Welcome to Proverbs 365! This blogging project is my attempt to read one chapter of Proverbs daily and then share a piece of wisdom or lesson learned from within that daily chapter. Proverbs are God’s version of daily Best Practices: they help us through good times and bad. When life becomes stressful, Proverbs are there to help us make better choices. Feel free to join me in Proverbs 365–either on your blog or by leaving your daily Proverbs lesson in the comments below!

—————————————————

Proverbs 8

¹ Does not wisdom call out?
Does not understanding raise her voice?
² At the highest point along the way,
where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
³ beside the gate leading into the city,
at the entrance, she cries aloud:

Doing the right thing isn’t always easy.  And no matter how much I try, it doesn’t always cross my mind.  But I have this friend that I’ll call…oh…Jessica.  She has a habit of texting me or IM’ing me right when I’m in the middle of a bit of drama.  Right when I’m about to say or do something in reaction to something someone has done to upset me–like clockwork, there is Jessica.  And almost always, when I begin ranting about whatever it is that bothers me, she has this nasty little habit: of calling me out on my stuff.

See, I totally believe Jessica is there because God has sent her to me.  Am I always pleased at seeing her in those moments?  <sigh> No.  But Jessica is the type of friend that I’ve come to value above many others–the kind you can let into your dark side, and know that she will love you in spite of it.  LOL, even more so, she isn’t terribly subtle or delicate.  She comes right out and tells me I’m being an idiot.  Gotta love it when you have a friend you trust who can be THAT blunt with you! But I also know that she will hold me accountable when I mess up, and that she will call me out when I need it.  That is a true God-friend–one who will say “Hey, do you REALLY want to do that?”

I’ll be honest and share a story with you to illustrate.  You may not know that I am highly competitive, but I really am.  I try to hide that part of myself and beat it down, but it is there.  About a year ago a rival was being elevated in a lot of areas, yet I knew of things they’d done that others did not know.  I knew of poor behavior and sat around talking to Jessica about my frustrations.  After only a few minutes of my whining, Jessica called me up sharp and asked me if I had some forgiveness issues.  How would I want this person to treat me if the situations were reversed?  (Ow.  Stop it.  Don’t make me think like that!) The change in my heart and in my gut was instant–it was a bit like being punched.  I knew exactly what she meant, and exactly how I SHOULD be behaving.  God had sent her at just the right moment to stop me from making an arse of myself–I had been contemplating saying something to a mutual acquaintance that would have seriously embarrassed my rival.  I hung up from my conversation with Jessica both grumbling and thanking God for her.  I knew immediately that if I’d said something to someone else, I might have embarrassed my rival, but six months down the road all that would be remembered was my petty behavior.  Jessica’s well-timed phone call and words of wisdom really kept me from doing something very stupid.

That was wisdom calling out from the gate.  Wisdom was saying “stop!  Do not enter!”  God does that for us all the time.  It is up to us to listen for it, and to take heed.  Not everyone does.  How does God send wisdom to call out to  you?  Do you have a friend that God uses to call out to you?

And Jessica?  Thank you.  <3