finances – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

“Do whatever you want,” the troops replied.

But the priest said, “Let’s approach God here.” (1 Samuel 14:36)

As I read those words, I thought about the message my pastor gave at church yesterday.

He was talking about bringing everything in our lives under God’s good reign. To not just do whatever we want. But to seek God and do what is pleasing to him.

That’s what Saul failed to do, and that’s why his reign ultimately collapsed.

It’s so easy for me to just do whatever I want. To spend my money as I please. To spend my time as I please. To do what seems right to me.

But that’s not living under God’s reign.

So the thing I think God is telling me today is that I need to seek him more before making my decisions.

Probably the one area that’s the biggest is my finances. To put all of that under his reign, not just my tithes.

To not just do what seems right to me concerning my money, but to seek out what is pleasing to him.

How about you? What is God telling you today?

Blunt pieces of wisdom

You’ve got to love the bluntness of some of these proverbs.

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
but he who hates correction is stupid. (Proverbs 12:1)

It is a theme that you see throughout the Proverbs. That to be truly wise, you need to be willing to accept discipline and correction. To not do so is just… stupid.

It is also unwise to think you know it all and never need advice. As it says in verse 15,

The way of a fool seems right to him,
but a wise man listens to advice. (Proverbs 12:15)

Another blunt, but picturesque proverb,

A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown,
but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones. (Proverbs 12:4)

I suppose you can take this in two ways.

From the man’s standpoint, be careful who you marry. Looks are not everything. A wife of noble character will enrich your life. But a wife of poor moral fiber will be like decaying bones in your life.

From the woman’s standpoint, what kind of wife are you? Are you bringing life and joy to your husband? Or decay?

Another blunt piece of wisdom:

He who works his land will have abundant food,
but he who chases fantasies lacks judgment. (Proverbs 12:11)

So many people, rather than working hard, look for easy ways to make money and end up losing everything.

They waste their money on gambling or lotteries or other follies when they could get all they need just by putting in a decent day of work.

One final blunt piece of wisdom,

A fool shows his annoyance at once,
but a prudent man overlooks an insult. (Proverbs 12:16)

Are you quick to show annoyance? To your husband? To your wife? To your coworker? To your friend? If so, Solomon calls you a fool.

Reacting with annoyance whenever someone does something you don’t like is a good way to hurt, if not destroy, your relationships. A wise person is patient and is willing to overlook people’s faults.

Even when a person purposely does something to insult you or annoy you, it’s often wiser to just overlook it rather than blow up. If you know someone who likes to provoke you, you’re only feeding the fire by responding to it.

Am I saying that you should never confront someone? Of course not.

If your husband or wife or friend consistently does something to annoy you, it’s good to talk to them about it.

Talk to them once. Talk to them twice. After that, leave it in the hands of God. Let him deal with them. And ask God to give you his patience in dealing with them.

The thing to remember is that you cannot change a person. Only God can do that. So don’t try. Leave it in the hands of the only one who truly can change a person’s life.

As we look at these proverbs, let us not be, as Solomon puts it, stupid.

Let us not be stubborn and make excuses about why they’re unreasonable in our situation. Let us instead be wise, accepting God’s words of discipline and correction.

If we do, we’ll find a lot less frustration and a lot more joy in our relationships and our lives.