00:00 Introduction and Overview

00:16 Proverbs 30

00:42 The Truth and Reliability of God's Word

02:06 Moderation and Contentment in Life

03:07 The Wonder of Life and Wisdom

04:02 Proverbs 31

04:22 King Lemuel's Mother's Wisdom

05:51 The Virtuous Woman: A Model of Godly Living

08:54 The Inner Beauty of a Godly Woman...and Man

09:59 Conclusion and Encouragement

Welcome back to another edition

of the daily Bible podcast.

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Today is Saturday, June 22nd, 2024.

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And we're looking at two chapters.

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In fact, we're concluding

the book of Proverbs.

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We're looking at chapters 30 and 31.

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So let's jump on in.

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Starting Proverbs chapter 30.

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This chapter is written by a guy

named Agger Agur, the son of Jacka.

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The Oracle.

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No clue who he is.

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And I suspect that it didn't really

matter because his words are preserved.

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Even if we know nothing about him,

there's a few places where this is like,

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in fact, our next chapter that we're

going to look at is similar situation.

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Let's pick out a couple of these here

that might prove helpful . Uh, first let's

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take a look at this verses five and six.

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Every word of God proves true.

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He has a shield to those who take refuge

in him, do not add to his words, lest

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he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

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So good that you're in the Bible

because this is the only place where

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the Christian can find true words.

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And then not to say that

there's not truth out there.

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We're looking at the

absoluteness of God's word.

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It's true.

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Absolutely.

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That means we can always rely on it.

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It is proven true over and over again.

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Now, this doesn't mean that we can't

get some things wrong about it.

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If the word of God were in any way to be

disproven and I'm using air quotes here.

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It would not mean that

God's word is wrong.

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It means that we were

wrong and understanding it.

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If that were to happen.

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I think about the heliocentric

nature of the universe.

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And how at one point in time, people

thought, well, the earth is the

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center of the universe, obviously.

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It's God's special creation to house.

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His special creation called man.

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And for a long time, that was

the prevailing wisdom and it.

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It was apparently obvious

to those who read the Bible.

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Of course has proved not to be true.

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We now know that the universe does

not revolve around the earth, but

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the earth revolves around the sun.

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And so the word of God proved true,

even though we misunderstood it.

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This is often what's at heart.

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When we're reading the Bible,

we read it wrong, then it's us.

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That's wrong.

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Not the word of God.

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So be sure as you read the Bible that

you believe the Bible, but also make

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sure that you're understanding it.

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Rightly that's a big part

of the equation here.

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Anger goes on and he talks about

moderation and contentment.

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Um, he asks something that I wonder

if any of you guys have ever asked

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God, he says this in verse seven.

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Two things they ask of

you did that deny them?

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Not to me before I die.

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Remove it far from me, falsehood and lion.

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Give me neither poverty nor riches.

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Feed me with a food that is needful

for me, lest I be full and deny you.

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And say, who is the Lord or less IB, poor

and steal and profane the name of my God.

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He prays that he not have

too much or too little.

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I want to have just enough.

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God, don't give me more

than my soul can handle.

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Don't give me the less

than my soul can handle.

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That's a very contrarian prayer for today.

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And I think it might be good for

us to say something similar to God.

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Words of agric continue on here.

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And perhaps one of the

best places to stop here.

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I.

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I mean, I like this.

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It's not one of the beds.

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One of my favorites.

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In verses 18 through 20.

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Let me just stick with verses 18 and 19.

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Three things are too wonderful for me.

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For, I do not understand the

way of an Eagle in the sky,

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the way of a serpent on a rock.

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The way of a ship on the high seas

and the way of a man with a Virgin.

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Okay.

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The last one, I think you can but

I think the general gist of this

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is keeping that sense of wonder.

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Knowing how good it is to live

and to breathe and to have life.

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Life is wonderful.

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It is full of wonder.

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If we have eyes simply to see it.

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Wisdom gives us the ability to see the

world with wonder and to appreciate.

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The beauty and the depth.

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And the intrinsic nature of the way

that God has designed the world to work.

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If you just think about it for a few

moments, it ought to excite your heart

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with wonder, and that's a good thing.

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Chapter 30, a Proverbs, lots of good

things that Agora has to say to us.

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And I hope one of them or two of them,

or several of them stood out to you.

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Let's look at Proverbs 31.

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This proverb is written by king Lemuel

under the influence of his mother.

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What a good thing that is.

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If you have a mom, praise God for that.

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That the customer for all of us.

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Now make sure.

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You respect mom.

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In fact, we're going to talk about

mom and a few moments here, and we

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may get to the end of the chapter, but

let's start with the beginning here.

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The words of king Lemuel, an Oracle.

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That his mother taught him.

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And here's what she says.

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This is incredibly wise, verse four.

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It is not for Kings Ola mule.

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It is not for Kings to drink wine or

for rulers to take a strong drink.

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And she gives a reason why.

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Lest they drink and forget

what has been decreed.

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And pervert the rights

of all the afflicted.

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Give strong drink to the one

who was perishing and give wine

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to those in bitter distress.

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Let them drink and forget their poverty.

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And remember their misery no more.

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So she's saying, look.

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It is good for leaders to know

righteousness and justice and

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not have anything hinder that.

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They ought to be sober minded.

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So that they can decree

what is right and good.

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If someone's perishing someone's on the,

on their way out, let them have the thing

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that helps them forget their sorrows.

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Let them have the morphine, let

them have the painkilling drugs.

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And this is why I think the end of

life situation, if you're in pain and

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you're on your way out, man, that's

a time to take advantage of all

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that medical science has afforded us.

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We should take advantage of those

things, but if you're a Christian.

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Being sober-minded is the right way to go.

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It doesn't mean you can't indulge in, you

know, NyQuil, if you're having some kind

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of sickness that you can't deal with.

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But by and large.

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Christians are known to

be sober-minded people.

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Paul says in the new Testament,

do not be drunk with wine,

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but be filled with the spirit.

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And the spirit gives us a silver

mindedness that is so important for

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us to navigate the world around us.

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Those are good words from

king Lemuel, his mom.

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Well, the rest of chapter 31 continues

with a prolonged expression of praise

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for a woman who fears the Lord.

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And this is often brought a lot of

pain to a lot of women, because it

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seems like this woman is a superhero.

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She's up early and she goes to bed late.

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She doesn't sleep.

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Apparently she does it all.

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I don't think that's the point.

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What you have here is a picture.

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Have a godly woman, a woman who

lives up to the call of God, on

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her life and in different seasons

of her life, she's doing different

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things depending on where she's at.

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I wonder with a newborn in the home,

it's not going to be as productive.

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And I'm using air quotes here as a woman.

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Who's, you know, got, she's got an empty

nest and she can do different things.

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Now, of course, of course, a woman

at home with kids is productive.

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That is a good noble work.

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And certainly.

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We want to honor and esteem that we do

esteem that this mom here and this woman

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and chapter 31 works in the home outside

of the home, she's doing all, she's

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doing all over the place kind of work.

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And that's a great thing.

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This woman is actively involved

in the lot that God has given her.

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She's known here to.

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Let's see verse 10.

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An excellent wife who can find

she's far more precious than jewels.

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And it speaks to the rarity of this woman.

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She is valuable because she

is a rare woman to find.

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And I praise God that by his

guidance, we have a lot of

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women like this in our church.

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I suspect.

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She's the kind of woman who her

husband, uh, because she's so

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such a good leader in the home.

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She's strong.

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Her husband is known in the gates when

he sits among the elders of the land.

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That is, I think what's implied there.

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Is that he's able to do his job well,

because she's doing her job well, she's

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doing great stuff at home, which frees

him to do great stuff outside of the home.

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Uh, her dignity and honor.

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Reinforces and even feeds

his own dignity and honor.

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Verse 25.

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Strength and dignity are her clothing.

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She is clothed.

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She has the attitude of strength

and dignity, and she laughs at the

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time to come, she's not anxious.

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She's not worried.

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She is bold in the face of the future.

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Not because she's got such a great

husband or she's got such a great

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home, but she's got a great God.

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And therefore she trusts him.

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She lasts at the future.

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She opens her mouth with wisdom

and the teaching of kindness

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is on her tongue she's wise.

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And she's kind to people obviously.

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Now the verse, the last several

verses are verses that are well worth.

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Our attention.

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Verse 28, her children rise up and

call her blessed her husband also.

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And he praises her.

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Here's what they say.

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Many women have done excellently,

but you surpass them all.

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Husbands and children, it is such a good

thing to affirm and to praise your moms.

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Praise your wife.

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If you're a husband listening to this.

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Well, let me extend this.

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That's a good thing to praise people.

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It's a good thing to affirm people.

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Man.

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Sometimes our cups are so

empty because we just don't get

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the affirmation that we need.

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We need the encouragement.

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Everybody needs this.

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It's good to remember.

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Mom often can be overlooked.

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The wife can often be.

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Uh, and not paid attention

to, so it's good.

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The scripture calls us to do

this, and certainly we should

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do this for our moms, our wives.

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They deserve that.

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They need that.

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But this is true also for

everyone else in the home.

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Don't forget that.

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Uh, verse 29, many women have done

excellently, but you surpass them all.

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Charm is deceitful.

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Beauty is vain.

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But a woman who fears the

Lord is to be praised.

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Give her the fruit of her

hands and let her works.

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Praise her in the gates.

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Someday.

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We're all going to get old and

wrinkly and we're not going to

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be as attractive as we are today.

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What is most valuable is not

the external, but the inside.

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Scripture calls us to

adorn the inner person.

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And for the woman who does this, nothing

wrong with painting the barn at the

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Barnes Peyton and as J Vernon McGee

once said, but the ultimate painting.

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The ultimate beautification.

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If I can use that term.

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Is the inner person.

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And the person who's walking with

Christ is second Corinthians chapter

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four being renewed day by day.

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Being conformed into his image.

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And that's the beauty, that's a

real beauty and that's the kind of

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beauty that the church should esteem.

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It's not the glitz and glamor

that we see on TV or on the

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stream or on the YouTube channel.

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Real beauty.

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Real dignity real honor

is the inner person.

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The person who is Christ-like.

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Who is like Jesus in their demeanor,

like Jesus in their thoughts, like

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Jesus, in their words, that's a kind of

beauty that the church should esteem.

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Whether male or female.

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And with that.

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Thank you for joining me for another

edition of the daily Bible podcast.

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I hope you'll keep on reading

and you'll join me tomorrow.

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Forget another.

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See you then.