of retirement!  He's a keeper.  

Another reminder to sluggards...

"if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either.

For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, 

doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies.  Now such persons we command

and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread."

(II Thessalonians 3:10-12)

I don't know about your house, but when a child comes home from school,

one of the first things that is said is, "I'm hungry!  When will dinner be ready?"
And yes, we have quoted this verse to him as a nudge to get his chores done.

We live in a hunger-driven world.  It is an unrelenting motivation to get thee to  the kitchen!

The only harvest we will have this year will be one single, lonely tomato grown on a tree-like vine,  pomegranates bowing down the limbs of the tree and with perhaps a handful of lemons or oranges as the year winds down.   Yet, this time of year is ripe with the image of a harvest.  

It's about preparing food.  One of our favorite fall dishes is the creamy potato soup (red potatoes, celery,  onions slow cooked in a crock pot then topped with cream and grated cheese, sauted chopped ham, sprinkled with chopped green onions).  There is nothing like the crisp bite of an apple, sometimes brought to the table as a salad (chopped apples, walnuts or pecans, cran-raisons,  chopped celery, a touch of mayo dressing).  Another favorite is pea salad (a layer of chopped lettuce, frozen organic petite peas, chopped red onions, spread of a mixture of sour cream and mayo, sprinkled with crumbled bacon).  But an absolute favorite is the last of the harvest of okra sliced and coated with cornmeal and fried).  Need I go on?  

Be like an ant.  Prepare your food.  Gather ye harvest while ye may.