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I die devotionals, Nathan Dooley

Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you | P2-V11

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The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

Proverbs 2; I die daily devotional.

11 Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, 

DISCRETION WILL GUARD

When you think about the first part of our verse—discretion will guard you—what comes to mind, and how do you feel about it? Because I experience this discretion as coming from Someone else, not myself. So I’ll direct my heart and mind to the Person of the Lord in me, the Holy Spirit; Jesus has all the delicate information about myself and others, and so even though there is access to that information at mine and their disposal, doesn’t mean it should be used. That is how discretion guards me, personally, because if my heart is in a difficult place and emotions are a bit unpredictable can then produce bad fruit if not guarded by the Wisdom of discretion. And I don’t know about you, but I’m still very much working out this discipline of handling all information the Lord entrusts to me; especially as more and more information is accumulated overtime about myself and different people.

Heb 5:14 — But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Heb 12:11 — All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Because… the information available to me is a responsibility of my faith in Christ; so… to completely disregard the Holy Spirit in me and spout off information that was initially guarded by discretion is the temptation at hand, especially living in a vessel of flesh that is prone to sin let alone dealing with the sin of other people ignorant of this discretion—people yet to be trained in discernment—as this book of Proverbs means to teach and provide in our souls (I believe). I can quickly enter into a place of my flesh when on online platforms, I write things that cause me to cringe a bit after processing through different perspectives, waiting eagerly for the future to bury my untamed tongue. I think it’s important we Christians make a practice of correcting our worldly language to the spiritual language of Christ, the world is watching how we Christians behave, especially as those who claim to represent the nature of God in us through the name of Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

UNDERSTANDING WILL WATCH

I really hope this second part of our verse—understanding will watch over you—will fill you with peace. Because ultimately, that is my experience with the Personification of understanding; understanding watches over me as I hold my tongue to listen just a little longer, or speaking up at just the right time—when the information calls for it. That is the edification process as many members of One unified Church Body come together to develop into the image and likeness of Christ our Lord on the earth, a holy priesthood. We Christians should live in a way that reveals the qualities of an eternal nature that these spiritual attributes and principles represent. I believe they communicate a very real everlasting education to those confused by the ramifications of sin, part of which being a broken education system in this world. So I feel the question becomes:

Are we as a Christian Church around the world doing our due diligence to bring about the unification of our Body in Christ on this earth?

Because it sounds to me that Wisdom is disciplining us through discretion and understanding of the Holy Spirit to function as a unit in this world, and when we function as a unit will reveal the nature of Christ to the glory of our God on this earth as a people of faith are sanctified to live as the righteousness of Jesus.

That might-of gone off on a tangent, but… whatever, I hope it makes sense; if it doesn’t… well… shalom.

2Ti 2:7 — Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

  • What do you experience by this verse?
  • How does discretion guard you?
  • How does understanding watch over you?

RECOURCE

[BP]

Proverbs 2 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; 3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come  knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. 9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, 12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; 15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; 16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; 17 That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God; 18 For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead; 19 None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. 20 So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; 22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.

COMMENTARY

Matthew Henry (P2-V11) Commentary
I. For our preservation from evil, from the evil of sin, and, consequently, from the evil of trouble that attends it.

  • 1. In general (v. 10, 11), “When wisdom has entire possession of thee, it will keep thee.’ And when has it an entire possession of us?
    • (1.) When it has dominion over us. When it not only fills the head with notions, but enters into the heart and has a commanding power and influence upon that,-when it is upon the throne there, and gives law to the affections and passions,-when it enters into the heart as the leaven into the dough, to diffuse its relish there, and to change it into its own image-then it is likely to do us good.
    • (2.) When we have delight in it, when knowledge becomes pleasant to the soul: “When thou beginnest to relish it as the most agreeable entertainment, and art subject to its rules, of choice, and with satisfaction,-when thou callest the practice of virtue, not a slavery and a task, but liberty and pleasure, and a life of serious godliness the most comfortable life a man can live in this world,-then thou wilt find the benefit of it.’ Though its restraints should be in some respects unpleasant to the body, yet even those must be pleasant to the soul. When it has come to this, with us, discretion shall preserve us and keep us. God keeps the way of his saints (v. 8), by giving them discretion to keep out of harm’s way, to keep themselves that the wicked one touch them not. Note, A principle of grace reigning in the heart will be a powerful preservative both against corruptions within and temptations without, Eccl. 9:16, 18.