Guest Columnist for The Messenger

January - February 2022
The Messenger

Have you ever been reminded of something you used to do, but stopped doing? Pastor Jeff reminded me in December about something I used to do but stopped, when he was preaching about Mary and Joseph. While I was thinking about what must have been special about these two young people, that God would have selected them to be His Son's earthly parents, I wondered about their spiritual upbringing. God used them for a great assignment, and I believe it went beyond Mary and Joseph just being descendants of King David. I believe it went beyond how they acted positively and reacted in faith to the various situations they were confronted with by the Angel Gabriel. What I saw in my mind’s eye was that the generations preceding Mary and Joseph must have taught these two young people to have faith in God, one generation teaching the next, and the next, probably starting with Moses (see Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

From Joseph’s and Mary’s actions and reactions, I saw wisdom and insight, and I realized that their parents probably must have taught them from Proverbs, such Proverbs 3:5-6 which says “Trust in The Lord with all your heart and lean not on thine own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct they paths.” They also must have learned what it means to have the fear of the Lord (see Proverbs 1:7, 29; 2:5; 3:7; 8:13; 9:10; 10:27; 14:2, 26-27; 15:16, 33; 16:6; 19:23; 22:4; 23:17; 24:21; 31:30).

There are so many other topics in Proverbs: wisdom, instruction, understanding, subtlety, knowledge, discretion, learning, and counsel. I have gone through Proverbs many times and found many other things. I would recommend that you do the same, and you will find treasure.
But what did Pastor Jeff remind me of, that I had stopped doing? It was of the time I decided to read a chapter of Proverbs daily, but stropped. Now, there are 31 chapters in the Book of Proverbs. That meant that I could read the entire Book of Proverbs by reading 1 chapter per day, during the months that had 31 days (January, March, May, July, August, October, and December). I was reminded of the time when I read a chapter a day for two years, but...oh, my! I stopped – why? This time, with God's help, I will succeed. I started again on the first day of December - pray for me.

~Guest Columnist