My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:
2 For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.
3 Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
4 So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.
8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
9 Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.
11 My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction:
12 For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
13 Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.
14 For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.
15 She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.
16 Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
18 She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.
19 The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.
20 By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
21 My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:
22 So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.
23 Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.
24 When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.
25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.
26 For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.
27 Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.
28 Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.
29 Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.
30 Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.
31 Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
32 For the froward is abomination to the Lord: but his secret is with the righteous.
33 The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
34 Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.
35 The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
I should read these verses every morning of my life. They are like the best pep talk/life advice. You know when you're headed out the door and your mom stops you and says, "Be careful. Drive safely. Don't do anything I wouldn't do. etc."? I can just picture the Psalmist being like that--thinking that he has to tell you each thing you need to know so that in whatever you face in the day, you'll have the words you need to get you through.
ReplyDelete"Trust in the Lord with all your heart." How many times those words have been precious to me! Life has handed us quite a few heart rending situations. In every one, He has directed our paths. When I am rightly thinking about life through God's perspective with His ends in mind, I do enter life healed and refreshed. It's when I look to myself for the answers that I am the most weary and downcast. That is why I must not forget these teachings--so that I don't miss out on the peace that is promised for those who heed.
In Psalms and Proverbs so often, we are instructed to "write them upon the tables of your heart." It worded different ways at times, but God makes it clear that He wants us to commit His Words to memory. Can there be a more blessed thing to have floating through your mind than the Scriptures? Right now, I'm memorizing with my class, but most of their verses are ones I already know. We are about to start the Christmas story in Luke 2. I've thought about trying to memorize something else on my own, but it is hard to be consistent. If anyone wants to start a Scripture memory group, that may be a good idea for accountability and consistency. "I have hidden Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You." Psalm 199:11
ReplyDeleteAn interesting comparison is the way that these verses talk about wisdom is similar to what you see in the book of Psalms of the Word of God. There are so many word pictures of silver, gold, jewels, long life, riches, honor, pleasantness, peace, adornment for your neck, security, etc. When we see the Scriptures spoken of in a similar way, we realize that memorizing and meditating on God's Word is a wise choice and brings wisdom. The two go hand in hand.
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