Skip to main content
Friday!
Proverbs!
The one who digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever rolls a stone - it will come back on him.
Proverbs 26:27 CSB
The author of these proverbs would've loved those 'fail' videos, or those Roadrunner cartoons where the coyote sets up the roadrunner and it all backfires. 
As we sit with this proverb a little, there's only one person in it. A person who is setting out to trip up or harm another. And during, or as a result, will actually harm themselves.
When I set out to harm someone else, it's going to harm me. 
Sobering. 
Because sometimes we have to take up a cause, fight for justice for ourselves or someone else, and it's so easy for harm to another to creep into or be part of our motivation.
And now we're at the heart. 
My heart. 
My heart who's motives are not always great, and sometimes needs this challenge, who's motives are sometimes mixed and a bit shady. 
I'm kidding myself if I think my motives are always completely good and right, so this image of the trap or the rock (or the dynamite!) helps me to keep assessing, to keep allowing the Spirit to nudge, to sift, to gently shift things, to allow others in to check my heart, to keep me from harming me. 
#proverbs
#wisdom
#somethingtochewon
#itsaheartthing

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,  for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. Colossians 1:15-16 NLT OK so this is an English translation of a letter Paul wrote to a church 2,000 years ago, but does it feel like Paul is wrestling with words and ideas to try and capture all of who Jesus is, of who God is, of how does it work that the walking around Jesus was also there before the beginning of the beginning of everything we can see and touch and know. Not only that but Jesus was somehow the agent of everything that has been made in the physical, social, and spiritual.  Jesus is at the centre of it all.  Walking around Jesus. Cooking fish for breakfast Jesus. Heart aching as he ...
Now rescue your beloved people. Answer and save us by your power. ... Who will bring me into the fortified city?  Who will bring me victory over Edom? Have you rejected us, O God?  Will you no longer march with our armies?Oh, please help us against our enemies,  for all human help is useless. With God's help we will do mighty things, for he will trample down our foes. Psalm 108 6, 10-13 NLT After the most beautiful and uplifting worshipful first half to this song, David takes us somewhere completely different in the second half.  It's all about victory, power, winning, it's all about him. The "mighty things" he wants God to do are all on the outside, all about power, and David's writing sounds like he's a bit lost in his quest to win. And I do the same thing. Praise God and ask him to fix my problems. Fix the classroom/online/workplace bully, fix my finances, fix my relationships, fix my problems. So as I sit with this psalm of 2 halves, its a bit of a mir...
Friday! Proverbs! The Lord hates six things;  in fact, seven are detestable to him:  (1) arrogant eyes,  (2) a lying tongue,  (3) hands that shed innocent blood, ... Proverbs 6:16-17 CSB This list of things that Proverbs describes that our God stands against, are anti-God, must be things that God isn't.  It's easy to use Proverbs as a weapon, to accuse or label others, but Proverbs is about finding the way of wisdom, of life, it's about the heart, mine, yours, ours.  And it's full of metaphor. Arrogant eyes. Eyes aren't arrogant, they're just that part of my body that receives visual information aren't they? Arrogant eyes. My tongue doesn't tell lies by itself, I do that. Hands that shed innocent blood - I haven't taken anyone's life... The word here for "hands" is "yad" and it is used literally and figuratively- it means an open hand (not closed) and is about direction and use of power. Proverbs invites us to sit with these p...