PROFITING FROM PROVERBS

“What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?” (Proverbs 31:2 KJV).

He has either done something that she surprised at, “What my son?,” or something that he would talk about or think about. And she says, “What the son of my vows?” Over in First Samuel chapter one is another woman made vows to get a son.

Hannah is a woman that had no children, and she bore a reproach. It’s built into a woman to have children. A woman can never be fulfilled as a woman until she has children, and even if she can't have them; adopt them. She needs to raise a kid. She just needs to have kids around. That's just the woman's nature and she bears an approach until she can raise children.

Hannah was bearing that reproach, and “she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head” (1 Samuel 1:10-11).”

Hannah vowed to make Samuel a Nazarite and dedicate him to the priesthood, and she keeps her vow.

So, this man, king Lemuel’s mother said, “What the son of my vows?” It's possible that she too did not have a child and she made a vow like Hannah that if God would give a child that she too would return that child to the Lord. And so, when she did have a child, she taught King Lemuel the truth, and she taught him some very wise things, and some very good things.

By the way, Samuel is not the only one that had a good mother in the Scriptures. You will find that Timothy had a good mother, as well as grandmother. When Paul wrote to Timothy he said some things about it in Second Timothy chapter3 1 and 3. Paul said, “When I called rememberance the unfeigned faith that is in thee,” talking to Timothy, “which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also” (verse 5).

Now, Timothy had a good mother, and he had a good grandmother. Grandmother passed the truth down to mom, and then mom passed it down to Timothy; and Timothy stood strong in the Lord, and God called him to preach.

Then, in Second Timothy 3:15, not only did it bring about his called to the ministry, but notice 3:14, “But continued thou in the things which thou hast learned.” Where did he start to learn? He learned them at the knee of his mother, and grandmother. “And hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; and from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

Timothy had a good mother. Timothy's mother showed Timothy at an early age that the scriptures taught that a person must be saved, and he said that “from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation,” the church cannot save you. I don't know what any of your are trusting in to keep you out of hell, but the church can't keep you out of hell; a religion can't keep you out of hell; good works can't keep you out of hell. The Bible says, “you knew from a child the holy scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

There's only one way for a person to be truly, totally saved, and that's by faith in Christ Jesus. The Bible says that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The Bible says in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves: it is the grace of God.” Timothy's mother, Eunice, had showed him those verses. shown him that he was a sinner; showed him that Jesus Christ died for his sins, and then he believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and was saved.

Now that's a pretty good mother! It's a pretty good mother that will take the time to teach her child those Bible stories and Bible lessons and Bible laws, and sees that that child gets the gospel, and sees that that child gets saved. You can be thankful that your children are getting a good education, but you can be even more thankful that they are saved and going to heaven. You could all get in a car wreck today and not survive, but you’ll be immediately in the presence of Christ because of Calvary.

King Lemuel had a good mother. She taught him the truth, and she taught him things about how to live, and how to be a good man.

“The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him” (Proverbs 31:1 KJV).

This is a letter by king Lemuel. The name, “Lemuel” means, “by God.” “By Him all things consist.” The -el on the end is the Hebrew word for God—El Shaddai, Elohim, Bethel (the house of God) –Jesus said, “With God all things are possible.” So, with God you can do all things.

“. . . the prophecy that his mother taught him,” king Lemuel had a good mother. She spent some time with him in the Bible, and she taught him some things about life. Prophecy is not always something dealing with the distant future, sometimes just telling you what’s true about you, and how for you to live right and not reap the wages of sin—just how to live today and tomorrow—is prophetic. In other words, if I tell you something tonight that will keep you out of trouble tomorrow—that’s prophecy. Prophecy deals with life, and so all Scriptures are prophetic in that respect, they help us to live from day to day.

Getting saved doesn’t remove all the problems of life, it usually causes a whole lot more. Before you got saved, the Devil was on your side, the world was on your side, the flesh is on your side. I mean, really, at the time the only enemy you had was God. After you get saved, God is on your side—and you get a hold lot of enemies. I tell you, you just don’t how what kind of trouble you get into when you get saved, but it’s sure worth it when you die and go to heaven. Paul said, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom 8:18 KJV).

It’s bad to suffer, and nobody like to suffer, but it sure will be worth it when we die!

So, prophecy is any kind of truth where we learn, where we are exhorted, and where we are comforted to live right (I Corinthians 14:3). So, these are “the words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.”

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