Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 405 | Conversations - Proverbs 23

Transcript

405 | Conversations - Proverbs 23 · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

0:00
Music.
0:07
Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman at the Well Ministries,
0:11
where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
0:18
Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
0:21
Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
0:25
or on our website at watwm.org,
0:28
we invite you to sit down with us as we look to the scriptures to learn more
0:33
about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
0:38
Living a life for Christ. She's a happy girl.
0:38
Music.
0:48
She's a happy girl.
1:02
In this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
1:06
join Kim Miller and Erica Close in a conversation as we walk with Jesus.
1:11
In today's conversation, we continue a series on the book of Proverbs.
1:15
In today's podcast, we're discussing the lessons learned in Proverbs 23.
1:21
Thank you all so much for joining us in this podcast. My name is Erica Close,
1:26
and I am here with Kim Miller.
1:29
Hello, and it's so good to spend the next few moments with you as we just unpack Proverbs chapter 23.
1:35
And Proverbs chapter 23 has a lot of thought-provoking ideas and certainly has
1:41
some controversy in it for some people, but I am so grateful for that.
1:47
That the Holy Spirit dwells within us and he teaches us and he instructs us what we need to know.
1:53
And I'm just grateful for the book of Proverbs as a whole.
1:56
I just love the wisdom that is brought to us by reading it and studying it and
2:02
understanding it. So thanks for joining us today.
2:04
I think you make a really good point that we gain that wisdom by reading,
2:09
studying, and understanding, right?
2:11
The wisdom doesn't come instantaneously.
2:15
Nor through osmosis. Nor through osmosis, no matter how much we want to.
2:18
We just put our pillow on our bed, excuse me, our Bible under our pillow.
2:22
But I love that it is possible that we gain the wisdom.
2:27
We just have to put in the work and we have to spend time in his word.
2:31
And we have to consider the things that it says.
2:35
And I think pray over them and pray through them. And Matthew 7,
2:39
7 says that if we ask, we will receive.
2:41
And if we seek, we will find. And if we knock, it'll be opened unto you.
2:45
And I think we think of that verse in many contexts, but I don't think people
2:49
often realize that it's incredibly applicable to your study, Tom.
2:55
You ask him to reveal it to you, and he will. And if you're really seeking to
2:58
understand it, he knows the intents of the heart.
3:01
He's a discerner of it. And he's going to help you understand that.
3:06
And if you knock, and in my mind, that's like banging hard on something,
3:10
and it cracks it open, and then, woo, wisdom comes out.
3:13
But you have to keep knocking, right? It's not instantaneous.
3:17
All right, well, let's go ahead and read chapter 23. Do you want to start? Sure.
3:21
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee,
3:26
and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
3:31
Be not desirous of his dainties, for they are deceitful meat.
3:36
Labor not to be rich, cease from thine own wisdom.
3:40
Wilt thou set thine eye as a bond which is not? For riches certainly make themselves
3:45
wings, they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
3:48
Eat thou not the bread of him that hast an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats.
3:55
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.
3:58
He eat and drink, saith he to thee, but his heart is not with thee.
4:02
The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt
4:05
thou vomit up and lose thy sweet words speak not
4:08
in the ears of a fool for he shall despise the wisdom of
4:11
thy words is that not true amen remove not the old landmark and enter not into
4:18
the fields of thy fatherless for their redeemer is mighty he shall plead their
4:23
cause with thee apply the apply thine heart unto instruction and thine ears
4:28
to the words of knowledge.
4:30
Withhold not correction from the child, for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
4:36
Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
4:41
My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
4:45
Yea, my reign shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
4:49
Let not thine heart envy sinners, but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
4:55
For surely there is an end, and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
5:00
Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
5:05
Be not among wine-bibbers, among riotous eaters of flesh.
5:09
For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty, and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
5:15
Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
5:21
Buy the truth, and sell it not, also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
5:26
The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice, and he that begetteth a wise
5:31
child shall have joy of him.
5:33
Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bear thee shall rejoice.
5:39
My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
5:44
For a whore is a deep ditch, and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
5:48
She also lieth in wait for a prey, and increases the transgressors among men.
5:54
Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling?
5:59
Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes?
6:03
They that tarry long at the wine, they that go to seek mixed wine.
6:09
Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the
6:13
cup, when it moveth itself aright.
6:16
At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
6:21
Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
6:26
Yea, that thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea,
6:30
or he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
6:33
They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick. They have beaten me, and I felt it not.
6:40
When shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
6:45
There is so much in this proverb, and I think it's important to understand that
6:53
there are two kind of big issues in here about how we are to live our lives.
6:59
But I think what is also throughout this proverb is this call of God to live
7:05
a good life, to have wisdom and knowledge. And he wants us to have wisdom and knowledge.
7:10
If we look at verse 12, apply thine heart unto instruction and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
7:17
Right? Just like we were talking about before, his desire is that we would apply ourselves to his word.
7:24
Right? We would apply ourselves to understanding his word and to his word's instruction.
7:31
Absolutely. And when you look at the opening part, it speaks to gluttony. It does.
7:39
And I believe if you sift through what it's saying,
7:43
it's telling you that when you are seeking something to give you pleasure,
7:50
something that you desire that isn't of him,
7:55
regardless of what it is, you are not going to be satisfied and you will then
8:01
be left desolate and broken and probably financially broke because you're continually
8:07
trying to get more, more, more, more of this,
8:11
whatever it is, that will not satisfy.
8:15
Because in John chapter 4, we are told that if you drink of his living water,
8:21
you will never thirst again.
8:23
And there is a piece of every individual who longs to be satisfied,
8:28
and the only thing that will truly satisfy it is Jesus Christ.
8:34
And so I believe this portion of gluttony, and we often think about it as food,
8:39
and there certainly can be food, can be something that we are gluttonous with,
8:44
but pleasure of any kind.
8:47
It's hobbies that we are seeking and can't get enough of.
8:51
And you just simply, I don't know if we have any sports fans that are listening
8:55
or any golfers, but golf is one of those things that defies the imagination. The ball doesn't move.
9:02
You should be able to replicate a swing every single time you swing that gets
9:09
the desired outcome you want because nothing is moving with that ball.
9:14
And that is this thing we get
9:17
in our head and that's the logic we do but even
9:20
tiger woods can't replicate his swing every single solitary
9:24
time and so we get in this vicious thing
9:27
and i'm not knocking golfers but you get into this vicious thing where if i
9:31
try one more time i practice another hour or oh i had a good game today this
9:36
is what i did i'm going to but but we consistently get caught up in seeking
9:42
something else, in getting better.
9:46
And sports tend to do that to us. And certainly practice and repetition in any sport makes us better.
9:53
And we want to be better if that's what we're doing.
9:55
So as we begin to think of gluttony, I think we have to move away from it being just food.
10:03
But we also, I mean, if you're a foodie, that can certainly be it.
10:06
But you have to move away from being just food and realize that it's anything
10:10
that you are pursuing with a passion above him.
10:15
I think, too, it's also pursuing things to soothe something else.
10:22
Do you know what I mean? Like, there are so many things that we can do to soothe ourselves, you know.
10:29
And it may be that you're a foodie. It may be just that package of store-bought
10:35
cookies, you know, is more enticing than, you know, whatever else you have to do.
10:41
And you just don't want to do something and you soothe it with food.
10:43
I mean, we know that people soothe with alcohol, people soothe with drugs.
10:47
You know, maybe we just want to escape and we scroll our phone for two hours.
10:52
And then where has the two hours gone, right? And what has actually happened?
10:55
And so I think that gluttony comes from different places, but regardless of
11:01
what it's coming from, it is exactly what you just said.
11:05
It's finding satisfaction in something other than Jesus.
11:10
It's feeling an emotion of whatever it might be and looking somewhere else to soothe than Jesus.
11:19
Because what it does is you replace the throne of your heart,
11:26
which rightfully belongs to Jesus Christ, your Savior, with something else.
11:32
And the Lord of your life is no longer him. It's whatever you're replacing it with. I love verse 4.
11:39
It says, labor not to be rich.
11:42
Cease from thine own wisdom. Lots of people get tripped up on this verse,
11:48
but I can tell you exactly what this verse means to me.
11:51
I think oftentimes, and we know that the love of money is the root of all evil.
11:56
Money is not the root of all evil. It's the love of money.
12:00
And trying to and pursuing and chasing after richness in financial business,
12:09
trying to have worldly wealth and those things generally is completely dependent
12:16
on you and your capabilities, your skill set, and your wisdom.
12:21
And it's saying, stop depending on yourself.
12:24
Stop laying up riches where rust and moth doth corrupt.
12:28
But lay your treasures up in heaven where
12:31
your heavenly father is stop depending on yourself for the blessings in this.
12:39
World because the psalmist david tells us that daily he loads us with blessings
12:45
but we have to submit ourselves under the mighty hand of god and allow him to exalt us.
12:51
And this verse 4 is saying, put your labor, put your effort, put your energy,
13:00
commitment, purpose, and heart to following the Lord and not yourself and let
13:08
him take care of everything, which is very familiar and very similar to Matthew 6, 33,
13:14
which says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these
13:20
things shall be added unto you.
13:22
There's nothing wrong with work. In fact, he tells us we can't be a sloth.
13:25
We've read that all through Proverbs and we have to work and we need to do what God says.
13:30
But when we put work as what is sustaining us, then we've replaced God with that.
13:37
And when we find ourselves working every time there is a church service so that
13:41
we can get ahead, then we've got a problem.
13:44
Absolutely. absolutely the cease from thine own wisdom part two just reminds me of proverbs 3 7.
13:53
Be not wise in thine own eyes, right? So often.
13:56
And to say depart from evil after that. It says fear the Lord and depart from evil. Yep.
14:03
Yep. It's not our wisdom.
14:06
And we don't have anything that he hasn't given us or allowed for us.
14:11
So we need to submit all we have.
14:13
I mean, honestly, if you're thinking in terms of investment,
14:17
that's the best investment because his returns out of this world.
14:21
Absolutely. Literally. Absolutely.
14:22
Well, we have a whole section here. I believe it starts around 20,
14:28
maybe, talking about wine and alcohol. And I know this is a subject that is very touchy.
14:37
And for me, and those of us at Woman at the Well Ministries, we are no alcohol.
14:47
I can barely keep myself under control sometimes, to be honest,
14:53
without any kind of influence.
14:56
And so I don't want to give any chance or opportunity for the devil to step
15:04
in and do something through me when I have less than control and when I'm not
15:11
at my faculties to defend.
15:15
And so for that reason, I would not want to have any alcohol in me, not one drop.
15:22
Additionally, he says to abstain from all appearance of evil in 1 Thessalonians.
15:28
And so what we see in verse 20, it says, be not among the winebibbers,
15:35
among riotous eaters of flesh.
15:38
And when you hang out with people, you
15:42
pick up their traits and whenever
15:46
you drink alcohol
15:49
you dull your senses and since the devil is walking about as a roaring lion
15:55
seeking whom he may devour he's going to wait and pounce when I'm at my least
16:00
best and there are going to be times in my life that it's that way but I don't
16:05
have to subject myself to that purposely.
16:08
So for our beliefs and for those reasons plus more, we don't drink.
16:16
And the scripture tells us that certainly getting drunk is a problem because
16:22
you've totally lost control.
16:24
But science tells us that one drink and you are less alert than you were prior to the drink.
16:33
So as we read through this, what I'm asking you to do is speak to the Holy Spirit
16:41
and allow these verses to speak to you and allow him to unfold them for you.
16:48
But I know one thing for sure, I haven't missed a thing from abstaining from it.
16:54
And I certainly know that when I see people who say they're people of God and
17:00
they have a lot of alcohol around them or with them, it is something that gives me a moment of pause.
17:05
But I know this for sure, it will not send you to hell because the only thing
17:11
that sends you to hell is the rejection of Jesus Christ.
17:15
And he says to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
17:19
I don't believe it's for me. I don't believe there's a really good case that it's for anyone.
17:24
But that's between you and the Lord as we continue to unfold and unpack Proverbs 23.
17:32
So the verses that are so specifically about alcohol are found in 29 to 35.
17:40
And as that whole passage, as I look at it, what I see is we know that God's desire,
17:48
primarily is for relationship with us. God's desire is for our holiness.
17:52
But like so many things we see in the Old Testament where we see so many of
17:57
the laws like for the Israelites and things like that,
18:01
so many throughout, say the book of Deuteronomy, my favorite,
18:04
is that his desire is for our safety.
18:08
His desire is for our protection. And as we read these verses at the end of
18:14
Proverbs chapter 23, we see that.
18:17
Verse 29 talks about how alcohol brings with it woe and sorrow and contentions
18:25
and babbling, wounds without cause.
18:28
Things happen and we don't know what has happened if we've had too much alcohol,
18:32
even redness of eyes. We know our eyes might turn red.
18:35
We might not look so good the next—people don't look so good the next morning
18:38
if they've had too much to drink.
18:40
It's a very clear description of what's happening here. I imagine you wouldn't remember what you said.
18:45
Well, exactly. And it says, you know, it makes it clear, like in verse 31,
18:50
it talks about how enticing the wine is.
18:55
And if something is enticing in that way, you know, it's coming from the devil, right?
19:00
We know that if somebody drinks alcohol, one of the first things to go is self-control.
19:04
And we know that self-control is a fruit of the Spirit.
19:08
So we know that the devil is going to do anything he can to allow the work of
19:14
the Spirit not to be active in our lives.
19:17
I know for me, I don't ever want to be in a place where the Holy Spirit can't
19:23
speak to me, speak through me, or work through me.
19:28
And if I have chosen something that's going to block the ability of the spirit
19:36
in my life to do whatever the spirit would want to do,
19:41
that's a really scary choice.
19:44
But alcohol is always enticing looking. It's always attractive.
19:49
Drinks are always so pretty. Right.
19:53
It's trying to draw. The devil just is using it as a tool to draw people to
19:58
be in a place where they're not going to be able to have the spirit at work.
20:04
32 talks about how it bites and it stings.
20:09
33 talks about losing self-control.
20:14
We know that self-control is lost. It talks about how you might behold strange
20:20
women and your heart shall utter perverse things.
20:23
Things. You do things you otherwise would not do.
20:26
Exactly. All of these things that are described here are not godly things.
20:31
But there are things that come when self-control is lost and alcohol is present.
20:38
And don't you think it would be difficult to witness to somebody about the Lord
20:43
who had seen you the night before so out of control?
20:48
I personally think it would be nearly impossible.
20:52
34 talks about how unsafe it often is.
20:57
And if we go back to this idea of God having a desire for our safety and for
21:02
our protection, you're as unsafe as one that lieth on the top of a mast on a ship.
21:09
That's not a safe place to be.
21:12
And then 35 talks about this idea of how so often if someone has had too much
21:20
to drink, they don't know what has happened.
21:22
There's so much that they can't remember what has happened the night before.
21:27
But then at the very end of 35 and when
21:30
shall i awake i will seek it yet
21:33
again we know that alcohol is addictive everybody knows that and we know that
21:41
you know it's a powerful tool i believe of the devil to pull people away from
21:46
him and you were very clear about how it's not going to send someone to hell.
21:52
But it is certainly something that the devil can use to separate us from God.
21:58
And to impede us from being as effective a witness to someone else.
22:02
I believe the entire chapter here of Proverbs 23 is really speaking to the fact that your desires,
22:11
your goals, your purposes, all of those things need to be in alignment with
22:17
God's purpose for your life.
22:18
And he needs to be your all in all.
22:23
He needs to be the most important thing. And the Holy Spirit will then teach you other things.
22:30
But that if we substitute something else for comfort or we substitute something
22:36
else for our passion or we do something today and we're just longing to do that for tomorrow.
22:42
He wants that place in our heart and in our life.
22:45
And anything else we put in it is contrary to what he wants for us.
22:51
Because the Lord has spoken.
22:54
He says, I am the Lord thy God, and I am a jealous God, and there shall have no other gods before me.
23:02
So as you read chapter 23 of the book of Proverbs, read it with the lens of
23:07
what's most important to you.
23:10
What do you get up in the morning thinking about? and what you go to bed at
23:14
night thinking about and what is your driver, your motivator?
23:19
He's saying, from Genesis to Revelations, but certainly in this chapter,
23:24
He's saying it needs to be Him.
23:27
Amen. And so it's with that thought that I think we should all leave chapter 23 thinking, Lord,
23:36
show me where I've replaced your rightful position with something else.
23:44
Show me where my desires and my purpose and my goals are misplaced.
23:50
Show me how I can draw closer. And Lord, make me a fit vessel that would be
23:57
able to be mightily used for you.
24:01
It's our prayer that as you are reading through the Proverbs with us,
24:06
that God is talking to you personally and that God is making changes in your
24:11
life as he's making changes in our life, and that we are all becoming more of
24:16
what he would have us to be.
24:17
And we are all getting to experience, John 10, 10, the abundant life that God
24:23
has promised each and every one of us.
24:26
So with that being said, remember you are loved.
24:30
Jesus loves you.
24:32
Music.
24:40
Thank you for joining us in today's podcast you
24:43
can visit the show notes for quotes from today's podcast and scripture references
24:47
we pray today has been a blessing and we encourage you to reach out to us through
24:51
our app our website or our facebook page you can find our app by searching for
24:56
Women at the Well Ministries in your app store or through our website at watwm.org.
25:02
We're on Facebook at facebook.com slash watwm.
25:07
If you visit our website, you'll be able to subscribe to Bible Bits,
25:10
a daily devotion written by Kim and delivered Monday through Friday by text message.
25:15
Women at the Well Ministries is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving our Heavenly Father.
25:21
And it is through your loving and generous support that our ministry continues to bless others.
25:26
To learn how to partner with Woman at the Well Ministries, please visit our website.
25:31
Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
25:36
We greatly appreciate your prayers. We are praying daily for our listeners.
25:41
Remember that God loves you.
25:42
Music.