Posted on 03/06/2020 6:03:29 AM PST by Pilgrim's Progress
“My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: Bind them continually upon thine heart, and tie them about thy neck. When thou goest, it shall lead thee; when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee; and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee. For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life” (Proverbs 6:20-23 KJV).
Solomon dealt with negative instruction from verse 16-19, now he shifts to positive reinforcement.
“Bind them continually upon thine heart,” hide them in your heart. It is more than just rote memory; it is applying them to your life and then the memorization will come easy. Otherwise it is easy in, easy out of your mind. The mind is not the place to store God’s Word. The heart is. The heart, as we have seen, is the source of wickedness—buttress the heart with a rich repository of God’s Word.
“. . . and tie them about thy neck,” the Old Testament Jew had what was called phylacteries This was a leather pouch with a piece of paper with Scripture written on it. He hung that around his neck or around the wrist or palm of the hand, and they would continually look at those verses.
“When thou goest, it shall lead thee,” verse 21 through 23 go together. “As thou goest,” or walk through life, “it” (the commandments) shall lead you right, and “when thou sleepest, it shall keep thee,” you’ll have a good, restful sleep. “. . . and when thou awakest, it shall talk with thee,” the word you meditated on will speak with you. It is as if the Holy Spirit is having a conversation with you about the verse you carried with you throughout the day—a divine commentary—if you will.
“For the commandment is a lamp [a lamp will lead you]; and the law is light [a light will keep you]; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life,” they will talk to you along the way. Some might call it our conscience. Maybe so, but a conscience filled with the Word of God is a powerful tool of God in the lives of His saints. By itself, our conscience is nothing more than worldly wisdom. How many times has a verse from Scripture popped up in your mind when at a crossroads? Well, only what is in there can come out of there. Fill you mind with worldly things; you’ll get worldly advice. How much better is a “thus saith the Lord?”
If what you love is God, then you are going to love His commandments and His word. If you are just following the Ten Commandments because the church said you should, and you don’t really love God, you don’t stand a chance. And then you get to verse 22, “When thou goest, it shall lead thee.” That command, that law, is the word of God. That commandment, that word of God, it shall lead thee. It’ll lead thee, it’ll keep thee, it will talk to thee.
I’m suggesting that verse 21 is maybe talking about you making sure; just as the word of God tells us in the greatest commandment to love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and thy whole soul, all thy strength, and all thy might, so it is humanly speaking that we are love our mother and our father. If you love them, you will keep their rules. And if you are just keeping their rules because you are supposed to keep their rules, eventually you’ll depart from them when you are on your own.
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Such words of wisdom. Thank you!!
I’ve been caring for my ill sister so haven’t had a lot of computer time....
Happy to have you reading whenever you can make it!
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