Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night. v.1-2
Read chapter 1
Walk, stand, sit. These three things we do every day habitually. It's not just once in a while we walk, stand or sit. Here it's referring to the blessed, or happy man that does these things not as sinful habitual acts but as acts according to the law of the Lord. To not walk in the counsel of the ungodly is not to surround yourself and influence yourself by ungodly people. We tend to become like those we're most often around. It's not saying don't talk to non-believers but don't let it be the only or main people of influence on your life. To stand in the path of sinner always makes me thing of not causing the ungodly to make or continue in their sin. Sit in the seat of the scornful seems to be looking or acting just like them that there isn't a difference. How do you "walk, stand, sit" each day? It's not easy in the world we live in but as you find delight in the Lord and learn to meditate in Him day and night, we steer further way from any other influence.
Thursday, February 1, 2018
Wednesday, January 31, 2018
Song of Solomon 8
If she is a wall,
We will build upon her
A battlement of silver;
And if she is a door,
We will enclose her
With boards of cedar. v.9
Read chapter 8
As the story ends the country girl has returned home and reunites with her beloved country boy. Her brothers act like the older protective brothers of their younger sister and describe how they will protect and praise her. If she is a wall that keeps out intruders, a virtuous lady, they will build upon her towers of silver or decorate, adorn her giving a fine dowry for her marriage. What great brothers looking out for their sister! Yet if she is a door, open and accessible to anyone, they will enclose her or barricade her from enemies. Basically lock her up so that she doesn't just become open for seduction to just anyone, though just locking her up doesn't seem that it would help, rather they should teach or train her in becoming like a wall. Well she responds that she is a wall (v.10), that she firmly resist every allurement of the enemy attacks and now a woman ready for her spouse.
Are you a wall or a door? Are you ready to be adorned or need to be enclosed?
We will build upon her
A battlement of silver;
And if she is a door,
We will enclose her
With boards of cedar. v.9
Read chapter 8
As the story ends the country girl has returned home and reunites with her beloved country boy. Her brothers act like the older protective brothers of their younger sister and describe how they will protect and praise her. If she is a wall that keeps out intruders, a virtuous lady, they will build upon her towers of silver or decorate, adorn her giving a fine dowry for her marriage. What great brothers looking out for their sister! Yet if she is a door, open and accessible to anyone, they will enclose her or barricade her from enemies. Basically lock her up so that she doesn't just become open for seduction to just anyone, though just locking her up doesn't seem that it would help, rather they should teach or train her in becoming like a wall. Well she responds that she is a wall (v.10), that she firmly resist every allurement of the enemy attacks and now a woman ready for her spouse.
Are you a wall or a door? Are you ready to be adorned or need to be enclosed?
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
Song of Solomon 7
I am my beloved’s,
And his desire is toward me. v.10
Read chapter 6
Gentle yet firm. Solomon just finished talking sexually inappropriately with her, trying to stir up her passion in describing her physical beauty (vv.1-9). Yet she refuses to fall to this flattery and speaks gently and firmly to the king that she is her beloved's, her betrothed country boy. Her affections are already for another man whom she already loves deeply. She is refusing the petitioner (Solomon) who was speaking and says she already belongs to another. She reveals that she's already married to another and that's who she's going to stay with. Oh how sad that today though knowing one is married, so much adultery and inappropriate sexual indulgence still happens. May we all be able to resist both being the one trying to excite passions of one who is already married and also being disciplined to resist temptation of someone that is not our spouse. To be firm in this standing takes discipline and denying desires of the flesh, but it will save from much destruction and heartache that would follow.
Who is someone you may need to be firm towards in guarding your relationship with your one beloved? (This is both for singles and marrieds to consider)
And his desire is toward me. v.10
Read chapter 6
Gentle yet firm. Solomon just finished talking sexually inappropriately with her, trying to stir up her passion in describing her physical beauty (vv.1-9). Yet she refuses to fall to this flattery and speaks gently and firmly to the king that she is her beloved's, her betrothed country boy. Her affections are already for another man whom she already loves deeply. She is refusing the petitioner (Solomon) who was speaking and says she already belongs to another. She reveals that she's already married to another and that's who she's going to stay with. Oh how sad that today though knowing one is married, so much adultery and inappropriate sexual indulgence still happens. May we all be able to resist both being the one trying to excite passions of one who is already married and also being disciplined to resist temptation of someone that is not our spouse. To be firm in this standing takes discipline and denying desires of the flesh, but it will save from much destruction and heartache that would follow.
Who is someone you may need to be firm towards in guarding your relationship with your one beloved? (This is both for singles and marrieds to consider)
Monday, January 29, 2018
Song of Solomon 6
I went down to the garden of nuts
To see the verdure of the valley,
To see whether the vine had budded
And the pomegranates had bloomed.
12 Before I was even aware,
My soul had made me
As the chariots of my noble people. vv.11-12
Read chapter 6
Just a little curiosity and BAM she was caught up in it. This young Shulamite country girl goes back in to history of how her and Solomon first met. She says she wasnt planning to meet Solomon but happened to run in to Solomon and his entourage. She explains that she just went down to check on the garden to see if anything ready for picking. She admits that out of curiosity wanted to see Solomon and his chariots and unaware of how far her curiosity got her until he had taken her. She admits that she brought upon herself this yoke with the king that she no longer wanted, it was just a chance meeting that got out of control. Though she explains this, Solomon still tries to keep her though she desire to return to her home and her beloved country boy (v.13).
Where and when has your curiosity led you too deep into something that you have taken on a yoke that you never intended? How do you get out of it?
To see the verdure of the valley,
To see whether the vine had budded
And the pomegranates had bloomed.
12 Before I was even aware,
My soul had made me
As the chariots of my noble people. vv.11-12
Read chapter 6
Just a little curiosity and BAM she was caught up in it. This young Shulamite country girl goes back in to history of how her and Solomon first met. She says she wasnt planning to meet Solomon but happened to run in to Solomon and his entourage. She explains that she just went down to check on the garden to see if anything ready for picking. She admits that out of curiosity wanted to see Solomon and his chariots and unaware of how far her curiosity got her until he had taken her. She admits that she brought upon herself this yoke with the king that she no longer wanted, it was just a chance meeting that got out of control. Though she explains this, Solomon still tries to keep her though she desire to return to her home and her beloved country boy (v.13).
Where and when has your curiosity led you too deep into something that you have taken on a yoke that you never intended? How do you get out of it?
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Song of Solomon 5
I opened for my beloved,
but my beloved had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure.
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer. v.6
Read chapter 5
What a nightmare to see the one you love be missing. She starts this chapter off saying she sleeps but her heart is awake (v.2). This chapter seems like a nightmare this girl is having after having been with her husband in chapter four but now he is gone. Her heart sank that he'd gone and searches for him but can't find him. I've never been in love, but know so many people who've said their biggest worry or fear is that their spouse would ever leave them.
Often what happens in your nightmares are your greatest fears. Her greatest fear seems to be that her true love would come and leave because she was no ready to leave with him.
Our greatest nightmare would be if the Lord came for us and we were not ready for Him- no greater nightmare is there that God, our love, would come for us and we would not be ready. Just as Jesus tells us in some of His parables about being ready like the ten virgins in Matthew 25, five were wise and five were foolish not being ready for the bridegroom.
but my beloved had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure.
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer. v.6
Read chapter 5
What a nightmare to see the one you love be missing. She starts this chapter off saying she sleeps but her heart is awake (v.2). This chapter seems like a nightmare this girl is having after having been with her husband in chapter four but now he is gone. Her heart sank that he'd gone and searches for him but can't find him. I've never been in love, but know so many people who've said their biggest worry or fear is that their spouse would ever leave them.
Often what happens in your nightmares are your greatest fears. Her greatest fear seems to be that her true love would come and leave because she was no ready to leave with him.
Our greatest nightmare would be if the Lord came for us and we were not ready for Him- no greater nightmare is there that God, our love, would come for us and we would not be ready. Just as Jesus tells us in some of His parables about being ready like the ten virgins in Matthew 25, five were wise and five were foolish not being ready for the bridegroom.
“Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept." (vv.1-5)What is your nightmare or greatest fear that would come true? Are you ready if the Lord were to come today?
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Song of Solomon 4
You have ravished my heart,
My sister, my spouse;
You have ravished my heart
With one look of your eyes,
With one link of your necklace. v.9
Read chapter 4
Love at first sight. I wonder if it's really true. How sweet it is when we hear a man say the first time he saw his wife he knew she was the one. Here we read the words of the beloved country boy speaking about his soon to be wife. He says by just one look of her eyes and one link of her necklace he has become ravished in his heart. He may have known her his whole life growing up in a little country town outside Jerusalem, yet is still in awe of her beauty and character and the fact that she's his. Just one look by her and he's taken. Whether you have someone like that in your life, remember you can be that to someone too. Not just in a romantic love kind of way, but in a friendly kind of way. A quote I read once goes something like this:
My sister, my spouse;
You have ravished my heart
With one look of your eyes,
With one link of your necklace. v.9
Read chapter 4
Love at first sight. I wonder if it's really true. How sweet it is when we hear a man say the first time he saw his wife he knew she was the one. Here we read the words of the beloved country boy speaking about his soon to be wife. He says by just one look of her eyes and one link of her necklace he has become ravished in his heart. He may have known her his whole life growing up in a little country town outside Jerusalem, yet is still in awe of her beauty and character and the fact that she's his. Just one look by her and he's taken. Whether you have someone like that in your life, remember you can be that to someone too. Not just in a romantic love kind of way, but in a friendly kind of way. A quote I read once goes something like this:
One smile can start a friendship,
One word can end a fight,
One look can save a relationship,
One person can change your life.
What's one thing you can do today to impact someone's life?
Friday, January 26, 2018
Song of Solomon 3
I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases. v.5
Read chapter 3
How often do us women try to awaken love before it's time? So often do women get impatient waiting for the guy to make the first move whether the initial asking out, or pressuring for an engagement. The Shulamite woman is saying to these women of the city to not press her and excite her passions for her lover till it is time. She desires to maintain purity as hard as it can be. These girls aren't being good accountability friends to her to help her desire for purity in her relationship with her fiancee. Yet it also seems like these women are trying to insight an unhealthy relationship with another man than her fiancee- with Solomon instead of her country boy. How often too today do other women fantasy of other men even though they are married or in a relationship with another, and do it plainly in the sight of others and encourage this behavior. It may start with just a fantasy but often leads to so much more that in the end causes broken relationships and more pain than the initial pleasure.
When have you awakened love too early in your relationships? What succeed? How have you encouraged others to engage in unhealthy passions rather than encourage purity?
By the gazelles or by the does of the field,
Do not stir up nor awaken love
Until it pleases. v.5
Read chapter 3
How often do us women try to awaken love before it's time? So often do women get impatient waiting for the guy to make the first move whether the initial asking out, or pressuring for an engagement. The Shulamite woman is saying to these women of the city to not press her and excite her passions for her lover till it is time. She desires to maintain purity as hard as it can be. These girls aren't being good accountability friends to her to help her desire for purity in her relationship with her fiancee. Yet it also seems like these women are trying to insight an unhealthy relationship with another man than her fiancee- with Solomon instead of her country boy. How often too today do other women fantasy of other men even though they are married or in a relationship with another, and do it plainly in the sight of others and encourage this behavior. It may start with just a fantasy but often leads to so much more that in the end causes broken relationships and more pain than the initial pleasure.
When have you awakened love too early in your relationships? What succeed? How have you encouraged others to engage in unhealthy passions rather than encourage purity?
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