Bible Discussion and Reflection Thread

[Tranquil Bondservant]

"Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions." -Proverbs 10:12

It’s interesting that there’s a literal fulfillment of this. That yes it’s speaking proverbially in regards to our actions and our hearts, but also God’s love through the cross of Christ and His resurrection has covered all of our transgressions; so it’s also literally true. The proverb is contained & proven within the historical event of Christ's crucifixion, death and resurrection. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13).

The first part of 12 "Hatred stirs up strife" is also reflected in the gospels too. The Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes & etc all stirred up strife. I'm pretty sure out of all of the ones mentioned there was only a couple who weren't trying to stir up strife (Nicodemus for example). However that had more to do with Israel's hardened hearts and the sinful nature of man than actually being literally true (even though it is) like the aforementioned point about the Crucifixion.

"A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, But a just weight is His delight." -Proverbs 11:1
"The perverse in heart are an abomination to the LORD, But the blameless in their walk are His delight." -Proverbs 11:20

It pleases The Lord when His children practise and live righteously. This makes our sanctification even more important as it’s not only for our own sakes but also because it brings joy to our loving Father.

 

[Tranquil Bondservant]

"When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom. The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the crookedness of the treacherous will destroy them." -Proverbs 11:2-3
"The righteousness of the blameless will smooth his way, But the wicked will fall by his own wickedness. The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, But the treacherous will be caught by their own greed." -Proverbs 11:5-6

When we are proud we boast of our errors and we do not seek out correction. Our errors often lead us into snares and also The Lord casts down the proud. Humility on the other hand means that we are not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought and we do not lift our views, which may be in error, over others. And that because we’re not overly confident of our ability it means that we will not over commit or over extended in our errors. Humility also means that we are more willing to submit to the loving and compassionate correction of The Lord rather than living proudly in our errors.

 

[Tranquil Bondservant]

"In the way of righteousness is life, And in its pathway there is no death." -Proverbs 12:28

This reminded me of Christ and Hebrews 5:7: "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.".

That Christ was spotless and sinless in every way and that He gives us His righteousness warms my heart. This Proverb, like the law, would hold out every man as guilty and worthy of the judgement of death; "As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10).

That God thought Creation wasn't worth creating without having us in it and then also Him loving us so much that He thought we were worth dying the worst death possible and undergoing intense pain and suffering for is so incredible. That's the kind of God that loves us, that's the kind of Father that made us. He's so awesome and holy in everything He is and does. "knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ." (1 Peter 1:18-19)

 

[Tranquil Bondservant]

"The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, But the stomach of the wicked is in need." -Proverbs 13:25

The desires of the world are forever constant and perishing, there exists no contentment. The one who is righteous rests in The Lord and is grateful for what The Lord gives him, because of this the one who rests in The Lord can have contentment. Not just because of The Lord’s provision, but because The Lord Himself is satisfying to our very hearts and being.

 

[Tranquil Bondservant]

"My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course." -Proverbs 2:1-9

The good course that’s mentioned here is determined by the discernment of God’s will. Wisdom is inherently tied to doing the will of God and submitting unto Him in love and reverence. Because of the existence of sin and because of our own sin these things are necessary to search out and to discern, which is why we’re exhorted to cry out for wisdom and to neglect that course which is sinful. To turn our ear unto The Lord and reject the deceitfulness of worldly murmuring; “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.”, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.” (1 Corinthians 3:19 & 1 Corinthians 3:20).

 

[High Fidelity]

"My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course." -Proverbs 2:1-9

The good course that’s mentioned here is determined by the discernment of God’s will. Wisdom is inherently tied to doing the will of God and submitting unto Him in love and reverence. Because of the existence of sin and because of our own sin these things are necessary to search out and to discern, which is why we’re exhorted to cry out for wisdom and to neglect that course which is sinful. To turn our ear unto The Lord and reject the deceitfulness of worldly murmuring; “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God.”, “The Lord knows the reasonings of the wise, that they are useless.” (1 Corinthians 3:19 & 1 Corinthians 3:20).

Proverbs is so dense in wisdom and drawing attention to the wonder of wisdom.

I always find that's my recalibration book. I'm so uplifted when I read it.

 

[Tranquil Bondservant]

Proverbs is so dense in wisdom and drawing attention to the wonder of wisdom.

I always find that's my recalibration book. I'm so uplifted when I read it.

I absolutely agree. I semi-recently finished a daily study on it and I found it incredibly easy to take notes and think about what each section means. I suppose that's the nature of a Proverb, that it's designed to get you to think about the nature of the thing which it's talking about. However when compared to the rest of Scripture, apart from maybe Ecclesiastes and Paul's writings as he uses dense writing too (you can spend an hour on a single sentence lol), it was a very nice change of pace and to have the ability to reflect on it so easily was very refreshing. For me sometimes it takes multiple readings of a book to be able to take as many notes as I did when reading Proverbs only once. I'm grateful that you're able to have that anchor which can help you refocus, it's very important and I'm sure The Lord has used it many times in your life. I'm glad too that it brings joy when reading it; I'm certain your Father in Heaven delights in the fact that you get joy out of focusing on Him and are uplifted when reading His Word .

 

[LoveDivine]

I've been reading Ephesians 6. The chapter is so dense and there are so many profound verses in it. One that really made me think was verse 12:

I was thinking about how important it is to develop a prayer life and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So many trials and pitfalls can be overcome through prayer. I always think of Pilgrim's Progress when I read this chapter. It was such a great allegory that depicted all the struggles and trials of the Christian. Pilgrim's fight with Apollyon has stuck with me since I was a kid. It was such a good description of the encounters we may have with the devil and the need to be clad with God's armor.

 

[Tranquil Bondservant]

I've been reading Ephesians 6. The chapter is so dense and there are so many profound verses in it. One that really made me think was verse 12:

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I was thinking about how important it is to develop a prayer life and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So many trials and pitfalls can be overcome through prayer. I always think of Pilgrim's Progress when I read this chapter. It was such a great allegory that depicted all the struggles and trials of the Christian. Pilgrim's fight with Apollyon has stuck with me since I was a kid. It was such a good description of the encounters we may have with the devil and the need to be clad with God's armor.

I agree and that is spot on. Prayer is a direct connection to our Father in Heaven and personally in my life has so often been the lifeblood (apart from Christ obviously) of my life in and with Jesus. I can't count the amount of times I have gone to The Lord in some form of disturbance or angst only to be flooded by the peace that surpasses all understanding which Paul talks about in Philippians 4:7. What may have been a cause for stress for potentially weeks becomes resolved in a matter of seconds by remembering who it is I am praying to.

One thing personally that has stuck with me from Pilgrims Progress was when Christian was traveling along the road and he was hearing whispers. In the book it described it as something along the lines of whispers which were so soft/quiet that they could have been mistaken for his own thoughts. We are exposed to those whispers both produced from the world, our flesh and also the spiritual powers of wickedness (through oppressive spiritual attacks on our lives) in the aforementioned verse you posted. Prayer can be as a cleansing of our perspective and a washing that clears away those deceptive and illusory whispers that we may mistake for our very own thoughts.

So amen and thank you for sharing. That is a great post.

 

[Tranquil Bondservant]

"A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding." -Proverbs 14:6

Because a scoffer sees himself as above the thing which he mocks it is impossible for him to recgonise wisdom, let alone submit to it. I’m sure we have all seen someone scoff and turn their nose up at Biblical truth, I’m sure we’ve all personally done it at some point. I know I have. But without the fear of The Lord and humility, one cannot see wisdom even if it was standing right in front of them.

"Leave the presence of a fool, Or you will not discern words of knowledge." -Proverbs 14:7

Here we have the fulfillment of and further elucidation of 1 Corinthians 15:33 "Bad company corrupts good character”. But as you can see it’s not only to do with sin but also to do with our intellect. If we’re constantly uniting ourselves in conversation and discussion about worthless things so to our mind will be conformed to those things and seal off the wisdom of God, or rather, “words of knowledge”. For we would be so habituated in the things of the world that God’s wisdom would seem as a foreign thing.

 

[DragonFox91]

I usually spend time in the chapters the service & Sunday School discussed. Growing up the church we went to would only read a couple verses at a time, & tended to recycle the same verses. My curious self wondered what they were leaving out, so I learned to read the full chapter. What aren’t they teaching? What is the text discussed communicating to me, or really communicating, in its full context? It’s a habit I continue.

 

[LoveDivine]

I've been reading the sermon on the mount in Matthew. One verse that really stood out to me was Matthew 5:16. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. As I reflected on the verse, I was really impressed with the importance of living a life that actually makes unbelievers notice something godlike in your life. That we are to actively pursue good works. Not in a legalistic way to earn salvation or to justify ourselves, but as a means of adding weight to our testimony when we share the gospel with others.

 

[bèlla]

As I reflected on the verse, I was really impressed with the importance of living a life that actually makes unbelievers notice something godlike in your life. That we are to actively pursue good works. Not in a legalistic way to earn salvation or to justify ourselves, but as a means of adding weight to our testimony when we share the gospel with others.

If Christians stopped compromising we'd draw more people to the Lord through our example. But you won't do that if you're making it up as you go and rewriting the bible to accommodate your sin. The salt has lost its seasoning.

God isn't Burger King. We can't have it our way. Some things aren't allowed and that's the price we pay to follow Him. And it isn't bad if we're honest. We just enjoy it too much to quit.

That's why comments like this are needed. There's a greater purpose for our existence and sometimes we forget.

~bella