Category: Proverbs

Posted in Luke, Proverbs, Psalms

Choosing Well

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Few things are necessary, really only one, and Mary has chosen the good part.” Luke 10:42

A recent quote I heard has really struck me, “It is almost impossible to overestimate the unimportance of most things.” Think about this for a moment. All talk about food and drink is really unimportant. All talk of sports is really unimportant. All talk of weather, past, present, and future is mostly unimportant. All speculation of how the rich and famous live is meaningless and most talk of others is to no valuable end either. It’s amazing how much we are able to talk without really saying anything important.

“Small talk,” is what we call it. It is purposely unimportant because it breaks the ice in relationships without causing controversy. I get that, but I hope our lives are aiming at something more valuable, or we may end up as empty as most conversations.

Mary was seated at the Lord’s feet listening to His Word. There is nothing more valuable than a life focused on a relationship with God. Proverbs 1:32-33 says, “…the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to Me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm.” This is the good part.

Martha became distracted by her serving and ended up with the bad part; working for Jesus but no longer listening to Him; around Him, but not personally experiencing Him. Jesus is helping her to leave a distracted lifestyle by telling her that what Mary has, she has chosen. It’s as if He’s saying, “Martha, you are not a victim of your circumstances. You too can choose the good part.”

King David made this choice in the midst of his adventurous and busy life. “One thing have I desired and that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord (the Presence of God) all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.” (Psalm 27:4)

If something other than Him is the aim of our life, we’re on a tangent. Why not make a better choice today?

Posted in 1Corinthians, Proverbs

Resisting Temptation

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“If you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1Corinthians 10:12-13

Part of the enemy’s strategy in getting us to give into temptation is seizing us and making us feel there is no choice except to sin. When God asked Adam what he had done the reply was, “The woman You gave me…” Basically, “it wasn’t my fault! It was the woman’s fault; in fact, it was kind of Your fault since You gave me the woman.” Then God asked Eve what she had done and she also shifted the blame: “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

Our excuses are irrelevant to God and do not lead us into freedom but only into greater bondage. No matter what the circumstances were around our sin, Scripture tells us that God provided a “way out” if we had only looked for it and prayed about it. Proverbs tells us that whoever hides his sin (puts the blame somewhere else) will not prosper, but whoever “confesses and forsakes” it will obtain mercy. (Proverbs 28:13) Own your sin; confess it, confess that you didn’t look or pray for the way out, and then forsake it.

But how much better it is to resist temptation and not fall into sin. God’s main strategy for us to keep from sinning is to flee that which is tempting us. The idea that we can handle being close to sin without falling into it is a deception because we are all weaker than we think we are. In fact, “if you think you are standing firm be careful that you don’t fall!”

Adam and Eve were given a whole garden to enjoy, yet Eve chose to stand right next to the one tree that was forbidden. Not smart. When I was a young believer I had developed a fixation for a certain young woman in our home town. As I was reading Proverbs the warning came, “Don’t look into her eyes.” (Proverbs 6:25) So from then on I made it a point to not look her in the eyes when I was around her, but I would still find myself driving by her house hoping that she was outside. Later I read another Proverb that said, “Don’t even go near her house.” (Proverbs 5:8) I was stunned. God’s strategy was not “get close and try to be strong”, but simply stay far away.

What is the area of your greatest weakness? Why not enjoy the rest of the garden and stay far away from that tree!

Posted in Hebrews, Joel, Proverbs, Romans

Maintaining a Soft Heart

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“How blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.” Proverbs 28:14

One definition of the fear of the Lord can be inferred by its opposite. If hardening your heart is how you express not fearing the Lord; then the true fear of the Lord must involve maintaining a soft, responsive heart. So how do we do this?

First by repentance. To stay soft we must be good at repenting. Joel 2:13 “Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity.” God doesn’t want us to fall into trouble, so He wants us to really repent (our hearts) and not just appear to repent (our garments). A great definition for repentance is given in the verse before our text: “He who conceals his sin does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.” (Proverbs 28:13)

Secondly by prompt obedience. Hebrews 3:7-8 says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion during the time of testing in the desert.” Every time God speaks to us we have the potential of becoming softer or harder. Purpose to obey Him no matter what, small or big, if He will make it clear to you that it is Him speaking. There are many voices speaking today: our own anxieties, demonic influences, false religious expectations; but also the sweet Spirit of God. Test what you are hearing and if it is the voice leading you toward “righteousness, peace, and joy” (Romans 14:17), obey without hesitation and reap the benefits of having a tender heart before God.

Posted in Ecclesiastes, Proverbs

Our Need for One Another

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work; if one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

There’s an African proverb that states, “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.” The above text is the Bible’s way of stating this same truth. You may go fast for awhile, but if you’re unwilling to do the work of friendship, eventually you will fall and won’t be able to get back up because God created us to need Him, and to need each other.

A few years ago a friend was telling me about his cousin who along with his wife adopted three children from Russia. They couldn’t have any children of their own so decided to bring these children into their home. Well, it turned out to be much harder than either of them thought it would be and it led them to the point of despair many times.

The husband told my friend something like this, “We both said ‘I’m done,’ many times through the years, but as God arranged it, we were never saying it at the same time. When one of us was ready to give up, it just happened that the other one somehow had found encouragement, so we kept going.” He said, “I don’t know what would have happened if we had both been in the place of despair at the same time.”

It’s funny that the way we get really close to people is by walking with them through their low times and by letting them walk with us through our low times. “A friend,” the Proverb says, “loves at all times.” (Proverbs 17:17) We can’t even know how good of a friend we are, or how good of friends we have until we’ve seen them, or they’ve seen us, at our worst. “All times,” means good and bad.

Have you been hurt or betrayed by a friend or by a church? Are you living in isolation because you don’t feel like the work of living in community is worth it? I want to encourage you to reconsider because God wants us to walk with Him and with His other children. It’s His plan and no other will work.

Posted in 2Corinthians, Ephesians, Isaiah, John, Matthew, Proverbs, Psalms

The Secret of the Lord

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, and He will make them know His covenant.” Psalm 25:14

The margin of my Bible has “intimacy” as an alternate translation of “secret.” I believe that  a certain measure of the fear of the Lord is necessary for anyone to come to Christ. Proverbs says: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Proverbs 9:10) A revelation of God’s love for us in our weakness and immaturity is necessary to grow us up in our faith. (Ephesians 3:17-19) But I think to walk close to God’s Presence another level of the fear of the Lord is required. 

It says in Isaiah 11:3 that Jesus delighted in the fear of the Lord. He experienced the secret promised by Psalm 25:14, enjoying the continual intimate friendship of His Father. He didn’t fear man, He didn’t fear death, He didn’t fear storms, He didn’t fear lack of supplies – He only feared God and cared only about obeying what the Father was saying. (John 5:19)

Maybe the idea of the fear of the Lord seems heavy to you. I think it was just the opposite for Jesus which was why He was able to say, “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:30) He only had to please the Father to be a complete success. Paul said something similar to this: “Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent (from the body), to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord…” (2Corinthians 5:9-11a)  

Only one ambition! What a simple life, what an easy yoke, what a light burden. May God pour out the Spirit of the fear of the Lord on each of us and make it our delight for His glory.

Posted in Proverbs

Having Godly Sex

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Rejoice in the wife of your youth.  She is a loving deer, a graceful doe.  Let her breasts satisfy you always.  May you always be exhilarated by her love.”  Proverbs 5:18

 As a young husband filled with sexual desire I felt like my sexuality was in opposition to my relationship with God.  I often thought that if I was neutered I would be able to serve God better.  Then one day I read Proverbs 5:18 and my thinking began to change.  This passage is about exciting, passionate sex with no reference to having children.  I worshipped Him that day.  God is so good He even wants me to have an exhilarating sex life!

 How do we have godly sex?  First we have to wash our minds of all the ways the enemy has perverted sex and damaged the human race through its abuse.  For many, “godly sex,” is an oxymoron.  “God may allow sex because He wants us to procreate, but He probably looks the other way when we’re engaged in it because it’s beneath Him.”  Wrong!  God created sexuality and sex, just like He created taste buds.  He wanted us to look forward to meals and have our hearts filled with thanksgiving at the pleasure of eating when we are hungry.  He is the Author of pleasure.

 God created sexuality and sex because He wanted there to be regular celebrations of the intimacy we have in marriage.  Intimacy comes by the lifelong commitment of “leaving father and mother” to be joined to one another.  It’s not easy for two broken, sinful people to be committed for a lifetime to love one another, so God placed a hidden pleasure in the union.  Godly sex strengthens the union and makes faithfulness more than our duty; He wants it to be our delight.

Posted in Proverbs

Assurance of Guidance

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

To be assured that God’s leading me I must choose to do one thing and choose not to do something else.  I must trust God with all my heart.  There is no “plan B;” I must be “all in” with God.  The most famous poker game today is called, “Texas Hold ‘em.”  Anyone at any time can go “all in,” which forces everyone else to decide if their present hand is worth risking the entire game on.

To be assured of God’s guidance, we must be “all in” in every circumstance we face.  Our lives are His to guide, so we acknowledge Him in all our ways, not just in our religious ways.  He is central in our work, our fun, our marriages, our families, our friendships, our vacations, and in our service.  Someone said guidance can be broken down this way: The “G” stands for God; the “u and i” stand for you and I, and the “dance” stands for dance.  You and I are to live dancing with God and letting Him lead.

But to walk in assurance we must listen to the warning in the text above: “Do not lean on your own understanding.”  Some have misinterpreted faith by declaring that God doesn’t want us to use our minds, but that’s false.  God gave us minds and wants us to love Him with all our minds.  Faith does not contradict our minds but it will transcend them, because God is bigger than our minds can conceive.  He calls us beyond what makes “sense” to us.  Peter can’t walk on water, but Jesus calls him out of the boat – will he trust God or his own common sense?  David can’t kill Goliath and shouldn’t even face him without Saul’s armor, but God is speaking something else – which voice is true?  

Most people in America, even religious people, are leading their lives by common sense.  Living in the “real world” has come to mean making decisions without the possibility of supernatural help.  Yet to be assured of God’s guidance, we should not be surprised if He calls us to step out beyond what is comfortable for us.

Dance with God.  Don’t tell Him where it’s reasonable and comfortable for you to go  – enjoy His leadership and follow!

Posted in 1Corinthians, Genesis, John, Mark, Proverbs, Romans

The Power of Words

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Have faith in God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.” Mark 11:22-23

 When God speaks everything changes!  There may be darkness and chaos, but when God speaks, light and order come in response to His word transforming the world. (See Genesis 1)  But what happens when we speak?  I don’t believe there is intrinsic power in our words, but I do believe that our words can be filled with power if we speak out loud what God has spoken to our hearts.

 Speaking expresses faith.  Romans 10:10 says we believe with our hearts and then speak with our mouths resulting in salvation.  What we believe about God and the world will affect what we speak and what we speak will then affect the world around us.  Proverbs 18:21 says, “life and death are in the power of the tongue.”

 So what is God speaking to this world?  May our hearts be filled with the truth of John 3:17: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”  We are not called to be positive in a negative world; we are called to be redemptive in a fallen world.  We don’t ever have to live in a bubble that denies the brokenness and darkness all around us; we only have to believe that God has a redemptive plan for everything and everyone who is broken and dark. 

 Moses allowed himself to become frustrated and hit the rock when God told him to speak to it.  The rock, which represented Christ (1Corinthians 10:4), had already been struck (a picture of Jesus dying on the cross), so God wanted Moses to have enough faith to just speak.  If he had spoken to the rock it would have flowed with water for all the people, for God was the One telling him to speak.

 Today He’s telling us to speak His redemption over our own lives, the lives of our loved ones, and over this nation.  What are you speaking?

Posted in Proverbs

Trees and Flowers

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24

 How do we navigate all the relationships in our lives?  How can we love people and be loyal to people when we have so little time to share between so many? How can we reach out and love new people yet still give the necessary time and investment to the valued friendships we already have?  Only by giving all our relationships to God, and by discerning His purpose in each one. Each of us will be called to have a few trees in our lives, and many flowers.  Likewise, each of us will be called to be a tree to a few people and a flower to many others.  Let me explain.

 A tree is someone who is with you the rest of your life.  A tree may not be as beautiful, or as fragrant as a flower, but they are steady through good times and through bad.  They are the friend who sticks closer than a brother, the friend who loves at all times (Proverbs 17:17), the friend who is willing to speak the truth even if it hurts (Proverbs 27:6), and the friend who believes in your destiny in God even though they know all your sins and faults.  A tree is a blessing from God and should be valued and not taken for granted. As someone said, “you can make new friends, but you can’t make old ones.”

 Flowers are temporary. They are beautiful and fragrant and they enrich our lives by the grace they impart even though they aren’t called to be trees.  These are people God brings into our lives at just the right time to give us a message, to pray for us, or to pick us up when we’re down.  We must thank God for them and not resent their seemingly temporary nature in our lives.  All of them will be trees in eternity, but down here they are called to be someone else’s tree.  If you think everyone should be a tree to you then you will go through life feeling hurt and betrayed by those God called to be only flowers to you. “Why did they move away?”  “Why did they send such a short response to my email?”  “Why did they pretend to be my friend when they obviously weren’t?”  We can easily judge flowers we wanted to be trees and end up shutting our hearts down in self-protection so we don’t get hurt again.

You and I will be disappointed with some people and be a disappointment to others, but there is One we can always please who is the ultimate Tree – Jesus!

Posted in 1Timothy, 2Corinthians, Ecclesiastes, Genesis, Luke, Malachi, Proverbs, Psalms

Monopoly Money

Posted on by Tom Flaherty

“Naked a man comes from his mother’s womb; and as he comes, so he departs. He takes nothing from his labor that he can carry in his hand.” Ecclesiastes 5:15

If you play Monopoly by the real rules a game should take about an hour. During that brief period Monopoly money has value – you can buy property, improve property, and pay your debts with its currency. But when the game is over you put everything away, put the box on the shelf, and there is no longer any worth in those dollars. It will be seen that the same is true of our money on planet earth.

Compared to eternity our time here is called a breath or a vapor. Money has value during this time and how we use it is one way God tests our hearts. Jesus said, “If you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth who will trust you with true riches.” (Luke 16:11) A few verses later He went on to say: “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” (Luke 16:13)

How do we pass God’s money test?

  1. Recognize we are stewards, not owners. We are to love God and use money; not love money while trying to use God.
  2. We are to give back to God the first fruits of our income (Proverbs 3:9-10) which Scripture defines as a tithe or ten percent. (Genesis 14:20; Malachi 3:10-11)
  3. We are to be willing to share in any good deed as God leads us. (2Corinthians 9:7-8)
  4. As riches increase, we are to guard our hearts. (Psalm 62:10) Money is a useful servant but a terrible master.
  5. We are to trust God as our Source and be thankful because He “richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” (1Timothy 6:17)