Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 199 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Proverbs [6:20]-29 Lessons for Daily Life #4
Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 199 of our Trek, and for this week, we will stay at camp digging for nuggets of wisdom as we continue our exploration into the book of Proverbs Chapter 6. Yesterday we explored verses 12-19, and today we will dig into verses 20-29. If you miss any of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.
We are recording our podcast from our studio at Home2 in Charlotte, North Carolina. I know that Christmas is close when I make my world famous caramel corn. At least it is famous in my little world. I made 12 batches total with some batches including either pecans, almonds, or walnuts. We give most of it away to siblings and neighbors but do keep some of the delicious, mouthwatering treat for ourselves. These are a few of the huge walnut bowls where I place the finished product.
It is great to have traditions in our lives which are part of our living legacy. I know that our grown kids will be looking forward to some fresh batches of caramel corn when we celebrate Christmas with them on January 9th. They won’t be disappointed.
As we remain in camp for this week in our study of Proverbs Chapter 6, it reminds me of several years when Paula and I took our kids, and usually many of their friends and church youth groups, for a week of primitive camping at a music festival in the hills of Pennsylvania called Creation Fest. We all have many fond memories of our times there. It is my hope that you and I are forming those fond memories and friendships as we share together each day on our Wisdom-Trek.
Let’s get started for today and dig for more nuggets of wisdom as we explore Proverbs [6:20]-29. This chapter in Proverbs is referred to as…
Lessons for Daily Life
Today I will read the entire passage, and then we will break it down into small segments as we dive deeper into our exploration.
20 My son, obey your father’s commands,
and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
21 Keep their words always in your heart.
Tie them around your neck.
22 When you walk, their counsel will lead you.
When you sleep, they will protect you.
When you wake up, they will advise you.
23 For their command is a lamp
and their instruction a light;
their corrective discipline
is the way to life.
24 It will keep you from the immoral woman,
from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.
25 Don’t lust for her beauty.
Don’t let her coy glances seduce you.
26 For a prostitute will bring you to poverty,
but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.
27 Can a man scoop a flame into his lap
and not have his clothes catch on fire?
28 Can he walk on hot coals
and not blister his feet?
29 So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife.
He who embraces her will not go unpunished.
So now let’s do a deep dive into the verses.
20 My son, obey your father’s commands,
and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction.
21 Keep their words always in your heart.
Tie them around your neck.
We should love wisdom. Wisdom should be in our hearts and in our minds. We keep wisdom in our minds or hearts by constantly being aware of the choices that we make. Wisdom should be so evident in our lives it is as if we are wearing a very noticeable necklace. We should always live in a wise manner.
22 When you walk, their counsel will lead you.
When you sleep, they will protect you.
When you wake up, they will advise you.
This is a theme of Wisdom-Trek…Life is like a journey. Wisdom will guide us each day. Wisdom will help us to make the right decisions. At night when we sleep, our wise decisions will protect us. As we wake, we can think about wisdom.
The relationship between God and us must be like this. God will guide us to make good decisions every day. The Bible will teach us the right way. At night, God watches over us. He protects us. As we wake, we should think about God’s word.
23 For their command is a lamp
and their instruction a light;
their corrective discipline
is the way to life.
This is similar to Psalm 119:105, “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.” God will provide us a clear path to each day of our trek.
24 It will keep you from the immoral woman,
from the smooth tongue of a promiscuous woman.
25 Don’t lust for her beauty.
Don’t let her coy glances seduce you.
Solomon is writing about sex in these verses, but it can also be applied to other evil actions. It seems like sex drives so much of society, and it has in every age since creation. It stems back to the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve desired the forbidden fruit more than they desired to obey God.
Sometimes an idea about an evil action attracts us, or some other compulsion we may have. Sometimes we want to do evil things. It is our forbidden fruit. But we should refuse to do evil things. Solomon has taught this lesson to us before in both Proverbs 2 and 5. He will also explain the same lesson in Proverbs 7. He repeats the lesson because it is important and so prevalent in every culture and society. As Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.”
In Proverbs [6:25]-29, Solomon explains about punishment. A husband will punish the man that sleeps with the husband’s wife. In the same way, our evil behavior leads to punishment. God will always punish our evil behavior, either directly or through the consequences we may suffer because of our unwise choices. There are punishments in this world, for example, either physical prisons or prisons of addictions that we find ourselves trapped in. The Bible teaches us about heaven and hell after we die. Everyone has done evil things, so everyone must turn to God. We all must trust God because only God can forgive us. When Jesus died, he suffered our eternal punishment in our place.
26 For a prostitute will bring you to poverty,
but sleeping with another man’s wife will cost you your life.
If a man has sex with a woman, she might use him to her advantage. She may require money for her services. Spending money for sex will bring a person to poverty, and it can become an addiction. She might put him in danger of diseases also. If you have an affair with a married person, it could cause such anger from the offended spouse that even if physical death does not occur, spiritual death could. The analogy follows in the last three verses of this segment.
27 Can a man scoop a flame into his lap
and not have his clothes catch on fire?
28 Can he walk on hot coals
and not blister his feet?
29 So it is with the man who sleeps with another man’s wife.
He who embraces her will not go unpunished.
Fire is dangerous. It can burn you. Use fire carefully! Sex is also dangerous when it is outside of marriage. You should only have sex with your husband or wife and only within the confines of marriage. Otherwise, it is dangerous. Be careful!
Our evil actions are dangerous. Escape from evil things! Don’t partake of the forbidden fruit, which is anything in our lives that is contrary to God’s precepts in His Word. Trust in God!
Today we dug up more important wisdom nuggets. Let’s learn to obey God’s commands and resist the forbidden fruit of sin on our daily trek of life. That is the only way that we will find true peace and joy in our lives. Let’s ponder the wisdom in this passage and also encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy as we continue to dig for those nuggets of wisdom from Proverbs [6:30]-35.
That will finish our podcast for today. Remember to listen to your daily dose of wisdom each day. Please share Wisdom-Trek with your family and friends through email, Facebook, Twitter, or in person so they can come along with us each day.
Thank you for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal each day.
As we take this Trek together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!