happy is the man who findeth wisdom [email protected]
TRANSCRIPT
Is Life ever a little overwhelming?
Proverbs- a book of Wisdom
(Bible Dictionary)The Heb. word rendered proverb is mashal, a similitude or
parable, but the book contains many maxims and sayings not properly so called, and also connected poems of considerable length.
There is much in it that does not rise above the plane of worldly wisdom, but throughout it is taken for granted that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (1:7; 9:10).
The least spiritual of the Proverbs are valuable as reminding us that the voice of Divine Inspiration does not disdain to utter homely truths.Question:
Does the Lord really want us to fear Him?
Question
Can we be wise and proud at the same time?
"He that is of a proud heart stirreth up strife." (Proverbs 28:25)
Proverbs 3
5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
President Ezra Taft Benson:
"The central feature of pride is enmity—enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellowmen. Enmity means
'hatred toward, hostility to, or a state of opposition.' It is the power by which Satan wishes to reign over us.
"Pride is essentially competitive in nature. We pit our will against God's. When we direct our pride toward God, it is in the spirit of 'my will and not thine be done.' As Paul said, they 'seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's.' (Philip. 2:21)
"Our will in competition to God's will allows desires, appetites, and passions to go unbridled. (See Alma 38:12; 3 Ne.12:30.)
"The proud cannot accept the authority of God giving direction to their lives. (See Hel.12:6.) They pit their perceptions of truth against God's great knowledge, their abilities versus God's priesthood power, their accomplishments against His mighty works.
"Our enmity toward God takes on many labels, such as rebellion, hard-heartedness, stiff-neckedness, unrepentant, puffed up, easily offended, and sign seekers. The proud wish God would agree with them. They aren't interested in changing their opinions to agree with God's....
President Thomas S. Monson
Many years ago, on an assignment to Tahiti, I was talking to our mission president, President Raymond Baudin, about the Tahitian people. They are known as some of the greatest seafaring people in all the world. Brother Baudin, who speaks French and Tahitian but little English, was trying to describe to me the secret of the success of the Tahitian sea captains.
He said, “They are amazing. The weather may be terrible, the vessels may be leaky, there may be no navigational aids except their inner feelings and the stars in the heavens, but they pray and they go.” He repeated that phrase three times. There is a lesson in that statement.
We need to pray, and then we need to act. Both are important.
Sister Elaine Dalton
When I was [younger], my father became seriously ill. We thought it was just the flu, but as the days progressed, he became more and more ill… I had a constant prayer in my heart, and I would seek solitary places where I would pour out my soul in prayer to my Heavenly Father to heal my father. After a few weeks of illness, my father passed away. I was shocked and frightened. What would our family do without our father whom we loved so dearly? How could we go on? I felt that Heavenly Father had not heard nor answered my fervent prayers. My faith was challenged. I went to Heavenly Father and asked the question—“Heavenly Father, are you really there?”
Over a period of many months, I prayed for help and guidance. I prayed for my family, and I prayed to understand why my father had not been healed. For a time, it seemed to me that the heavens were silent, but as a family we continued to pray for comfort and guidance. I continued to pray also. Then one day, many months later, as I was sitting in a sacrament meeting, my answer came in the form of a scripture. The speaker said: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” ( Prov. 3:5–6). A feeling came over me, and I felt I was the only person in the chapel. That was my answer. Heavenly Father had heard my prayers!
Wise men and women control their thoughts
Prov. 23:7
For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he…
Question:What is there about the heart that controls our lives?
Elder L. Tom Perry
My mother was a great delegator. Each Saturday morning as my brothers and
sisters and I were growing up, we received housecleaning assignments
from her. Her instructions to us had been learned from her mother: “Be certain you clean thoroughly in the corners and along the mopboards. If you are going to miss anything, let it be in the center of the room.”
She knew very well if we cleaned the corners, she would never have a problem with what was left in the center of the room. That which is visible to the eye would never be left unclean.
Over the years, my mother’s counsel has had enormous application to me in many different ways. It is especially applicable to the task of spiritual housecleaning. The aspects of our lives that are on public display usually take care of themselves because we want to leave the best impression possible. But it is in the hidden corners of our lives where there are things that only we know about that we must be particularly thorough to ensure that we are clean.
Question
Why would we hang on to our sins?
Sins
My
James Allen
“As the plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of a man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called ‘spontaneous’ and ‘unpremeditated’ as to those which are deliberately executed. …
“In the armoury of thought he forges the weapons by which he destroys himself; he also fashions the tools with which he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and peace. … Between these two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their maker and master. … Man is the master of thought, the moulder of character, and the maker and shaper of condition, environment, and destiny” (As a Man Thinketh [1983], 7–10).
“Let a man radically alter his thoughts, and he will be astonished at the rapid transformation it will effect in the material conditions of his life. Men imagine that thought can be kept secret, but it cannot; it rapidly crystallizes into habit, and habit solidifies into circumstance”
Question:As we gain
control of our thoughts, how does it affect the way we view the world around us?
The World’sView of LifeChristian’sView of Life
Latter-DaySaint’sView of Life
Proverbs 7- The wise avoid immorality
Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
President Hinckley
Believe in virtue… I do not know why the Lord has placed fornication and adultery second
only to murder in the category of sins, but he has.
I want to say that whenever virtue leaves, sorrow enters, and the sorrow which comes under those circumstances never seems to disappear. I talked with a respected grandmother the other day. She feels bereft and heartbroken. She still carries in her conscience guilt over something that happened when she was nineteen years of age.
Oh, how she has worked to try to atone for that which she did foolishly and impetuously. All these years she has lived honorably and rendered outstanding service. But somehow there still burns in her heart a great wound that refuses to heal.