Proverbs Study - Lesson 5

Today I become officially one full week behind in this Bible study! Oh well, among all I'm learning from this Proverbs study and the "Parenting" book club are multiple lessons about realistic intentions and priority setting during the summer months. But I shall persevere and not give up - I do hope you'll stick with me!

I gobbled up this lesson on discernment and discretion. I do so want to be the woman described in the introduction. And I was blessed with some time the other day to complete most of the lesson with little interruption - that in itself was evidence of God's grace. (I always think summer is going to be relaxing and my time will be my own...)

The most telling part for me in this chapter were questions 5 & 6 on page 44, dealing with accepting rebuke and learning from failure. I was stumped when asked, "What is your attitude when you fail?" and I really had trouble coming up with an example. I slowly began to realize if I'm not failing, then I'm not trying hard enough! Sounds funny, doesn't it? But it's true. This goes right back to the "Hugging the Beam" video in my last post. What's more, that very same day I read Jen's comment on Lesson 3 and realized that failure is not the only area of my life where I'm employing avoidance tactics. So much to think about....

I had read four pages and pondered 23 questions before realizing that I had no idea why this lesson is called "A Ring in a Pig's Nose." Proverbs 11:22 holds the answer: "Like a gold ring in a pig's snout is a beautiful woman who shows no discretion." (NIV)

The audio teaching which accompanies this lesson (3/22/04) is wonderful and well worth a listen. I've often prayed for discernment, but this teacher explains exactly what discernment and discretion are, and she teaches us practical ways of pursuing both, exhorting us to action even while we pray and wait on the Lord.

This entire Proverbs study from the get go has been a delightful challenge for my perfectionistic bent. First off, we started with Volume 2 without first completing Volume 1 - that in itself goes against my naturally sequential way of thinking (right, Sharon? lol) Then along come all these weekly lessons which point us toward grace and away from works, toward reliance on God and away from reliance on self. And here I am running a week behind in both my studying and blogging - something heretofore against the rules in my book. My old self would have sacrificed sanity to avoid this situation, or else given up the remainder of the project because it was not runing according to plan. How sad. Then this week I did something really rash: I went back and listened to the introductory audio segment (which was recorded 6 months before these lessons, preceding the Volume 1 we haven't done!) right smack in the middle of the Volume 2 study! Scandalous for me, I confess, but extremely valuable and instructional and inspirational despite being out of order! I'm even considering listening to all the Volume 1 teachings (perhaps out of sequence just for sport) without using the workbook! Oh yes, God is doing amazing things in my life!

Blessings and discernment to you!
Eleanor
Romans 12:2