Coming to the Still Waters

Today's verses are Proverbs 30:24-28, which read, Four things are small on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:  the ants are not a strong people, but they prepare their food in the summer; the shephanim are not mighty people, yet they make their houses in the rocks; the locusts have no king, yet all of them go out in ranks; the lizard you may grasp with the hands, yet it is in kings' palaces. This is quite a challenge today.  Agur gives us four more things to ponder that are in word picture form.  They are all relatively small things on this earth but the point to find out about each of them is how they are wise in their actions.  Bear with me as I wade through these. The first is the ants which are obviously small and probably the easiest illustration to understand.  We have observed ants at work getting ready for the next season.  The colony lives together and works together with a picture of " we are many but we are one. "  Anothe...

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Today's verses are Proverbs 30:21-23, which read, Under three things the earth quakes, and under four, it cannot bear up:  under a slave when he becomes a king, and a fool when he is satisfied with food, under an unloved woman when she gets a husband, and a maidservant when she supplants her mistress. Agur is keeping up with giving us three and then adding a fourth to think about.  Today it is about what shakes the earth.  The earth probably means society and that it is upset when these things happen.  Some roles are reversed here that bring discomfort to many. The first is the servant or slave who becomes a king.  Usually this person is not prepared for the responsibility or have the education to pull this off for the betterment of the whole.  Agur gives us the  "what usually happens"  but we also know from Scripture that servants and slaves do become king at times.  We have Joseph who goes from servant to Potiphar and also the ...

Today's verses are Proverbs 30:18-20, which read, There are three things which are too wonderful for me, four which I do not understand:  the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid.  This is the way of an adulterous woman:  She eats and wipes her mouth, and says, "I have done no wrong." Agur continues on with this technique of stating three things and then adding a fourth for emphasis.  These three verses are all about hypocrisy.  We are given four images to think about in light of the last verse which gives us a sin but the one committing it denies that it is a sin.  The woman who has committed adultery which is a relationship outside of the holy relationship of marriage between a man and a woman calls it not a sin.  The woman professes innocence or denies that she has done anything wrong. A couple of parallel passages of denying is Proverbs ...

Today's verses are Proverbs 30:15-17, which read, v.15, 16 - The leech has two daughters, "Give," "Give."  There are three things that will not be satisfied, Four that will not say, "Enough":  Sheol, and the barren womb, earth that is never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, "Enough." Agur, the writer of these proverbs, gives us some every ugly word pictures today.  Remember getting blood suckers on you when swimming in the pond down the road?   "Get them off of me!"  was the cry to your mom.  The leech latches onto another living being to get us nourishment by wounding it so it can draw out the blood of life.  I remember catching fish that had leeches attached to them or seeing the effects of where a leech was.   Agur uses a technique to draw attention to what leeches of life do.  He repeats and he adds one after the original number to make the point that this is important to know.  The leech has two ...

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Today's verses are Proverbs 30:10-14, which read, v.10 - Do not slander a slave to his master, or he will curse you and you will be found guilty. To slander is to speak falsely of another to inflict harm.  This person is speaking about someone who is probably in a lower social class to himself and bringing this issue up with the master who is responsible for the slave.  This person is probably thinking that the master who might be of the same social class will go along with this slanderous talk because of who it is coming from rather than the truth of its content.  The proverb is that truth wins in the end. The person who is telling lies will be caught and the immediate action will be a curse from those directly affected by their actions.  The slave, who is beneath this person socially, is going to have something to say about this evil action.  The proverb writer is setting us up for 4  "there is a kind"  phrases that we do not want to be....

Today's verses are Proverbs 30:5-9, which read, v.5, 6 - Every word of God is tested; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.  Do not add to His words or He will reprove you, and you will be proved a liar. The word  "tested"  has the meaning that God's word has been  "tried."   It has been found to be a shield or a protection because it has been faithful in what it says to those who walk with God.  A couple great cross references of these verses are Psalm 12:6 and 18:30 which say,  "The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times." "God--His way is perfect; the word of the LORD is pure.  He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him." The warning comes with the testing of God's word to not add words to His words.  God is the standard of truth and doesn't need our additions  Those who do add and put on extra qualifications will be dealt with and the  ...

Today we start a new chapter in the book of Proverbs so lets open up our Bibles to Proverbs 30:1-4 which read, v.1 - The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle.  The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: Some believe that Agur is an unknown sage or wise man during the time of Solomon.  We are given his father's name which is Jakeh.  He, like Solomon, was most likely a student of wisdom and gathered sayings of wisdom.  The word  "oracle"  is translated  "burden"  but has the weight of the divine so it is used in conjunction to a prophet like Zechariah and Malachi.  Ithiel and Ucal are probably students of Agur and these sayings are written down from them much like Luke in the New Testament was recording the history of Jesus in his gospel and the church history of Acts for Theophilus.  We have 33 verses in this chapter to peer into this teacher sharing insights with his students. v.2 - Surely I am more stupid th...

Another devotional from a local happening at the grocery store.  Hope you have a great day and week in the Lord. Pastor Adam