Welcome to Wisdom Today with Bill Kelley. Today we will be going over Proverb 4. I will then key in on verse 13 - Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; Keep her, for she is your life. Friends, this verse stresses the importance of reading the Bible on a regular basis. One thing I will add - if you are to read the Bible it is imperative that you get a study Bible (a Bible that will have commentary which will explain verses and passages of the Bible that might be confusing to you). In today's lesson we will continue our study of the minor prophet Hosea. By the end of today's lesson there are three things I ask that you consider:
1. The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
2. I will redeem them from death.
3. Then his spring shall become dry, And his fountain shall be dried up.
Scriptures reference in today's lesson:
Call to Action - Are you reading scripture on a regular basis? Do you have a Bible reading plan? If not, I ask that you consider praying to God and asking Him how you should navigate the reading of the Bible?
[00:00:06] Welcome to Wisdom Today. My name is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. In this podcast we will be exploring the book of Proverbs.
[00:00:21] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this podcast today. Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them.
[00:00:34] In addition, I pray that everyone listening would have favor with both God and man. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
[00:00:44] This is Proverb 4, beginning in verse 1.
[00:00:48] Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to no understanding.
[00:00:55] For I give you good doctrine. Do not forsake my law.
[00:01:00] When I was my father's son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother, he also taught me and said to me,
[00:01:10] Let your heart retain my words. Keep my commands and live.
[00:01:16] Get wisdom. Get understanding.
[00:01:20] Do not forget nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
[00:01:24] Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you.
[00:01:29] Love her, and she will keep you.
[00:01:32] Wisdom is the principal thing.
[00:01:35] Therefore, get wisdom.
[00:01:38] And in all your getting, get understanding.
[00:01:42] Exalt her, and she will promote you.
[00:01:45] She will bring you honor when you embrace her.
[00:01:48] She will place on your head an ornament of grace, a crown of glory she will deliver to you.
[00:01:58] Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many.
[00:02:05] I have taught you in the way of wisdom.
[00:02:08] I have led you in right paths.
[00:02:12] When you walk, your steps will not be hindered.
[00:02:15] And when you run, you will not stumble.
[00:02:19] Take firm hold of instruction.
[00:02:22] Do not let go.
[00:02:24] Keep her, for she is your life.
[00:02:28] Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil.
[00:02:34] Avoid it.
[00:02:36] Do not travel on it.
[00:02:38] Turn away from it, and pass on.
[00:02:41] For they do not sleep unless they have done evil.
[00:02:45] And their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.
[00:02:50] For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
[00:02:56] But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
[00:03:05] The way of the wicked is like darkness.
[00:03:09] They do not know what makes them stumble.
[00:03:12] My son, give attention to my words.
[00:03:17] Incline your ear to my sayings.
[00:03:20] Do not let them depart from your eyes.
[00:03:23] Keep them in the midst of your heart.
[00:03:26] For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.
[00:03:33] Keep your heart with all diligence.
[00:03:36] For out of it spring the issues of life.
[00:03:40] Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you.
[00:03:46] Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you.
[00:03:53] Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.
[00:04:00] Do not turn to the right or the left.
[00:04:03] Remove your foot from evil.
[00:04:07] Friends, today I'd like to take a closer look at verse 13.
[00:04:12] And Proverb 4 verse 13 tells us this.
[00:04:17] Take firm hold of instruction.
[00:04:20] Do not let go.
[00:04:23] Keep her, for she is your life.
[00:04:26] Now friends, we will come back and take a closer look at that verse prior to closing today.
[00:04:33] But as we begin a new week, I'd like to continue our study in the book of the minor prophet Hosea.
[00:04:41] And we are finishing up this study, I believe will probably be finished by next week.
[00:04:48] But what I'd like to do before we begin today's lesson is go over the three points that I brought up in Thursday's podcast.
[00:04:58] Now Thursday was episode number 674.
[00:05:03] And the three points were, number one, when they had pasture, they were filled.
[00:05:11] And friends, this simply reminds me that sometimes in life everything seems to be going well.
[00:05:18] And when things are going well, you are satisfied.
[00:05:21] Number two, O Israel, you are destroyed, but your help is from me.
[00:05:29] What this verse simply says is that sometimes in life things are going to go wrong.
[00:05:36] Things that we never expected to happen are going to come up.
[00:05:42] And if that happens, God is there waiting for us to call upon him in our time of need.
[00:05:51] Number three, I gave you a king in my anger and took him away in my wrath.
[00:06:00] And friends, we were talking about King Saul here.
[00:06:03] And way back in the book of 1 Samuel, the people of Israel demanded a king.
[00:06:09] All of the nations surrounding Israel had kings and they said, God, we want a king.
[00:06:16] And God never intended for them to have a king.
[00:06:19] He wanted to be their king, but they chose otherwise and God gave them what they wanted.
[00:06:26] So let's pick up where we left off on Thursday's podcast.
[00:06:31] We'll be beginning in chapter 13 of the book of Hosea in verse 12.
[00:06:39] The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up.
[00:06:43] His sin is stored up.
[00:06:47] Now, friends, I am reading out of the Nelson Study Bible.
[00:06:51] And I'd like to go over the brief commentary for verse 12.
[00:06:56] It says, God had kept a careful record of Israel's sins to be revealed as evidence of guilt in the day of judgment.
[00:07:09] Now, friends, God does keep track of everything we do.
[00:07:14] Now, we know that if we have received Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that all of our sins have been forgiven.
[00:07:25] A matter of fact, all of the sins of all mankind have been forgiven.
[00:07:32] But if you do not receive that free gift of salvation, those sins are still on you.
[00:07:41] Because you haven't asked God to forgive you.
[00:07:45] You haven't asked God and you haven't asked Jesus into your heart.
[00:07:49] If you ask him, those sins will automatically go away.
[00:07:54] Let's look at Psalm 103 verse 12.
[00:07:58] Listen carefully to this beautiful verse.
[00:08:02] As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
[00:08:12] So, friends, it's as simple as that.
[00:08:15] All we have to do is invite Jesus to come into our heart.
[00:08:20] We have to receive his gift of salvation.
[00:08:25] Our sins have been forgiven.
[00:08:28] But we have to open up that gift of having our sins forgiven.
[00:08:36] Let's go to verse 13.
[00:08:39] The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
[00:08:44] He is an unwise son, for he should not stay long where children are born.
[00:08:51] So, friends, my first point of today's lesson is the sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him.
[00:09:02] Let's listen to the commentary in my Bible that helps explain what those words literally mean to us today.
[00:09:12] This metaphor of childbirth illustrates Israel's spiritual insensitivity.
[00:09:21] When the crucial time of judgment arrived, Israel would respond unwisely, resulting in death.
[00:09:31] And here they mean spiritual death.
[00:09:34] The nation's failure to repent is compared to a baby that is not positioned properly during labor and jeopardizes the life of both mother and child.
[00:09:50] So powerful.
[00:09:51] Let's go to verse 14.
[00:10:08] Verse 14.
[00:10:11] Pity is hidden from my eyes.
[00:10:15] So, friends, my second point today is I will redeem them from death.
[00:10:23] That is what I just went over previously.
[00:10:26] In order for that to happen, though, we have to open up the free gift of salvation that only Jesus offers us.
[00:10:39] Let's go to verse 15.
[00:10:41] Though he is fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come.
[00:10:49] The wind of the Lord shall come up from the wilderness.
[00:10:53] Then his spring shall dry up and his fountain shall be dried up.
[00:10:59] He shall plunder the treasury of every desirable prize.
[00:11:03] Samaria is held guilty.
[00:11:07] For she has rebelled against her God.
[00:11:10] They shall fall by the sword.
[00:11:13] Their infants shall be dashed in pieces and their women with child ripped open.
[00:11:22] So, friends, my third and final point for today's lesson is then his spring shall become dry and his fountain shall be dried up.
[00:11:35] Now, let's look at the commentary for verses 15 and 16.
[00:11:40] Israel was like a fruitful, well-watered plant.
[00:11:46] I really like that imagery.
[00:11:49] But God's judgment would come like a scorching east wind and bring drought.
[00:11:58] He shall plunder.
[00:12:00] The reality behind the imagery of the wind is the Assyrian army, which would plunder Israel's riches and mercilessly kill the people, including helpless infants and pregnant women.
[00:12:19] My gosh, is that powerful.
[00:12:23] And friends, this causes me to once again bring up the point that if you read scripture and if you truly want to understand scripture,
[00:12:40] it is very important that you buy a study Bible.
[00:12:47] Many times as I read the Bible, before I had a study Bible, I would read something and I would say, what does that mean?
[00:12:57] And friends, there are 66 books in the Bible.
[00:13:01] Many of these books can be a little bit confusing.
[00:13:06] As we read them, we can sit there and ask ourselves after reading something, what does the author want us to learn from this lesson, from this verse, from this chapter?
[00:13:20] What is the author trying to tell us?
[00:13:23] And friends, only if you have a Bible that has a commentary assigned to it, will you really find the answers that you're looking for.
[00:13:37] I really want you to give that some thought.
[00:13:40] Because I think it is so crucial that we learn to read the Bible on a regular basis.
[00:13:47] But if you read the Bible and don't understand it, you're going to just close it and say, what's the use of reading the Bible?
[00:13:58] I don't need to read the Bible.
[00:13:59] I don't get anything out of it.
[00:14:01] And friends, that is not what God's desire is.
[00:14:05] As you read the Bible, you should get revelation.
[00:14:08] You should understand and say, wow, that makes sense to me now.
[00:14:14] I understand now that I have that commentary to go with it.
[00:14:19] So let's go to our Proverb of the Day before we do close today.
[00:14:24] And we are in Proverb 4.
[00:14:27] Today is the 4th of November.
[00:14:29] And the fourth proverb is as powerful as any proverb there is.
[00:14:34] Proverb 4 basically is a summation of the security we can have in our lives if we have wisdom.
[00:14:47] If we live by wisdom.
[00:14:51] And today's verse, I chose verse 13.
[00:14:55] And it says,
[00:14:56] Take firm hold of instruction.
[00:15:00] Do not let go.
[00:15:03] Keep her for she is your life.
[00:15:08] And friends, verse 13 is very simple.
[00:15:12] That is telling us open up the Bible and read it.
[00:15:18] And it's saying grab hold of the Bible.
[00:15:23] Friends, without the Bible, we are not going to grow in our faith.
[00:15:30] In the book of Romans, Paul tells us in chapter 10, verse 17, that faith comes by hearing.
[00:15:39] Friends, if we want our faith to increase, if we truly want to have the faith which God wants us to have,
[00:15:47] we're actually going to have to open up his book and we're going to have to read it on a regular basis.
[00:15:55] Friends, I hope by listening to this podcast on a daily basis that you are starting to have that desire inside your heart.
[00:16:06] So my call to action today is very simple.
[00:16:11] Are you reading scripture on a regular basis?
[00:16:15] Do you have any kind of Bible reading plan?
[00:16:18] Or do you just haphazardly open the Bible from time to time, a day here, a day here, five minutes here, five minutes there?
[00:16:28] Friends, if you're truly going to grow in God and draw closer to him, I suggest you read at least 15 to 20 minutes every single day.
[00:16:41] Now, there may be times you miss a day or miss a day, but overall, I encourage you read the Bible on a regular basis.
[00:16:52] Friends, I will never end a podcast without giving anyone an opportunity to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
[00:17:01] If there is anyone listening today and you've never taken that step, I invite you to repeat a simple prayer after me right now.
[00:17:10] Father God, thank you for sending your son Jesus to earth.
[00:17:14] Jesus, thank you that you were willing to come to earth and die on a cross for everyone listening to this podcast today.
[00:17:21] Lord Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart.
[00:17:25] I ask you to lead me and guide me from this point forward in my life.
[00:17:31] I make you my Lord and Savior.
[00:17:35] Now, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
[00:17:39] The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you.
[00:17:43] The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
[00:17:48] Friends, tomorrow is Testimony Day.
[00:17:53] Please join me and a special guest as we further explore wisdom today.