Fountains of Wisdom-A Study in Proverbs Part 51- Never Enough

In chapter 30, we have seen Agur awed by God’s Glory, overwhelmed with grace that God would consider him for these revelations, acknowledging his own inability to climb his way up to God, and there it was he made only two requests of God. The one being a request that God keep him from vanity and lies while the second would be to give him only what he needs; nothing more and nothing less. Then, he turns and looks around him with sadness as he realizes that the generations are filled with pride, self-exaltation, and sin. A generation that is lost in the deceit that they have created. Indeed he leaves us with the graphic picture of the horror of this kind of self centered pursuit of one’s human desires when he compares it to a horseleech that sucks the blood of another creature relentlessly with no care or concern for the life they are taking.

photo courtesy of istockphoto.com

We should never walk through this life with blinders on ignoring the wisdom that God has surrounded us with in nature.  We must take a closer look at the common day objects and situations that are around us so that we might gain wisdom to continue on this pilgrimage journey with expectant hope, boundless joy, divine strength, and living faith.

  This is where Agur is taking us as he continues on in this chapter.

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The Name of Joy

By Effie Darlene Barba

 

With Glorious shout, I must proclaim

True Joy does have a name

A name so sweet so filled with love

Innate with power from above

That all before His name must bow

Yet, Majesty saw me somehow

Thus Jesus Christ, He died for me

That I this wretch might be set free

From quilt laid chains that bound despair

This heart so caught in sin’s dark lair

Set Free by Grace-now lifts in flight

My path illumined by His light

To rise above my shame to soar

Drawn by His Glory evermore

And cloaked with righteousness not mine

A Mystery of Grace, divine

That all my heart did once desire

I’d cast into the murky mire

That I might go where’er He lead

And to His will I long concede

My voice resounding joyous strains

Amidst these earthly trials, pains

My eyes are fixed upon my Lord

My heart in His with one accord

Held firmly by His Mighty Hand

That I, in victory may stand

And one day on that distant shore

I’ll be with Him for evermore

 

© 2014 Effie Darlene Barba

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to any brands, products or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides regarding the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Fountains of Wisdom-A Study in Proverbs Part 50—Without Justice, there is No Freedom

“I have now disposed of all my property to my family. There is one thing more I wish I could give them, and that is the Christian Religion. If they had that and I had not given them one shilling they would have been rich; and if they had not that and I had given them all the world, they would be poor.”

Patrick Henry, Virginia,
His Will

This nation was founded on freedom of religion.  This nation has remained strong and been blessed by God throughout the years as “one nation under God.”  

Artwork used by permission of Ronald Barba and is subject to copyright protection

Our freedom has been fought for at great sacrifice of many who have given their lives to hold fast to our freedoms and to enforce the laws.  Our soldiers and our law enforcement officers should be honored today, as well as our prayers must go forth for our nation.

We are a nation founded on more than just freedom, we are founded on faith, hard work, and moral principles.  We must be cautious not to uphold freedom as a licensure for lawlessness and moral depravity.  Without justice, there can be no true freedom.  Let it not be said of us that we have become the generation referred to by Agur in Proverbs 30 (GNV). “¹¹ There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.¹² There is a generation that are pure in their own conceit, and yet are not washed from their filthiness.¹³ There is a generation whose eyes are haughty, and their eye lids are lifted up.¹⁴ There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their chaws as knives to eat up the afflicted out of the earth, and the poor from among men.”

On this 4^th of July, I ask that you stop for a moment to do these three things.

Continue reading Without Justice, There is No Freedom →

Fountains of Wisdom—A Study in Proverbs Part 49—If You Could Have Two Wishes

If you could narrow down all your requests to God to only two, what would they be?

photo courtesy of istockphoto.com 

As it were Agur was standing before God and did just that, let’s see what did he ask for.

Proverbs 30: (AMP) 7 Two things have I asked of You [O Lord]; deny them not to me before I die: (GNV) ⁸ Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me not poverty, nor riches: feed me with food convenient for me

In my search, I found that rather than the words “deny them not to me before I die” it should perhaps read: Septuagint, "Take not grace (χάριν) from me before I die." Yet, either way, it was a simple man’s plea for continued grace and favor before God. He has just humbly bowed before God in the previous verses acknowledging his utter unworthiness and lack of understanding before God. He has come in complete humility and with awe of God’s Wisdom, Beauty and Grace. Seeing God’s Glory, although in the finiteness of his own ability in this human form has brought Agur to this point. He then requests that God give him these two things that he might remain in this state of awareness of overflowing grace throughout his life. He never wants his heart to stray again. He knows the temptations of his own heart that could lead him away and his plea to God is just to “let me stay here—in love with you. Let me never lose the wonder and awe of You, Lord.” So, what were these two requests?

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FOUNTAINS OF WISDOM-A STUDY IN PROVERBS PART 48-Out of Brokenness to Glorious Joy

Where do we turn when we are wearied by this journey and how can we prevail when we recognize our own frailties as ministers for Christ. If indeed we take to heart the commission that we are to go into the entire world to preach the gospel; yet, we find it nearly impossible to even tell our co-worker because we recognize our own frailties in living forth the gospel—then how do we evangelize?

 

Artwork used by written permission of Ronald Barba and is protected under copyright

Too often, we hesitate to tell someone about Christ in us—fearful that they will then look too closely at our failures to hold our tongue, restrain our temper, or conquer sin in our own lives.  If they look too closely, they might think us a fraud and then harm the work of the gospel instead of spreading it.

Agur was such a man—a humble evangelist who questioned the fact that God would or could use him. As I studied these verses to prepare for you this word, I found that there are wide variances in the thought as to who is Agur and whether there were real people name Ithiel and Ucal. Some say these were not literal people and perhaps that does not matter. What does matter is that God has chosen to include this chapter in His word and hence has Himself validated the wisdom found within.

Proverbs 30 (YLT) “1.Words of a Gatherer, son of an obedient one, the declaration, an affirmation of the man: — I have wearied myself [for] God, I have wearied myself [for] God, and am consumed.”

Continue reading Out of Brokenness to Glorious Joy →