Reading: Exodus 20,8-11 Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days you may work and do all your tasks, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. On that day, no work may be done by you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the resident alien within your gates. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them; but on the seventh day, he rested. That is why the Lord has blessed the […]
I don’t like being a sheep…not at all! Being a sheep doesn’t seem to me to be any kind of achievement, nor do I consider that comparison a compliment. However, the Bible says that I am a sheep. I get lost easily. I’m equally helpless, gullible, and I can’t survive alone. I need a shepherd. The Bible says I have a Shepherd, and the best one out there. My Shepherd is a good shepherd, and because He is my Shepherd, this psalm is my prayer, my comfort through life as much as He was for […]
Reading: You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Exodus 20,7 Reflection: Have you ever driven through Herzegovina and passed a billboard with a picture of Mary holding Jesus and the caption “Stop cursing my son!”? When thinking about the third commandment, it’s easy to fall into the trap of the obvious. Of course, the commandment tells us not to curse God, swear by his name, use it in profanity, or in any other inappropriate way in speech. However, the […]
Do not spend your strength on women, your vigour on those who ruin kings. The last month we have read selections of King Solomon’s wisdom. Yet it is not good enough just to read, write or speak Proverbs. These final verses provide a somber warning for us – Solomon did not practice what he preached! He was ruined by his love of women. In what areas of your life do you feel tired? Where did you last ‘spend your strength’? Who is taking your energy and your attention away from God? What is preventing you […]
Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Whose hands have gathered up the wind? Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? Our God keeps secrets from us. Not because He is mean or malicious, or doesn’t want to share. Not to withhold His goodness from us. Like a loving parent who knows what’s best for us, He does not overwhelm us with things we need to know. He is a God of mystery, a God whose love knows no bounds, who is […]
Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe. If you have ever laid a trap for a rodent, you know that they are sneaky things – traps try to lure a pesty animal with something tasty so it can be captured. And so it is a clever metaphor Solomon presents us with in this proverb. We are created to be relational beings, but when friendships or relationships take God’s place we can find ourselves caught in a snare. From caring too much about what other […]
Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble. “How is your heart?” I remember the first time someone asked me this question; I wasn’t long a Christian and was confused by what my friend was getting at. “It’s still beating,” I cheekily replied, stuck for anything more profound to say. The state of our hearts matters to God. The Lord twice commands the prophet Ezekiel to tell the Israelites that He will “remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” […]
As water reflects the face, so one’s life reflects the heart. When I read this Proverb I can’t help but think of Narcissus – the hunter from Greek mythology who was known for his beauty and who became so full of pride that he actually fell in love with the reflection of his face. Of course, it is from this character that we get the word ‘narcissism’. I doubt many of us reading these verses today can completely relate to Narcissus, but I am sure that we have all experienced narcissism. If we are thinking […]
Do you see a person wise in their own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for them. In last night’s interview with Ivan Ivanović, writer, poet, and academician Matija Bečković talks about people who: “They don’t know anything, but they know that there is no God. These are people who, therefore, know what no one knows. Those same people, when you ask them how much is 9×8, they answer, – where to find it, that’s the most difficult.” – continued Bečković jokingly. I hope we can all agree that it is very […]
Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone. It has been said that patience is not just about the waiting process, but how we behave during the wait. At various points in the Psalms, David commands us to wait on the Lord with strength and courage (Ps 27, 31, 40). Paul regularly comes back to the idea of ‘standing firm’ in our faith (1 Cor 15:58, 16:13, Eph 6:11-13, Phil 1:27, 4:1). Patience is a theme that runs through the entire Bible. The Israelites weren’t very good at […]