Tag: Proverbs

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Wisdom—A Spouse, A Path, A Healer

Scripture Focus: Proverbs 4.5-7
5 Get wisdom, get understanding; 
do not forget my words or turn away from them. 
6 Do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; 
love her, and she will watch over you. 
7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. 
Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

Reflection: Wisdom—A Spouse, A Path, A Healer
By John Tillman

The father, instructing his child, compares wisdom to many things. 

Wisdom is like a spouse. (Proverbs 4.6-9) The one who embraces wisdom and is faithful, loving, and devoted will be protected, watched over, exalted, and honored. The greater attention, deference, submission, love, and priority we give to wisdom, the greater protection and blessing she grants to us.

Abandoning wisdom means turning to the arms of other partners who make lofty promises of love but have no desire or ability to follow through. In their arms we will find abuse instead of protection, neglect instead of attention, subjugation instead of exaltation, and shame instead of honor.

Wisdom is like a path. (Proverbs 4.11-19) The path of wisdom is bright and grows brighter as it is traveled. What we learn of God’s wisdom today, leads us to learn greater wisdom tomorrow. Ever brighter, the path leads on and on. It is a straight path, not turning to the right or the left. It is a smooth path, safe to walk and safe to run, with no obstacles or dangers.

The only hazards on the path of wisdom are the many opportunities to wander onto paths leading away from wisdom’s light. These paths stay within wisdom’s sight briefly. Long enough to seem like shortcuts or detours. But soon, downward into darkness they turn, lined with false steps, dark corners, and opportunities for ambush and injury. These paths have twists and switchbacks, always promising better things around the corner, but only delivering more of the same.

Wisdom is like a healer. (Proverbs 4.20-27) Wisdom gives our bodies nourishment for what needs to grow and medicine for what is sick. Through our ears and eyes wisdom brings health to our hearts, our inner being. This inner mental and spiritual health flows to the rest of our life. Our words and our actions are healed and purified. Our sight is sharpened.

Forsaking wisdom is slowly poisoning ourselves. It brings diseased actions, feelings, and thoughts. We sicken from the inside out, unable to scratch what itches or staunch what is bleeding.

Be wisdom’s dutiful patient and experience healing and nourishment of spirit, mind, and body.

Place one foot after another on the penitent pilgrimage of wisdom’s path and find destinations beyond your imagining.

Vow to love wisdom for life as a faithful partner and be filled and satisfied.

Wisdom is calling. Will you answer? Will you be her patient? Her pilgrim? Her spouse?


Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty, God reveals himself in glory.
Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause; for God himself is judge. — Psalm 50.2, 6

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.


​Today’s Readings
Proverbs 4 (Listen 2:37)
Psalm 34 (Listen 2:14)

Read more about Wisdom Versus Obedience
Wisdom is mined from a deep relationship with God. It is refined in the crucible of life.

Wisdom Versus Obedience

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The Logic of Proverbs

Scripture Focus: Proverbs 3.7-12, 19-20
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; 
fear the Lord and shun evil. 
8 This will bring health to your body 
and nourishment to your bones. 
9 Honor the Lord with your wealth, 
with the firstfruits of all your crops; 
10 then your barns will be filled to overflowing, 
and your vats will brim over with new wine. 
11 My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, 
and do not resent his rebuke, 
12 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, 
as a father the son he delights in.

19 By wisdom the Lord laid the earth’s foundations, 
by understanding he set the heavens in place; 
20 by his knowledge the watery depths were divided, 
and the clouds let drop the dew.

Reflection: The Logic of Proverbs
By John Tillman

Predictable, logical outcomes of mathematics support the idea of a creator. Otherwise, why is there order instead of chaos? Amy has three apples and Billy has two. When they put them together, they have five. Why is it always five and not eight or four?

Proverbs begins with a father building a logical case that his son should pursue wisdom rather than foolishness and violence. The father tells his son that wisdom is the logic behind all existence—that wisdom is what God used to create the world. He presents the universe as ordered and predictable…to a point.

Proverbs in scripture are logical, but they aren’t arithmetic. They do not always add up to a predictable sum. For example, the father says that honoring God leads to wealth and other examples of a good life. Anyone recently reading Job knows that good deeds do not predictably add up to a good life.

Some statements in mathematics are also commutative. They are equally true in whatever order you want to write or read them. Whether Amy’s three apples or Billy’s two apples get added to the pile first, there are always five. 2 + 3 = 5, and so does 3 + 2.

Proverbs in scripture are often not commutative. If you reverse the statements, the wisdom within them can turn to foolishness. For example, people with “overflowing barns” often fill them, not by “honoring God” but by cheating their workers or other forms of theft.

While principles of wisdom operate in the world, there are also principalities and powers that add radical variables to the equations of life. The father is not ignorant or overly idealistic. He recognizes these factors in the equation. He tells his son not to “envy the violent.” Why? The father knows that foolishness, folly, and violence will be attractive because they seem effective. The violent will inevitably prosper. How will we respond?

Like the son, we may envy the outcomes of violence or grift. We may be tempted, for reasons of practicality, to use questionable means justified by good ends. But there is another unseen variable—God’s judgment. God’s equation subtracts salt that loses its savor and deletes whatever profit folly or violence accrues.

Wicked means taint righteous intentions. Light cannot partner with darkness. Their ways that seem right to us lead to destruction. “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.”


Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. — Psalm 119.174

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

​Today’s Readings
Proverbs 3 (Listen 3:05)
Psalm 33 (Listen 2:08)

Read more about Temptation Has No Gender
Power, wealth, indulgence, sexuality…nothing escapes the corruption of sin and no gender is exempt from responsibility.

Temptation Has No Gender—Readers’ Choice

Read more about Pause To Read
Did you catch this weekend’s podcast episode, “Lady Wisdom”? Share this episode with a friend who needs wisdom.

Pause To Read Podcast
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Prayer for Outcasts—Readers’ Choice

Readers’ Choice Month:
This September, The Park Forum is looking back on readers’ selections of our most meaningful and helpful devotionals from the past 12 months. Thank you for your readership. This month is all about hearing from you. Submit a Readers’ Choice post today.

Today’s post was originally published, on March 8, 2022, based on Proverbs 27.8 and Leviticus 19.34.
It was selected by reader, David: 
“Amen, Thank you for this reminder of what our call is.  We can all pray.”

Scripture Focus: Proverbs 27.8
8 Like a bird that flees its nest
is anyone who flees from home.

Leviticus 19.34
34 The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Image: Today’s image comes from the painting, War Refugees in the Snow by Alfred Ost, painted in 1914.

Reflection: Prayer for Outcasts—Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

There have been many crises in history that have caused waves of migrants, refugees, and immigrants to flee their homes.

Some of the largest refugee movements in history happened during World War II when from 1939 to 1959 approximately 20 million people fled Europe. Our current decade, however, has nearly matched that 20-year stretch. Approximately 17.8 million refugees have fled Ukraine, Myanmar, Venezuela, Syria, South Sudan, and Libya, since 2011.

Refugee crises will continue to grow as nations and prideful leaders continue to choose violence.

Welcoming the stranger is a consistent command throughout the Bible. One must work hard not to pick up on it, but some do go out of their way to avoid it. It may be normative in the world of politics to stigmatize, persecute, and ghettoize foreigners, but it is antithetical to biblical living.

Welcoming the stranger is counter-cultural, not only today but in its original context. The evil treatment Israel received in Egypt is the experience God holds up as the source of his commands to welcome and treat well strangers and foreigners. “As Egypt was, you must not be. As you were treated, you must never allow others to be treated. Do unto others as you would wish they had done to your ancestors.” (Exodus 22.21; Leviticus 19.33-34; Deuteronomy 10.18-19)

In reflection on the continuation of the Ukrainian war, the widening flow of refugees, and a sobering awareness that this conflict has the potential to encompass other countries, we pause today to pray for migrants, immigrants, and refugees.

Prayer for Outcasts
Lord, we pray, today, for those who flee. Aid their flight.
May they avoid danger, escaping the fowler’s snare.
May they find fair winds, lifting their wings and spirits.
May they settle among the branches of the righteous who are like trees, providing healing for the nations.

We pray for those who are called by God to welcome them.
May our hearts overflow with the love of God for his children
May our eyes see the image of God in each face
May rivers of living water flow from our hearts that will satisfy, not just their physical needs, but their needs for emotional shelter, food, and healing.

When they flee violence, let us show gentleness.
When they flee hatred, let us show love.
When they flee scarcity, let us sate them.
When they flee abuse, let us console them.
When they flee oppression, let us free them.

Music: “God Help the Outcasts” — Hunchback of Notre Dame

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of the ram’s horn.
Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.
For God is King of all the earth; sing praises with all your skill.
God reigns over the nations; God sits upon his holy throne. — Psalm 47.5-8

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Lamentations 2 (Listen 4:55) 
2 Corinthians 13 (Listen 2:19)

Readers’ Choice is Here!
Your recommended posts from the last 12 months have blessed us! Which one helped you overcome fear?

Readers’ Choice 2025

Read more about Abandon Human Vengeance
The tactics of human vengeance are escalatory. We always hit back harder than we were struck.

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Temptation Has No Gender—Readers’ Choice

Readers’ Choice Month:
This September, The Park Forum is looking back on readers’ selections of our most meaningful and helpful devotionals from the past 12 months. Thank you for your readership. This month is all about hearing from you. Submit a Readers’ Choice post today.

Today’s post was originally published, on February 11, 2022, based on Proverbs 2.12-19
It was selected by reader, EN: 
“This was really encouraging as a woman. In some circles, being a woman automatically makes you guilty of temptation but this was a good dose of truth to correct those erroneous assumptions.”

Scripture Focus: Proverbs 2.12-19
12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, 
from men whose words are perverse, 
13 who have left the straight paths 
to walk in dark ways, 
14 who delight in doing wrong 
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, 
15 whose paths are crooked 
and who are devious in their ways.
16 Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman, 
from the wayward woman with her seductive words, 
17 who has left the partner of her youth 
and ignored the covenant she made before God.
18 Surely her house leads down to death 
and her paths to the spirits of the dead. 
19 None who go to her return 
or attain the paths of life.

Reflection: Temptation Has No Gender
By John Tillman

Much ink has been spent in Christendom warning men to avoid female temptresses. Today’s reading, a warning to “my son” about an “adulterous woman,” is one that is often cited. The lessons are valid and needed.

The proliferation of pornography is exploding and prostitution and pornography are seeking normalization, even for minors. The pornography industry, like the tobacco industry before it, taps addiction as an income stream. Physical and psychological damage to customers and performers is callously counted as the cost of doing business.

However, porn isn’t just for men, and men also commonly initiate adulterous (or abusive) sexual relationships. All people need to be warned about infidelity and the predatory industry of porn. 
In addition, these passages have been often misused to paint all women as temptresses and all men as victims. The twisted extremes of “purity culture” taught women to treat their bodies like unexploded lust bombs on a hair-trigger. If a dress strap fell off of a shoulder, or a skirt hem rose up too high when sitting down, the lust explosion that could destroy a young (or old) man’s morality would be their fault. Men, instead of being protectors, demanded protection. Women were taught to bear the burden of dressing to protect men’s eyes and souls.

One way to prevent abuse of this passage is to recognize that it sits in balance with the four lines before it. A father is telling his son of the dangers that wisdom will save him from—but female seduction is not the first thing on his mind. The first dangers mentioned are the temptations of evil men. 

Sections of scripture that mirror each other like this are intended to cast light on each other. We must widen our gaze in the scriptures, especially in Proverbs, where matched pairs in tension with each other draw us deeper than the surface reading of either one alone.

The picture of the female temptress informs the image of the men of wickedness. The temptations of leaving straight paths for ones that are dark and wicked tell us more about how one is seduced sexually.

Seduction and temptation are not feminine (or masculine), nor are they limited to sexual pleasures. Carnality includes the lust of the eyes and of pride, not just the lust of the flesh. (1 John 2.16) Power, wealth, indulgence, sexuality…nothing escapes the corruption of sin and no gender is exempt from responsibility.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, and bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling;
That I may go to the altar of God, to the God of my joy and gladness; and on the harp, I will give thanks to you, O God my God. — Psalm 43.3-4


– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 33(Listen -4:46)
1 Corinthians 9 (Listen – 4:04)

Readers’ Choice is Here!
We look forward to more of your recommended posts from the last 12 months. Which one helped you understand scripture?

Readers’ Choice 2025

Read more about The Sins Behind Sexual Sins
Many times sexual sins are a symptom of other sins such as greed, selfishness, inequality, and oppression.

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Inspired Utterance

Scripture Focus: Proverbs 30.1-5
1 The sayings of Agur son of Jakeh—an inspired utterance. 
This man’s utterance to Ithiel:
“I am weary, God, 
but I can prevail. 
2 Surely I am only a brute, not a man; 
I do not have human understanding. 
3 I have not learned wisdom, 
nor have I attained to the knowledge of the Holy One. 
4 Who has gone up to heaven and come down? 
Whose hands have gathered up the wind? 
Who has wrapped up the waters in a cloak? 
Who has established all the ends of the earth? 
What is his name, and what is the name of his son? 
Surely you know! 
5 “Every word of God is flawless; 
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. 

Reflection: Inspired Utterance
By John Tillman

We do not know who Agur, Jakeh, or Ithiel are. They are mentioned nowhere else in scripture. 

Agur expresses that without God’s wisdom, humans are little better than brute animals. This could be a general description of our culture. 

Our culture claims to set us free, allowing our individual hearts, feelings, experiences, and opinions to self-determine truth, right, and wrong, however, this doesn’t set anyone free. “Personal truth” makes every person a dictator who must either enslave the world to their “truth” or be enslaved by the conflicting “truths” of others.

“Follow your hearts” sounds supportive until someone follows their heart to commit adultery, rape, or create pornography. “Do what feels good” sounds fun until someone “feels good” making racist artwork, overdosing on drugs, or defrauding the poor. “Speak your truth” sounds freeing until one person’s truth causes deaths (or war) over a lie.

Agur, whoever he is, must have read Job. His writing reflects Job’s concepts. Agur knows we need a dose of humility. He issues a challenge to himself and to the reader — a challenge for those who think themselves wise. “Have you gone to heaven? Have you gathered the wind, held the waters, set the boundaries of the earth? If you didn’t, surely you know who did!” 

If Agur read Job, Jesus seems to have read them both. Jesus echoed Agur when he said, “No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.” (John 3.11-13) Jesus also expected that those who “study the scriptures diligently” should find, not just wisdom, but testimony about himself. (John 5.39-40) All scripture testifies about Jesus and the wisdom we find there is from him. (Luke 24.27)

We may not know who Agur is, but we know the name of the Holy One he reveres and references — the source of true wisdom. The setter of the boundaries of the earth, the holder of the waters, the gatherer of the wind, and the one who comes down from heaven, is Jesus. He is the flawless Word of God and is a shield to all who take refuge in him.

In his refuge, we find wisdom, peace, mercy, and understanding that can change us from brutish beings enslaved to our urges into true humans — images of God upon the earth.

Lord, give us inspired utterances that reveal you to others as the source of wisdom.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer
Fear the Lord, you that are his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing — Psalm 34.9

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle.
Today’s Readings
Proverbs 30 (Listen – 3:51)
Psalm 99-101 (Listen – 2:48)

This Weekend’s Readings
Proverbs 31 (Listen – 2:50) Psalm 102 (Listen – 2:45)
Ecclesiastes 1 (Listen – 2:21) Psalm 103 (Listen – 2:07)

Read more about Blessings of the Dispossessed
“Cause I can see a people dispossessed 
Broken and brave in the face of so much fear 
Driven from their homes by the greed of a nation 
Whose treaties were as good as litter 
Along the trail of their tears”

Blessings of the Dispossessed

Read more about Honoring The Truth
Seeking the truth is not only a spiritual quest. It is sometimes a civic one. Or a legal one.

Honoring The Truth