Proverbs 2:16-19 states the following: “Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman, from the flattery of the adulterous woman. She has abandoned her husband and ignores the covenant she made before God. Entering her house leads to death; it is the road to Hell. The man who visits her is doomed. He will never reach the paths of life.” But what does this mean? Notice the phrases it uses. “The immoral woman…” “She has abandoned her husband…” “Entering her house…” It’s almost as if the verses are a written segment of a man-to-man or perhaps father-son conversation. I would like to flip these verses over and break them down statement by statement.

First it says, “Wisdom will save you from the immoral woman.” I assume you know what it means by “immoral” from the context of the passage, but what about the immoral man? The verse doesn’t mention a man’s immorality, but it doesn’t mean that men cannot be immoral in the same ways. What if it said “Wisdom will save you from the immoral man.” Would the meaning be any different? No!

How about in the next verse? What if it said “He has abandoned his wife and ignores the covenant he made before God.” Would it’s meaning change then? No! Divorce is a major problem in today’s society. Who’s to say who left who? Who abandoned who? Is it not in some if not most cases the man who ignores the covenant he made before God?

The remaining verses can be flipped in the same way. “Entering his house leads to death.” “The woman who visits him is doomed.” My point is not to shift the blame over to the men, or to pardon the women, but to remind you that not all immorality lies in the hearts of women; to make you understand that sometimes it’s the husband who breaks the covenant; the husband who is the immoral one.

Have a look at the flipped verses together as a whole:

“Wisdom will save you from the immoral man, from the adulterous man. He has abandoned his wife and ignores the covenant he made before God. Entering his house leads to death; it is the road to Hell. The woman who visits him is doomed. She will never reach the paths of life.”

Does this make any less sense or hold any less meaning than the actual verse? I don’t think so. What do you think?

     I’ve always blamed myself for my problems. Seeing knowingly guilty people point the finger at anything, everything, anyone and everyone that offers a plausible alternative to their own their own failures greatly upsets me. My problems stem from choices I’ve made in the past that were based either on impatience or naivety. Simply put, I am too quick to trust the wrong people, and when I do I live with it as if it’s no big deal, often as if I did it on purpose or with good intentions. Each of the hundreds of terrible decisions I’ve made over the years, however, are like fifty pound weights I carry on my back. The burden of this weight has driven me straight into the ground, but that hasn’t stopped me from adding to it. I need to dump the weight and remove myself from this pit of despair, but I’ve lived in it’s disgusting mire for so long I call it home. I’ve decorated the walls with excuses to make it livable, and I’ve shut myself out of the real world to avoid hearing people tell me I’m in a bad place. I don’t want to leave; this is my home, this is my life, and it always will be unless I make some painful but necessary changes starting now.

Please continue to pray for me, I really need and sincerely appreciate your support. I’ve been on my knees begging the LORD for guidance since my last post, and let me assure you miracles have become of it.

Of the many paintings at the Sistine Chapel in Rome, Michelangelo’s portrayal of Adam and God is probably one of the most well known and easily one of the most magnificent. Sure, you’ve all seen it, but have you looked at it closely? Studied it? Given more than just a passive thought as to what it’s supposed to be representing? I’d like you to take such a look at it with me now, because this particular work of art holds a profound message which happens to be very important to us as people, and more importantly as Christians.

Look at the figure that represents God. Notice how his body is stretched out and twisted, his muscles are taught, his finger is pointed and his eyes are gazing directly into Adam’s heart and soul. Notice how the painting depicts the sense of urgency that God and all his creation has to connect with mankind. Do you see it? Now take a look at Adam, the representation of mankind. His posture is a little different, isn’t it? He appears laid back. His muscles aren’t taught, the posture of his hand is saying, “Well, I’m not sure I want to lift that finger.” His finger is just kind of laying there, there’s a gap between his hand and God’s, and it almost looks as if Adam, mankind, is waiting for God to do a little bit more to close the gap. And God did. He gave us his son, Jesus Christ. What else could he do? We weren’t being obedient, we weren’t in tune to his love, so he made the greatest demonstration of love possible by sending his own son to die on the cross for us.

Friends, sometimes I think we live this way. God is rushing at us, passionately pursuing us so that we may come to know him. He wants us to experience his love in compelling ways, and we’re just passively living our lives, saying, “Yea, I’m a Christian.” Even while knowing that he’s given everything including his own son Jesus Christ for us, we ask for more. As we begin this new year in 2009, I’d like to invite you into a life of passion and urgency to know God with the same sense of urgency in which God wanted to know you. The distance between us and God at any given moment is small, and all he asks us to do is respond by receiving through grace his gift of Jesus Christ, and by faith trusting him with our lives.

The past year has brought terrible tragedies to thousands of people, me included. In this new year, I challenge you to revamp your faith, to persist and prevail in prayer, and to succeed in doing God's mighty will. This is a terrible situation we're in, and it's going to take some miracles to get out of it. Go with God, and be the miracle.