A wise man will hear and increase learning,
And a man of understanding will attain wise counsel. Proverbs 1:5 NKJV
Wisdom. We all want it but seldom do we ask for it or seek God for that special wisdom. My husband and I pray together daily and we decided many years ago to pray for wisdom. Why? Because when you have wisdom, you seldom make terrible mistakes whether it’s in your relationships, your finances or your work. We have asked for and were granted wisdom in these areas many times over the years. Do we still make mistakes? Occasionally. And usually when we haven’t sought proper counsel…whether from God or from those more knowledgeable in the areas we need counsel.
Being wise isn’t a facet of the elderly. Although, the elders in our lives have lived more and seen more so they do have more wisdom than we do. But no, even the young can have wisdom. How? By seeking wise counsel. Being selective to who we approach for wise counsel is another aspect of wisdom. You wouldn’t go to a banker for legal advice nor would you go to a computer technician for banking advice. Lining up your counsel for the right advice is crucial. You might ask a banker who they might recommend for legal counsel or you might consult friends or you might check reviews for attorneys. Ultimately, though, the decision is yours and yours alone. We ask those people for advice but we ask the Lord to give us direction and discernment when deciding. All these things point toward wisdom.
Another place to look for wisdom is in the book of Proverbs. It’s amazing how many proverbs are mainstream and most folks don’t know a particular saying comes from the Bible and many of them from Proverbs. I like to think of Proverbs as a guide to life. You can’t go wrong with what you learn from Proverbs.
What is your favorite verse from Proverbs?
The book of Ester is my favorite Old Testament book of the Bible. I’ve read it many times and am always amazed at Ester’s strength and courage. How God worked out the circumstances to preserve His people is mind-boggling. Every little detail. His love, commitment, and grace to His people always astound me even though I shouldn’t be astounded…I always am.
We could not have survived the many upheavals we’ve had if Jesus were not a part of our marriage. It’s interesting to me. My husband once said, “I don’t know how other couples make their marriage work without Jesus in it.” I believe he’s right.
Let’s look at the context of this verse. Nehemiah wrote this book around 445 BC. He was the cupbearer of King Artaxerxes. The first three verses of this book recount a meeting between Nehemiah and men of Judah. The men of Judah tell Nehemiah the Jews who had escaped and survived the captivity were in great distress and the walls of Jerusalem had been torn down and its gates burned with fire. This verse is the response to the news of Nehemiah’s brethren.
But Nehemiah did something different. He fasted and prayed. Today people fast for their diets but not for spirituality. Fasting clears the mind. And prayer…it lifts the soul out of its dark place.
“Although science is ill-equipped to prove the existence of God, scientific research does show that prayer works. The literature I looked at states, regardless of God’s existence, elements of prayer are universally valid—across various religions, traditions, and practices. The act of prayer itself has beneficial physiological effects.”
Let’s look at the context of this verse. After Israel had three waves of their people exiled to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Persia held the Jews in captivity for seventy years. In the first two verses of Ezra chapter one, God gave the King of Persia, Cyrus, who followed Nebuchadnezzar, a sense of urgency to put out a proclamation in writing to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
Solomon asked God not for wealth, health or abundance of any sort but he asked for wisdom. How wise it was of him to ask God for a trait that he could use to push the nation of Israel to heights no one had ever seen before. God was exceedingly pleased with the request and not only gave Solomon great wisdom, the likes of which this earth hadn’t seen before him or since but great wealth and favor among the nations.
My husband and I pray daily, both individually and corporately. One of our prayers is that God gives us wisdom and favor in all things and with all people like work issues, family, finances, health. All of it. And He has been faithful to provide the wisdom and favor we need for the day.
He truly is a mighty and awesome God.
Freedom. It seems appropriate for America’s 243rd birthday tomorrow on the 4th of July. This great country has weathered countless wars. We seem to remember the major wars: The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Mexican American War, World War I, World War II, Persian Gulf Wars and the War in Afghanistan and many, many Indian Wars. In the almost two and a half centuries since our great nations was founded, many have sacrificed their lives to keep us a free nation.
Our flag, when flying high and proud, makes us think of those who fought and died so we can have the freedoms listed in our bill of rights.
So if you see a service member in uniform, whether or not you know that service member, walk up to him or her, thank them for their service. They are not thanked enough and should be. My heartfelt thanks on this, America’s 243rd birthday.
Genealogies. They’re important. In ancient and not-so-ancient times, people depended on their parents to relay who their ancestors were and their history as a nation, tribe and ultimately as a family. They passed that information along to their children and grand-children through word of mouth and the written word of God. Namely, the Bible.
The Bible became the perfect place in which to document marriages, births and deaths of who they were and how they were related to one another.
The results were almost identical in both DNA tests. But what I liked most with 23andme.com was the ability to connect with potential relatives. First, second, third, fourth, and fifth cousins. As of this post I have over a thousand connections, some of which are messaging me.
We hadn’t intended to travel to Bamberg, Germany but when we went to Wurzburg, we met two very nice ladies who said Wurzburg had been demolished in the war and most of the beautiful architecture was not ancient but rebuilt to look the same as it had… meaning it wasn’t authentic. We were disappointed but that’s another adventure story. They said to visit Bamberg because it had the historical buildings we adored. We scheduled a trip at a later date to see Bamberg. And we were so glad we did! There just wasn’t enough time to see everything.
A cold and cloudy day met us as we made our way to this lovely city. Although it is not on Germany’s famous Romantic Road, personally, I think it should be. It’s picturesque and quaint. Since we got a late start, and it was a little further afield we opted to stay the night and return to our home in Plieningen in the morning.
After checking into the hotel, we tooled around town on foot. It’s an absolutely lovely city and one I’d like to revisit, but not stay at the IBIS.
I wished we’d had more time to visit the seven churches on the seven hills surrounding Bamberg, but we didn’t. If you ever get to Bamberg, make plans to stay for at least three or four days to see everything…but don’t stay at an IBIS!
Let’s look at the context of this verse: At the time of the book of 2 Kings, Israel had been divided into two kingdoms: The Northern Kingdom or Israel (made up of ten of the original 12 tribes of Israel) and the Southern kingdom or Judah (made up of the remaining two tribes). The King of the North, Ahaziah, was an evil king in the sight of the Lord because he worshipped pagan gods. Twice the King of Israel sent a captain and fifty men to the mountaintop to summon Elijah to bring him to the King. Both contingents of men died because Elijah called down fire from heaven. And that brings us to this verse.
Whether you are a leader or you are not, it’s a great thing to be humble. Here are five traits of a humble person:
We decided to take a Mediterranean cruise because we were in Europe already and we might never get the chance to go again. Plus, my husband wanted to show me where the Air Force stationed him in Turkey when he was in the military. The three places on the seven-day cruise would be Croatia (Yugoslavia when I traveled to Italy as a girl), Greece, and Turkey. I was excited to go to Turkey and Greece but Croatia? Who goes to Croatia? But it was on the itinerary so what do I know?
I didn’t realize it but Dubrovnik was not a deep-water port so the captain docked the ship a ways away from the port but we could see the port and marina from the ship’s deck. I thought we’d just sail right up to the port and disembark as we did when we got on in Venice. Not so. We’d have to take little boats called “tenders” to the port. I also didn’t realize these boats doubled as lifeboats. The tenders are enclosed and get quite hot for the short trip to shore. I can’t imagine being on that tender that held 150 people if something happened to the ship. Since we had other shore excursions planned, and I wasn’t keen about going to Croatia in the first place, we opted to just hang out in the old city and find things to do until we got back on the ship.
We tooled around the old town walking through the vast array of alleyways between buildings that led to quaint restaurants with outdoor seating. We looked at the architecture of the square’s many buildings and the churches.
We still had time to kill, so we took a ride on another type of ship ride around the bay. An 18th-century fishing ship! Getting on and off that ship was harrowing not anything like the big cruise ship but then why would it be?
From the sailboat, we could see the summer sun-worshippers didn’t have much sand, but they made the most of what they had. There was one sandy beach, but it was in a cove and it appeared the only way to get to it was by boat. The old city’s massive fortress walls were awe-inspiring. Makes you want to study the history of the city.