Hey, Bible readers. I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today, we continue in Proverbs with the Father's instructions to his son. He's telling him general truths for what it looks like to live and walk in the fear of the Lord in ways that engage with God on a level of delight and awe. Proverbs 4:7 always makes me laugh. It says, The beginning of wisdom is this. Get wisdom. Which is like saying, The way to be taller is this. Grow. But it does go to show how circular this can actually feel sometimes. We talked about this yesterday. To recognize that you need wisdom is wise. Then you pursue wisdom and you get wiser and you realize how much more you still have to learn. I've heard a relationship with God described in much the same way, that the closer you get to him, the further you realize you are from him. Maybe you feel that. It's interesting how being closer to the light of God will illuminate the dark places in us all the more. We feel conviction about sins that never bothered us before. We see positive changes and negative attitudes that we used to pride ourselves on. He really does work such a change in us that we can't access on our own.

He does the doing. Romans 11:36 addresses this circular spiritual mystery. It says, From him, through Him, and to Him are all things. He is the source supply and goal. He initiates, sustains, and fulfills all of this wisdom business in us. So here we are, mid-cycle, learning and growing because of his work in us. In verses 14 through 15, the dad really doubles down on his advice. Actually, he sextuples down on it. Six times, he repeats the way to handle the path of the wicked. He says, Do not enter. Do not walk. Avoid it. Do not go on it. Turn away from it. Pass on. Okay, got it, dad. Then we move on to verse 23, 3, which is a popular verse that people like to apply to dating relationships. It says, Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. There's definitely wisdom in having good boundaries, but this is not a verse about disengaging from your emotions or trying not to get your hopes up that things might work out with your love interest. When we look at the context of this verse, we see that it's surrounded by verses about clinging to wisdom and about keeping your tongue from lies and your eyes from evil and your feet from wicked paths.

This verse about guarding our hearts seems to be more concerned with eradicating bitterness and malice from our hearts, not romantic feelings, though romantic feelings certainly can lead to bitterness and malice. So maybe this isn't an entirely different subject. But you get the point. Proverbs 5, on the other hand, has a lot to say about relationships. The dad is emphatic about avoiding adultery and the adulterous. He describes her as a simpleton, someone who doesn't ponder the path she's taking. She doesn't weigh consequences and outcomes because if she did, she'd never make the decision to commit adultery. The father is basically saying, She's not thinking, so you'd better be the one thinking. And when you think, remember what I'm telling you right now. Don't do it. It's not worth it. He encourages his son to be faithful to his wife, and he prays a blessing over their marriage and their love. In chapter 6, we see some interesting advice from the father to the son. He basically says, Don't loan people money. Again, this isn't a law. And in fact, scripture marks out that we should be generous to those in need. And God even forbids Israelis from charging interest to other Israelis they loan money to.

So we know this isn't against God's laws. This is a father passing down his experiential wisdom to his son. He also encourages his son to develop a strong work ethic and to deal honestly with others. Then the dad decides he has more to say about adultery, so he circles back around with, Oh, and another thing. He says that if his son walks in wisdom, he will naturally avoid the adulterous. But if he happens to find himself tempted, he should remember that you can't heat coals into your lap without being burned. And a lot of other consequences he lists out as a deterrent. Because again, walking in wisdom and neerness with God ushers in peace, but walking outside of his ways ushers in destruction. What was your God shot today? I'm always trying to look for a few different things when I read scripture. What does this say about who God is, about what he loves, what he hates, and what motivates him to do what he does. Well, today in 6:16-19, the author unpacked one of those things directly. He listed out seven things that are an abomination to God and six things he hates.

Here they are: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make hast to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. I don't know about you, but a lot of that applies to me. It makes me all the more grateful that Jesus paid the price for my sins and that I can see God's spirit working those things out of me. I see how generous God is that he adopted a sinner like me into his family when I do so many things that he hates and that are an abomination to him. I also just want to take a second to flip all these things on their head, because if these are the things God hates, then it's because they defile something that he loves. So what does this list teach us about what God loves. He loves humility, honesty, innocence and justice, purity, righteousness, truth, peacemaking and unity. Those things are so beautiful, and they definitely demonstrate who we've seen him to be as we've been reading through scripture. I want to be more like him, like that list, and less like me, like the first list, because he's where the joy is.

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