Back in December, I had decided to start the new year off with a study in Proverbs. This always makes me laugh when I think back to the decision because I struggle with the Chapter-A-Day concept. Why? Because I will come across something in scripture and camp out there for days and then I am always days behind according to the calendar.
And so here it is the 5th and I am on Chapter 3 of Proverbs. And that’s okay.
The third chapter of Proverbs is packed with guidance for the young. Define young. Youth. Young men and women. New believers (no matter their age). And I would say, anyone who does not have ‘all the wisdom’, which means any one of us. All of us.
The third Chapter hosts some well-known, often quoted, scriptures….
Verses 5-6 NKJV
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
Verses 11-12 NKJV
My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor detest His correction; for whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.
While these are great verses to have tucked away for memory and conversation when the Holy Spirit leads, my reading settled in verses 3-4 for a couple of days. Yes, two days on two verses.
Verses 3-4 NKJV
Let not mercy and truth forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart, and so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.
The result of His mercy and the truth of His Word are advised to be written on the tablet of my heart – the center of my spiritual gravity – the place where my decisions are established. The Word instructs to not forsake, or forget, about the mercy that He has extended to me. And also instructs to not forsake, leave behind, His truth – not my version of, my perception of, or my concoction of the truth – but His truth.
Mercy and truth are to become a part of my nature as an image bearer of God. As He has loved me and been merciful to me, I am to love others and be merciful to others. All others. As I find favor in His sight, becoming more like Him – growing in His truth – the mercy and truth becomes a magnet that draws others to Him.
How precious is that! My natural gratitude and honor to God for the gift that He has so freely given to this undeserving soul, is a magnet and a light by which others see the truth of who He is. I find favor in His sight by simply understanding His nature and honoring the truth of who He is my life.
I pray you are setting apart time each day to savor a passage of God’s Word, taking to heart the message that He has for you at that moment. Don’t let a reading schedule rob you of digging deeper into His word to find the truth that He will reveal to you in your time devoted to Him.
Father in Heaven, forgive me when my posture is not one of gratitude and honor.
Thank you for continuing to extend your grace and for consistently reminding me of who I am – your daughter. You loved me enough to allow Your Son to bear my shame and sin on the cross and You love me enough to consider my shortcomings and continuously teach me to be a vessel for You. Help me to hold Your truth near and dear to my heart so that I may not sin against you, but be a light by which others will see the truth of who You are. In Jesus name, Amen.