Guidance

The last line of Proverbs 13:25 really caught my attention this week.  It reads:  “The righteous eat to their hearts’ content, but the stomach of the wicked goes hungry.”  These are the kinds of lines that have made this series unique and challenging all at the same time.  This verse brings eating, righteousness, and the wicked all together.  This week I spent time with a new friend who has a passion for healthy eating.  He believes that many kids in the United States are starving in their homes--homes no one would expect.  It could be for many reasons: debt, lost jobs, or just lack of parental care.  He also believes that many kids are obese.  That conversation made me think about a lot of things.  First of all, it reminded me of how blessed I am.  Secondly, it reminded me of a story from my past.

An old friend of mine believed that you could be on any diet and lose weight.  She wanted to prove that no matter what food you selected, it could be considered diet food.  So she started on a donut diet.  She ate nothing for breakfast, lunch or dinner except donuts.  She LOST weight!  I remember talking to her about it.  She said, “Yeah I proved you could do it.  I am malnourished, but I did it.”  Sometimes the outside world can perceive things inaccurately.  Even though my friend appeared to be healthy, she was actually starving on the inside.

In our world we have so many choices of food that we can eat.  Most of the quick, unhealthy options are cheap and easy.  In our busy lives, it is easy to fill our bodies up with food that ultimately can hurt us if we consume too much of it.  Solomon was wise--even for our generation.  He envisioned things that were coming in the future.  He foresaw the way we would fill ourselves.  While to the outside world, the food that is unhealthy may be coveted, but the food that will fill us will allow us to eat as much as we need of it.

This series has taken us on a journey where we were able to see how Solomon’s wisdom was totally a gift of God; but we also learned through examples in his life.  As we finish our series, we focus on the guidance of Jesus.  Unfortunately, even living as forgiven people, we will still make mistakes.  Those mistakes are seen with our own eyes; we still act on them and they consume our bodies.  This week Solomon talks about consuming the righteousness into which the Holy Spirit leads us.  He has challenging topics like disciplining our children; watching what comes out of our lips; and listening to correction.  Our human nature has a hard time hearing these things, but our redeemed souls rejoice in God’s amazing power to rescue us, and put us on the right track.  This week we pray that through the saving power of Jesus, we can understand how His wisdom can guide and direct our lives to eat all we want of the saving words of God.