the way of the wicked

Good morning friends,

Monday we read the beginning of Psalm 73, where the author talks about how it often seems like the wicked do better in life than the righteous. As we continue we'll see that line of thought continue. We'll also see how the psalmist started to see things in a different way.

God bless,

Sam

Psalm 73:10-28

¹⁰Therefore the people turn and praise them, and find no fault in them.¹¹And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”¹²Such are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.

¹³All in vain I have kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence.¹⁴For all day long I have been plagued, and am punished every morning.

¹⁵If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,” I would have been untrue to the circle of your children. ¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, ¹⁷until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end. ¹⁸Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. ¹⁹How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! ²⁰They are like a dream when one awakes; on awaking you despise their phantoms.

²¹When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, ²²I was stupid and ignorant; I was like a brute beast toward you. ²³Nevertheless I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. ²⁴You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me with honor. ²⁵Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you. ²⁶My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. ²⁷Indeed, those who are far from you will perish; you put an end to those who are false to you. ²⁸But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge, to tell of all your works.

learning wisdom

Good evening friends,
Happy March to you all. This week's theme is parenting, and many of the Bible's Book of Proverbs (in fact many cultural proverbs in general) were written to instruct young people in the right way to live. This section from Proverbs talks specifically to a son about the dangers of getting in with the wrong crowd. In this case, wrong doesn't mean people who dress the wrong way or listen to the wrong music, but rather those who prey on the weak for profit. Blessings on your wise choices today,
Sam


Proverbs 1:7-19
⁷The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.
 ⁸Hear, my child, your father’s instruction,
and do not reject your mother’s teaching;
⁹for they are a fair garland for your head,
and pendants for your neck.
¹⁰My child, if sinners entice you, do not consent.
¹¹If they say, “Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood;
let us wantonly ambush the innocent;
¹²like Sheol let us swallow them alive and whole,
like those who go down to the Pit.
¹³We shall find all kinds of costly things;
we shall fill our houses with booty.
¹⁴Throw in your lot among us; we will all have one purse”—
¹⁵my child, do not walk in their way, keep your foot from their paths;
¹⁶for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood.
¹⁷For in vain is the net baited while the bird is looking on;
¹⁸yet they lie in wait—to kill themselves!
and set an ambush—for their own lives!
¹⁹Such is the end of all who are greedy for gain;
it takes away the life of its possessors.