day no. 13,003: limited strength

Proverbs 24:10

 

If you do nothing in a difficult time,
your strength is limited.

 

What you do when you are weak largely defines how strong you are in actuality.

Everyone should be strong when things are going well.

We all should be at our best when things are ideal.

This verse struck a particular chord with me today.

The day of adversity often reveals how weak I truly am.

day no. 13,002: you should wage war (but with sound guidance)‏

Proverbs 24:5-6

⁵A wise warrior is better than a strong one,
and a man of knowledge than one of strength;
⁶for you should wage war with sound guidance—
victory comes with many counselors.

 

Wise warriors win the war.

Knowledgeable knights win the fight.

A teachable heart endures the battle.

Might alone cannot make right.

day no. 13,001: the rooms are filled with every treasure‏

Proverbs 24:3-4

 

³A house is built by wisdom,
and it is established by understanding;
⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled
with every precious and beautiful treasure.

 

Wisdom decided to build a home.

 

It would not begin to build until it found a firm foundation in understanding

 

Knowledge filled the rooms with every heavenly treasure that lasts forever.

 

A godly house is built by wisdom.

 

It is affirmed and anchored in understanding.

 

Its rooms are packed full of everything precious.

 

It doesn’t merely inhabit the home, it fills it.

 

Like a lung full of breath is a house full of knowledge.

 

It is life giving and enduring.

day no. 13,000: milestones

I am 13,000 days old today!!!

It is a milestone of sorts I suppose.

It's not every day you turn 13,000 days old.

In fact, it's really only that one day when you do.

Here's to 13,000 more.

I will be 70 years old if I hit 26,000 days.

Crazy to think about.

In some ways, 26,000 days is a TON of days.

In other respects, it seems crazy that if you live to 70 years old and change, you will have only have lived 26,000 days.

At any rate, I've wasted many days and they counted for nothing.

Here's to making the most of the days I've got left in the tank.

day no. 12,999: push the point all the way through‏

Stay on point and push that point hard until it breaks skin.

 

Acts 2:37

Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

If you push the main point, you will break the skin.

The hardened surface will give way to the pointed charge of Christ crucified when by grace the Spirit shows up to provide faith.

Hebrews 4:12

For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart.

If you push the main point, your blows will penetrate to the deep places of a person where only God can restore and renew by His mercy.

 

Stick to the point.

 

If you get dull in the pulpit, your words will fall harmlessly to the ground after they collide with toughness of heart

 

If you stay sharp, you just may see people reborn as their callouses are breached by God’s grace.

day no. 12,996: boasting about His graciousness, not our grace‏

May your generosity abound as God is generously providing you with abundance.

You give your riches to others as God has richly given to you.

 

We are not called to give from what we do not have.

 

We are commanded to give of that which we have been given.

 

Have you received:

 

Grace? Give grace to others

Mercy? Show mercy to others

Money? Give money to others

Patience? Be patient with others

 

1 Corinthians 4:7

 

For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?

day no. 12,995: walls provide peace

Song of Solomon 8:8-10

⁸Our sister is young;
she has no breasts.
What will we do for our sister
on the day she is spoken for?

⁹If she is a wall,
we will build a silver parapet on it.
If she is a door,
we will enclose it with cedar planks.

 

¹⁰I am a wall
and my breasts like towers.
So in his eyes I have become
like one who finds peace.

 

Guard your head and heart against attack.

 

Be a wall, not a door.

 

Walls protect precious things and provide appropriate, yet guarded points of entry.

 

Doors swing both directions and without discretion allow entry and exit.

 

People will find peace in observing your head and heart protected by discretion and prudence.