Proverbs 12:25-28 says,...

Today's verses Proverbs 12:25-28, which read,

v.25 - Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad.

We know from Jesus that we are not to be anxious about anything but rather to seek first His kingdom and what you need will be provided to you from Him.  This is from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6.  When we allow worry to get to our heart meaning when it is all that we do and identifies us as a "worry wart" then we feel the weight of it.  We bow down to the possibility of what has yet to happen if it is going to happen.  We don't know.

But a good word, pleasing, beneficial, joyful, pleasant, favorable, happy, and right makes the man's heart, his inner being, glad or to rejoice.  What better good words than God's promises.  When we are anxious and start to worry about something that we don't know it is better to speak a good word from God that we do know.  The fool bows to what he doesn't know and the wise rejoices at what he does.  Who do you think will fair better in this situation?  Who do you think will make better choices?  Who do you think will be ready to be used by God?

v.26 - The righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.

When we worry and allow that to be the determining factor of how we speak and how we act then the outcome affects not only us but also those around us.  When we speak God's words and act on His ways then we start to guide ourselves and others in truth to walk through that situation leaning on Him.  

Both the righteous and the wicked are guides but taking themselves and others in different directions.  The righteous guides by seeking out and searching for the best solution to the problem.  The wicked guides by staggering away from wisdom and wandering away aimlessly toward something other than the promises of God.  The word definitions given here paint a picture of the wise searching God's Word for the answer and the fool getting drunk on the worry of the world.

v.27 - A lazy man does not roast his prey, but the precious possession of a man is diligence.

The lazy man doesn't cook the meal.  He doesn't take what God has given him and see it to completion.  He would rather run on the worry but not apply the promises to it.  The worry needs to be cooked in God's oven of promises to transform it into something good to eat.  The lazy man is dealing with the raw material of worry and not applying the heat of God's wisdom.

The wise man takes that worry and applies diligence.  He cuts into it with the riches of God and starts to prepare a meal that will be cooked in God's oven of His promises and the heat applied will see a different result.  It is a precious possession that we have when we see how God's words are to walk us through the worry of the world and transform it to what we need.  

v.28 - In the way of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.

Let's end this chapter with a beautiful promise.  If you are walking in the footprints of Jesus, you are following after Him in His righteous then you have received eternal life.  This is John 3:16.  Because you have received eternal life then on this pathway is no death or better yet no spiritual death because your next step after physical death is another step in your spiritual life.  What do you have to worry about?  When you know that you are His and He has provided eternal life for you to live in now that when this physical body expires you continue to go on following after Him.  

We now can truly live in this life because we don't worry about what is going to happen to us when we physically die.  We know.  When we know then we can truly live this life to its fullest following after Him.  This life will not be stolen from us but rather used by Him.  Our hearts will be glad and we will guide others in His words and we will see His promises cook the situation of worry into a situation of opportunity.  

Take that worry and search out God's Word for His ingredients to apply to it.  Turn that worry into something you do know from God rather than leaving it as something you don't know and living a life of fear.  Cook it in God's oven.  Let's pray.

"Lord, may we give the weight of worry over to You today.  May You direct us to Your promises that speak directly to that worry and let those words, Your words, guide our steps.  Thank You so much for eternal life and may I live my physical life now in light of an eternity with You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam