Proverbs 19:13-16 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 19:13-16, which read,

v.13 - A foolish son is destructive to his father, and the contentions of a wife are a constant dripping.

We want our children to have better than ourselves.  I have heard that said many times.  Do we want them to have better than ourselves morally and in regards to the faith?  Many times we will invest their hobbies and their education but we slack when it comes to their spiritual development.  What they need most we treat as something that is optional or we could make it up somehow.  Heaven forbid that we set them up to be foolish rather than give them the wisdom of God they need under our care.  It is an overwhelming responsibility given to us as parents but God has given us the ability to bring them up in the admonish of the Lord.

I think we could take the dripping faucet wife both ways.  I am sure there are some dripping faucet husbands out there too.  Contentions are those who bring upon strife and usually by taking a position of authority in the wrong way.  Instead of being a servant leader they turn into a master/slave leader.  Have you heard that dripping faucet in the night?  Has it kept you from sleep?  Have you tried just turning the handle a little tighter but to no avail?  You know it needs something down deeper to be changed, that washer that is worn out, but that will take getting out tools or calling someone who will charge you to repair it.  Wisdom changes always go deeper to correct but they produce peace rather than contention.

v.14 - House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.

As humans we can live in a way to provide things for those that we love.  Food, clothing, and shelter are essentials and they come from parents who use the skills God has given them to provide for those He has given them.  Those things bring comfort but they are also temporal.  We go to the next level when we look at a person's character in comparison to something that will get eaten up, wear out, or burn down or eventually fall down.  

To be prudent is to wisely understand.  Where does wisdom come from?  It comes from the LORD.  We provide but God also provides something that is so much greater and actually helps us provide what we can provide.  Having someone who can wisely understand by your side is who you want when the food is low and the clothing is worn and the house is in need of repairs.  Someone standing beside you who will keep pointing you to God is tremendously valuable.

v.15 - Laziness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle man will suffer hunger.

Solomon brings us back to laziness and being idle.  I just want to sleep the day away.  Why?  Is it because you are physically sick and your body needs the rest or is it because there is something you know you need to do and you just keep putting it off?  It could be something physical or it could be something relational.  If we don't take care of business relationally with others, if we get lazy and idle about it, then what could have been will go on never being and what could have satisfied your hunger will go untasted.  

God has so much for us but many times we don't experience it because we turn aside from His wisdom and go the lazy and idle route.  It does take work.  It takes tearing apart that leaky faucet but it is so worth it in the end.  It also gets harder and harder to do the right thing each day that we don't.  It gets harder and harder to wake up to wisdom when we are sleeping day after day in foolishness.  That sounds like an Adam proverb in the making.

v.16 - He who keeps the commandment keeps his soul, but he who is careless of conduct will die.

How do I keep from laziness and sleeping and from being idle and hungry?  I do this by keeping God's commandments and especially the one that is right before me to obey.  We can't be wise in the Lord and not obey.  Those commandments are part of the wisdom and the love that God has for His children.  Those commandments were summed up by Jesus into just two.  Number one:  love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.  Number two:  love your neighbor as yourself.  Those are the family resemblance of those who are followers of God when you see someone loving God and loving others.

How is my conduct with the commandments?  Am I careless with them?  Am I careless with loving God?  Am I careless with loving others?  I could play these questions out here but I will let the Holy Spirit do that instead of me.  Let us pray.

"Lord how we put things off and the most important are not the physical but the relational.  We get lazy and idle in our relationship with You and our relationships with others.  We are sleeping on the job when it comes to growing in Your wisdom and we are not what we should be with others that You have put around us.  Help us to take the time to fix the faucet and be able to eat the food You bring us because we are following after You.  Amen."

Pastor Adam