“Commit to the LORD what you do, and your plans will succeed.”
– Proverbs 16:3
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever questioned the motive of a kid – who is a friend, why he or she did or said something? Have you ever felt that it was wrong to mistrust another kid – or a guy or gal? Have you ever wondered why receiving a formal education is so important? Solomon answers these three questions in Proverbs 16. Solomon communicates understanding that a guy, gal or kid can easily self-deceive himself or herself – that the guy, gal or kid can think that what he or she is doing or saying is right on target when in reality, what he or she is doing or saying is a downer to other guys, gals and kids. Your Uncle Chris – as the director of an Adventures in Missions ministry that is called Ambassadors, asked each Adventures in Missions Ambassador short term ministry team project leader to read a book that was published several years ago by The Arbinger Institute that is entitled Leadership and Self-Deception. Because your grandpaa is the project leader for the Ambassador short term ministry team that is scheduled to go this coming June to Guatemala, your grandpaa read this insightful book. The premise of this book is that a guy, gal or kid will at some time lay blame on another guy, gal or kid on his or her immediate circumstances for whatever perceived problem that is happening in his or her life instead of reflecting on his or her own actions or responses being the driver for the supposed irritant that is upsetting a desired conflict free life. Your grandpaa knows that if he deliberately or without thinking questions any motive of any of the high school age guys and gals who have been accepted to go in June on the four week Ambassador short term ministry team to Guatemala as to why he or she does or says something that he or she will probably begin to tune out your grandpaa from being a help to or for him or her. Your grandpaa knows that young guys and gals today look to teachers, pastors, peers, old geezers like your grandpaa, etc. as a resource to help them do what it is that they want to do. A young guy or gal today will rebel against being regarded as an object as he or she wants to be treated as a guy or gal who has unlimited, untapped intelligence, abilities, dreams, etc. and to function on the same level playing field as every other kid – and guy and gal, blind to the fact that the kid – or guy or gal, is younger or older, from another ethnic group, wealthier or poorer, etc. Your grandpaa needs to learn to deal with the motives that a guy, gal and kid has that to him are problematic by doing what Solomon said how to deal with them ‘let the Lord weigh them’.
Solomon communicates understanding the importance of being instructed when he said ‘instruction prospers’ and that a ‘wise man’s lips promote instruction’. Your grandpaa has struggled over the years with guys who God has called to be missionaries whose ministry focus has primarily been on planting churches versus focusing on enabling guys and gals with Biblical truths so that there is a pool of guys and gals who have the spiritual foundation and the theological underpinning to become church and community leaders. Solomon knew that being instructed will lead to wisdom which will lead to discernment which will lead to being able to honestly say words that affirm and approve. Solomon knew that words that are pleasing that are said to a guy, gal or kid will always be sweet nourishment to the soul of the guy, gal or kid and that bones can be strengthened and healed by kind words. Your grandpaa knows that the month long stint – that will begin in June with the Ambassador short term ministry team that is scheduled to go to Guatemala, will be measured by the high school guys and gals who are on this ministry team more through what they learn about themselves than through what your grandpaa says or does. Your grandpaa knows that instruction for young guys and gals today is experientially based versus auditory influenced which infers that your grandpaa needs to create environs where instruction is pursued versus instruction being enforced.
Solomon communicates understanding the place of trust. Solomon knew that if a guy, gal or kid puts his or her trust in the Lord that he or she ‘would be blessed’. Solomon knew that if a guy, gal or kid puts his or her trust in a scoundrel or a rebellious dude or a violent guy and/or a winker that the guy, gal or kid would in the end be led to join up with the bad cad to do evil, hook up with the sick ogre to cause discord between buddies, link up with the sadistic bully to do no good against neighbors and connect with the oily rogue to plot perversity. Verse 3 sums up Solomon’s position on motives, instruction and trust when he wrote “Commit to the LORD what you do, and your plans will succeed.” Solomon also gave a warning when he wrote that pride will bring about destruction and that a self-aggrandizing spirit will lead to failure. Your grandpaa knows that he has too often fallen into the ego trap of wanting to inform guys, gals and kids what he has done versus defaulting to always telling guys, gals and kids to commit everything that they do and what they say to God and . . . what takes place when after a guy, gal or kid has totally committed everything to God is that the guy, gal or kid will have God doing what needs to be done through him or her versus the guy, gal or kid doing what he or she wants to do. Your grandmaa and grandpaa are grateful that God has their lives – and your lives, firmly established. Having a firmly establish life in God through having believed in and accepting what Jesus did on a cross will lead a kid – or a guy or gal, to innately want to serve God.
Proverbs 16 (991)