2007-12-21
Good Morning God's Treasures,
Once again the Holy Spirit instructs me to continue discussing the comparison between the ideals Christ's states in His Sermon on the Mount concerning material things [MT 6: 24-34] and God's ideals in PR 31: 10-31 originally stated for a wife, but now actually applying to either sex, married or single. Each ideal in the Proverbs verses is remembered by being represented by a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. So far, we have seen the following: aleph, valuable; beit, trustworthy; gimmel, righteous; dalet, industrious, hay, values family; vav, organized; zayin, decides wisely and puts God's Kingdom first; chet, hardworking, strong; tet, wise and diligent; yod, helps oneself; kaf, generous to the poor and needy. Remember that the passive original meaning for mammon was "that which is entrusted to another." That was changed in common usage to the active meaning, "that in which much trust is placed." Today, we will look at the next two letters, lamed and mem, which represent PR 31: 21-22, "She doesn't worry when it snows, because her family has warm clothing. (22) She makes bedspreads and wears clothes of fine purple linen."
Lamed: In order to see to it that the family has warm clothing, this ideal person had to submit to training on how to do this. As a person who has actually taught clothing design and construction, I am aware of what goes into it. Alas, not everyone has either the talent or the time in today's world to make clothes. It's one of the reasons we don't see a Singer sewing machine store in most big malls, as one did when I was young. I actually worked in one, just before the home sewing industry really took an economic hit. However, we don't have to be so literal in understanding PR 31:21. Today, the provider for every family still has the responsibility of trying to see to it that in winter each member of his family has warm clothes, whether made, a gift, or bought. At Christmas each year our congregation has a coat drive. Coats, hats, mittens, and scarves are donated by placing them in a box in the foyer. These are then donated to those in need. In the true spirit of 1 TIM 6: 18, we are encouraged "to be generous and willing to share." By being willing to submit to training necessary for a job, get that job and do it well, the ideal person doesn't have to worry about his family going without warm clothes. He may even have enough to help others outside of his family who can't provide as well. That peace of mind is definitely worth the effort. As Christ would say in MT 6: 31-32, there is no need to worry, "Your Father in heaven knows that you need these things." When we obey Him and make His values our own, we can have the kind of peace of mind that comes directly from Him.
Mem: PR 31: 22 indicates that our ideal person is productive for self and family. While the example of making bedspreads and wearing clothes of fine purple linen is used in this verse, we can understand it better if we know it's implications. In ancient times, one can assume the bedspreads were being made to sell to others to generate income for the family. After all, there are only so many bedspreads one needs for one's own family. The second part of this phrase about wearing fine purple linen tells us more. Linen is made from harvesting flax, winnowing to remove seeds, retting [using bacteria to decomposes pectin, which binds the fibers together, to separate them-done chemically today], scrutching [removing woody stalks-done today by using two metal rollers, which allow the parts of the stalk to be separated], removal of linseed, tow, and shrive parts, hackling [removal of short fibers by combing, spinning long, soft remaining flax fibers into fine linen]. Today, the "tow" is used in upholstery stuffing, and the "linseed" is used to extract linseed oil, used in drying for painting and for other means. Purple dye was extracted from the secretion of a particular type of sea snail, a fact that sellers of purple kept proprietarily. It was the basis upon which Lydia, the faithful, "seller of purple" mentioned in AC 16: 14 and 40, made her living. Both making linen cloth and dying it purple were long, difficult jobs requiring some training. Our productive ideal person is not afraid to work this hard for his own benefit and that of his family. This is productivity directed at producing needs, not just for wants. In today's world, this kind of productivity for self and family is an admirable and godly trait. It doesn't involved selfishness, or any other kind of evil repugnant to God. Think of it: productivity to resulting in real peace of mind about mammon. It's in our reach, and all we have to do is ground ourselves in the word of God to grasp these values. Within the realm of Christ's productivity-which is far greater than our own, conger up a mental picture of Him feeding the 5000 with only five loaves and two fish [MT 14: 13-21]. While we don't have His supernatural powers, we can appeal to Him to teach us ways to be more productive, in the good sense of the word, for ourselves and our families without them. His example is one of faith in the Father's direction. Since our challenge as believers in Him is to use His example as our paradigm [model], we can try to come as close to it as possible. God knows we are far from perfect, but He is interested in knowing if we are trying to do the best we can to live our lives working toward His example.
PRAYER: Dearest Father, our prayer today is like a special delivery letter to You. We confess that we have sometimes gapping imperfections, ones that force us to have the need to acknowledge the ones we already know about and to work to uncover the ones still unknown to us. We have already followed the dictates of RO 10: 9-10. "If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised Him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved." Now, we must further confess our own personal sins, as we come to know them. We seek out Your direction in the process of discovery, hopeful that You will help us on this "search and destroy sin" path to become increasingly sanctified in Your sight. Certainly, we all need to do this in the context of our handling of the material things in our lives- as one area to be considered among others. PS 25: 4-5, "Show me Thy ways, O Lord; teach me Thy paths. Lead me in Thy truth and teach me: for Thou art the God of my salvation; on Thee do I wait all the day." We are dedicated to the study of Your word, so that we may enjoy the blessings discussed in 2 TIM 3: 16-17 and that we may have discernment through Your wisdom shared. PS 1: 1, "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night." No other god is our Creator, Who shows such love for His creation, as You do. PS 145: 8-9, "You are merciful, Lord! You are kind and patient and always loving. You are good to everyone, and You take care of all Your creation." We dedicate ourselves, Dearest Abba, to evaluating ourselves without guilt [a sin itself] in the area of mammon- in addition to all areas of our lives- regularly, testing ourselves against Your Biblical teaching. This prayerful note is written to You, acknowledging Your wonderful attributes and amazing deeds on our behalf. We offer You our loyalty, hearts open to the Holy Spirit, love, faith, reverence, thanks, and praise forever. In Christ's holy name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, we continue working our way through the rich verses of PR 31: 23-24 in our examination of the ideal person, represented by the Hebrew letters, nun and samech. There are some underlying needs in order to live "in Christ," meaning in conformity with the word of God and God's direction through prayer. We must gain discernment, we must examine our lives regularly [without evoking guilt], and we must test what we see against the foundation of God's teaching. We must pray PS 139: 23-24, "Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way." How blessed we are to be under the Covenant of Grace, rather than the old Covenant of the Law! With our Lord Jesus' teaching, the promise of salvation, and hope for the life everlasting, we can see ample motivation to submit ourselves to His direction. Personally, I have lived under both covenants, so I can attest to the difference. We are a blessed people with a prime opportunity to help the Holy Spirit bring this blessing to others. We should even find more motivation to have inner peace and to help bring it to others through the examples we set in how we live our lives. Often, it's far more than words we say that will help the Holy Spirit break open the hardness of their hearts and keep the promise God made in EZK 36: 26-27 to "replace their stubborn hearts of stone with faithful obedient hearts," ones that can eagerly anticipate a blissful, eternal life of sweet fellowship with Him in heaven.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn Johnson