Listen, my daughter.
Accept my words and you will live many years (A promise)…
Pay attention to my words; listen closely to my sayings. Don’t lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. For THEY ARE LIFE to those who find them and health to one’s whole body (Another promise).
Guard your heart ABOVE ALL ELSE, for it is the source of LIFE. Don’t let your mouth speak dishonestly (there is Life in the truth). Don’t let your lips talk deviously (we are in charge of our mouths). LET YOUR EYES look forward (God’s got it);
FIX YOUR gaze straight ahead (no matter the chaos around you). Carefully consider the path of your feet, and all your ways will (Another promise) be established (grounded, firm, secure).
I love you, Your Daddy- King
Proverbs 4:10, 20-26 (parenthesis mine)
These verses are so rich with secrets to a full life. I love them!
Pay attention to what? The weather? The culture? The political climate? The things that so strongly tempt? What others are saying? What the circumstances are dictating?
NO – Pay attention to HIS WORDS; what He has already spoken through the Bible.
Listen closely to what? Whatever is making noise? Whomever is talking? The voices in our head?
NO – Listen closely to what He is saying through His Spirit..
Guard what? Our time? Our stuff? Our reputation?
NO – Guard our heart. Why? It is the source of ALL life.
Let what? People control us? Circumstances dictate our mood? Our past determine our future?
NO – LET our eyes look forward. That is what they were designed to do. No matter the fear, we are to look forward – not to the side or backwards. Life is always right in front of us.
Fix what? Everyone’s issues? All that we can see that just isn’t right? Our attitude?
NO – Fix our gaze straight ahead. Don’t focus on yesterday or on things with no value. We are to purpose to focus on what is in front of us. What’s immediate, that which is real.
Carefully what? Navigate our family? Clean our house? Pay attention to every possible detail in a situation?
NO – Carefully consider the path of our feet; how we walk and where we go. Take time to stop, “be still” and think. Where we walk greatly impacts everything in our lives and the lives of those around us.
Keep what? Our house tidy? Everything our kids bring home? Track of every detail? Isolated and alone?
NO – Keep our feet from evil. Be aware of where we’re going. It’s natural to gravitate towards our temptations, but we must choose restraighnt if we want to experience life.
Such wisdom, at a time when our world feels so out of control. Only God knows how “things” really work. He is our dad. His heart is for us. He wants us to be safe, secure, confident and whole…as any good father would.
In The Meanwhile…
Our job?
To listen . accept . pay attention . guard . don’t let . let . fix . carefully consider
He does the rest…if we let Him.
The instructions of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple…
bringing joy to the heart…
giving insight for living. Psalm 19:7-8