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Today I want to talk to you about wisdom as meditation.

So this is the idea that from a cow that has seven stomachs and it actually has a very extensive process by which it digests its food and it regurgitates over and over and over from one compartment of its digestive tract to the next. We are to develop our thought life by having it shaped by scripture that we think about over and over as it goes from one part of our thought life to another. This is where we get the idea of meditation from. Actually from a cow. Pretty interesting.

And so there's four things we want to point out today from Proverbs chapter 6 that help us develop our wisdom as meditation. Want to read it to you quickly.

My son, obey your father's commands and do not neglect your mother's instruction. Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck.

When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you. For the command is a lamp and their instruction a light. Their corrective discipline is the way to life.

So want to point out four pretty significant points for today.

Now the first one is it says to watch. To watch the instruction that we receive from God. So Old Testament, the cities, when they would try to protect them from invaders, there would be this person called a watchman. And it was their job to stay up all night and to make sure that they weren't getting attacked. And so it carried with it this idea of being alert, of being aware of what is going on as far as who's trying to attack you. So this carries over to our personal lives, our spiritual lives. We want to watch very vigilantly the ideas that we let influence us.

So the first thing that wisdom will help you do, it will help you develop this idea of vigilance. Protecting your mind from the things that you let in and the things that you decide are going to influence you. Mostly ideas. So you want to keep careful watch over the ideas that you let influence your life.

Then the second thing is it says to bind up. So this carries with it the idea that tying a neck tie, so when you go to an event that requires a tie, you have to fold it a certain way in order for it to be on the correct way. You kind of bind up the tie. You tie it around your neck.

Again, every day of your life, you're going to want to be in God's word. I highly recommend a one-year Bible reading plan that you at least listen to so that all of the word of God is getting into your life every year.

I've done this now for four or five years in a row. It's been wonderful for me. Then you take some of those principles, some of those words, some of those concepts. You literally tie them around not your neck but your heart. There's things that you hold onto. There are promises that God gives you in your life for you to live by. The idea here is that you take certain ideas and certain principles from God's word and you put the front and center in your life so you can't miss it. These are what I call life verses. Your life revolves around them. I have 2 life verses. Proverbs 3:5-6 and 1 Corinthians 9:18a. There are over 6000 promises in the bible to you and I implore you to find 2 or 3 that speak directly to you and have them be a compass for your life.

Then thirdly, wisdom is meditation. God's word acts as a lamp. Now, again, back in the Old Testament, they would have lamps. And these lamps were helpful in showing them only the next few steps to take as they're traversing in the darkness.

And so there's a spiritual metaphor here that God's word will give you just enough light to make the next best couple choices or the next best couple of good decisions in your life.

So you're going to want to watch. You're going to want to bind up. You're going to want to remember that God's word acts as a lamp for you to show you the next best choices, the next best decisions. What I have found in my life,

God usually gives you a couple of choices and a couple of decisions at a time. I don't know about you, but I'm thankful for that. That way, I don't have to get overwhelmed.

And then the fourth thing is discipline. Usually, if something is presented as too good to be true, it usually is. And so there's usually a correlation between the benefit that you're going to get from someone's advice and the amount of personal discipline it's going to require you.

So if someone has given you advice that doesn't directly correlate to you developing personal discipline, it's almost always garbage.

And so wisdom will show us that we're to watch the ideas that influence us, we're to bind up God's ideas, his promises around our heart, we're to use those promises, that wisdom as a lamp to help us make the next couple of good choices that we're trying to make in our life. And they will usually always result in greater personal discipline.

Well, thanks so much for joining me. Until next time, I hope you have a beautiful day.