Friendship in Proverbs 17

Whoever covers an offense seeks love,

but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.

(Proverbs 17:9 ESV)

A friend loves at all times,

and a brother is born for adversity.

(Proverbs 17:17 ESV)

photo: August 13, 2011 at hunting cabin in Tioga County, PA

Hope for the Broken

Paul Tripp, in Forever:

The fact that this world is not an endless cycle of dashed hopes and fading dreams but by God's plan is marching toward a moment when all that is broken will be restored can fill you with a reason to get up in the morning and press on. Yes, life is hard and you will face things you never imagined you would face, but this world is not all there is. You are not living in the final chapter of the story. What is broken will be fixed, what has been bent will be straightened, and what has decayed will be restored. Eternity really does give you a reason to continue, even when nothing right now seems as if it is working. Eternity challenges my feelings of futility by reminding me that what I am experiencing right now is not permanent.

Wow, talk about hope! I'm growing more convinced of my need for an eternal perspective and clinging to Christ.
"All that has been broken will be restored." Brokenness does not have the last word. All of creation yearns for the return on the Lord, when he will put everything right. And he gives grace for us to hold on until then. We have hope, and God is with us even now. We live in the reality of the already but not yet.

The hope of the righteous brings joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.
(Proverbs 10:28)

May I delight and take joy in God's goodness today, for he is very good. I want each day to be a treasure hunt for him.

Trust in the LORD

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

- Proverbs 3:5

These verses, which my mom had us kids memorize as little children, come to me when I most need them and bring sobbing tears as they push past the muck to dive into the core of my heart. Where would I be without the word of God hidden in my heart? I shudder to think.

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. - Hebrews 4:12

Pain. Why is trusting the Lord hard and painful? Trust must not be settling for a half hearted leaning on the Lord but lodging itself deeper into my heart, and in fact guarding against the alternative of real destructive, long lasting pain that comes from going my own way and leaning on my own understanding. Growing pains exist - they hurt. But without them, we would not grow. As a pre-teen, I do not understand or see any purpose or end of those stretching pains, but they do not last forever and I reap the results as just a few years go by and I become a woman instead of a little girl.

The Gardener prunes. The fire refines. And my Father gives good gifts to his children, never bad ones. And even in the midst of a prune, in the heat of the fire, I can know that the grace of God is enough. He is more than enough for me, and all joy and peace is made available to me, purchased by the blood of Christ, for each and every moment. Not only at the end of the race, but also in the midst of exhausting effort of the run. Not only when the gold is refined, but even as dross is burning off. Why? Because the end has already been sealed. I have already been bought and the victory has been won. I know which team I am on, and his team has already won. So I can run with joy, even through the fog. When I can't see a step ahead on the path, I will trust the one who does and who promises to lead me to the end - to the greatest victory celebration ever to be had. We cannot even conceive.

For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. - 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

God is too wise to be mistaken

God is too good to be unkind

So when you don't understand

When you don't see his plan

When you can't trace his hand

Trust his heart

-Babbie Mason