Prophecy for the Next Generation

Pastor White's message on Sunday night was outstanding.  He read from Proverbs chapter 31, and as he put it, it was not a Mother's day message!  Proverbs 31:1-2 says, "The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him. What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?" The word prophecy in that verse means, "a burden; specifically tribute, an utterance, especially singing, tribute."  Verses three through nine of the prophecy are a warning, but the remaining verses are guidance.

I had never taken the time to study who King Lemuel is, but Pastor White pointed out that most scholars agree that this was Solomon.  That being the case (and the commentaries I read agreed) then the mother who taught him was none other than Bathsheba!

Bathsheba, the woman who was a known adulteress, prophesying, uttering, singing of the Virtuous Woman?  John Gill's commentary said she uttered this prophecy to Solomon, "either in his youth, or when he was come to the throne; particularly when she saw he was inclined unto, or going into, the vices she cautions him against."

In my study last year, I did not study the Virtuous Woman.  I had planned to, but never got to her.  The one thing I was going to study was the difference between what she did (bought a field, sought wool and flax, etc.) and who she was (the heart of her husband trusted her, her children call her blessed.)

It's almost impossible to reconcile Bathsheba with these great verses, but Pastor White pointed out that she was teaching Solomon in spite of her past.  David was much older than Bathsheba, and she was known to be a beautiful woman.  But after their sin, she was true to David and the purpose of this prophecy was to teach Solomon to walk in the path of righteousness.

The prophecy we must teach the next generation is this:  You CAN get up from your failures.  You CAN walk in newness of life. You CAN be a godly person.  You CAN sing a victorious song!

Just Keep Going

This quote came from Runner's World yesterday:

Running, much like life, has its hills and valleys. On any given run, and particularly in most marathons, we come across easy stretches and seemingly impossible challenges. I have learned to just keep going. The tough moments never last, and the easy stretches are always a joy. The same is clearly true in life, if we just keep going we'll get to that finish line with water, massages, and bananas!
~Will Starr, Runner's World Challenger of the Week

After reading it, I thought how I could blog about life and running.  Especially how similar they are.  But what is waiting for us at the finish line is far greater than water, massages, and bananas!  Seeing Jesus face to face,  eternal life and heaven!

I didn't get a chance to work on this post before I headed out for my own run this morning.  I was a little slow - I had pushed pretty hard yesterday morning before we headed to the airport.  Just before the 2 mile mark, I was on a little stretch of dirt that connects two sidewalks, when...

I stumbled over a root and went down HARD!  I landed on my right side - hand, arm, elbow, knee and shin, with a scrape on my left knee as a bonus.  I was stunned at how quickly it happened!  One second I'm sailing along, the next second I'm on my back (I tripped, fell, and rolled) and wondering where my Garmin got off to! 

That is just like life!  One day the sun is shining, life is good, but before we know it, we're on the ground.  Job loss, illness, harsh words that cut deeply, sin, life.  It can knock us for a loop.  The decision is what are we going to do next?

Fortunately, I was near a restroom, so I hobbled my way in there and cleaned up the best I could.  I walked most of the way home, very thankful that I was okay.  Many hours later, I am scraped and bruised, but fine.

So when life throws you a curve ball, what are you going to do?  Get back up!  Dust yourself off and keep going!

Success, Failure, or Feedback?

Les taught a great lesson in Sunday school this past Sunday.  I won't try to reteach it here, but there is one concept I wanted to blog about.  It's the concept of feedback. 

Whenever we attempt something ~ from inviting someone to church, to losing weight, to training for a marathon, or starting a business ~ we have the opportunity for feedback.  If we don't get the outcome we wanted or expected, we will often call it a failure, when we can just as easily turn it into feedback.

What is feedback?  I have heard this often in Weight Watchers meetings.  The number on the scale is feedback.  You were down 3 pounds this week?  Success!  Maybe.  It could be you were sick and didn't feel like eating, or you cut your intake drastically.  The following week, back up a pound?  An utter, total failure!  At least that's what we tell ourselves.  Not true!  It's an opportunity to review how we've eaten.  Feedback.

When we invite someone to church and they say no, that doesn't make us a failure.  It's our job to plant the seed.  We can take a moment to review our approach.  Were we unfriendly or did we make the person feel like they better come or else? Feedback to be a friendlier person, then leave the rest in God's hands.

The great Thomas Edison said, "I speak without exaggeration when I say that I have constructed 3,000 different theories in connection with the electric light, each one of them reasonable and apparently likely to be true. Yet only in 2 cases did my experiments prove the truth of my theory."  2998 failures?  No, just continual feedback on what would finally work.

The word success is found only one time in the Bible.  One time.

"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success."  Joshua 1:8

Follow His Word, guaranteed success.