Guest Columnist for The Messenger

March - April 2022
The Messenger

Prayers – we live and move and breath by prayer. It was an answer to prayer to be able to read
through Proverbs twice – did you read some of Proverbs too? I hope so! And, what a way to end the old year and start the new year. God showed me many things, how about you? For example, I learned that the Proverbs are a syllabus, training manual for parents with their children. Solomon, the wisest man in history, wisely did not pray for riches or power or land but asked God for wisdom, in order to be the next King over Israel after David, and God answered him abundantly (I Kings 3: 5-15). I learned that God does the same for us when we pray for wisdom – see the Book of James, Chapter 1.

In The Messenger January 2022, I listed the verses in Proverbs that had “the fear of the LORD” or a variation in them, (Six of which start with the phrase, “The fear of the LORD…”). Check out Proverbs 14:26 which starts with' "In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge."

So, to get a better understanding of what was being said, I looked certain words up in my 1973 Random House College Dictionary: first Fear (definition 4), reverential awe, esp. toward God; then Confidence (def. 1), full trust; belief in the reliability of a person or thing; and finally Refuge (def. 2), a place of shelter, protection or safety. Wait a minute, remember Proverbs 3: 26 & 27 that I quoted last time. Isn't God good? Oh, wait! He just reminded me of something else. In 1971, my brother's godmother gave me a scripture verse to encourage me.

The LORD God knew I needed a lot of encouragement since I was very shy and graduating from high school, so Aunt Edna took me to the Epistle of Paul, the Apostle to the Philippians. "Being confident of this very thing, that He which begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6).  Thanks be to God!

He desires our praise and full trust because like a loving father, He leads us and strengthens us by taking our right hand with His righteous right hand - (Isaiah 41: 10-13.) So if you find yourself under stress and losing sleep, open your right hand towards heaven and cry, Abba, Father. Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

~Guest Columnist