Daily Bible study excerpts from my book: “Looking for Contentment in All the Wrong Places”
Friends
Proverbs 27:9-10
What gives delight? Hi-Lite
- :9 “a man’s friend gives delight”
What is a good friend like?
- :9 Circle Ointment, perfume and sweetness. Draw a line connecting sweetness to ointment and perfume
- Circle “hearty counsel”, How do you define it?
What is the command in verse 10?
- Underline “Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend, Nor go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity”
The word forsake means to leave for good.
- Put brackets around “better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away”
I think this applies to our Christian family, they would be our “neighbor”. As the wife of a preacher, we have never lived very near our families. Our Christian family has always been the closest when “calamity” strikes in our lives. Of course, our kinfolk come when needed, but it’s our Christian family that we see and know about on a day to day basis.
How can “hearty counsel” (a good talk) with a friend bring you joy?
Do you have a friend in whom you can confide?
Does that relationship bring you joy?
Proverbs 27:6
How can “wounds” from a friend be a good thing?
- Underline “wounds of a friend” and “kisses of an enemy”
- Circle “faithful” and draw a line connecting this word to “wounds of a friend”
- Circle “deceitful” and draw a line connecting this word to “kisses of an enemy”
I don’t recommend using many of the contemporary Bible translations, but they are helpful sometimes in helping to understand a passage better. The Contemporary English Version does this in this particular passage:
“You can trust a friend who corrects you, but kisses from an enemy are nothing but lies.”
We find two requirements in the Proverbs regarding friends:
Proverbs 18:24
- Hi-lite: “a true friend is closer than your own family”
Proverbs 17:17
- Hi-lite: “A friend is always a friend”
Daily Living
“Happiness is not doing what you love, but loving what you do”. It is miserable to be without a purpose or something to do! God knew this when he gave Adam the task of tending the garden.
Genesis 2:15
What was Adam’s job?
- Hi-Lite “to take care of it”, “to look after it”
- Underline “God put man in the Garden”
God could have created a “self-sufficient” garden, one that did not need to be tended. But instead, he gave Adam the job of the gardener. The work is never done in a garden, there is always something to be weeded, planted, pruned and harvested. Why do you think God gave Adam this job? What would have happened to Adam if he had nothing to do? When we don’t have a purpose in life, despair will set in. We should be grateful for the jobs that we have as wives, mothers and women in this world.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
How should you approach any task?
- Hi-lite “do it with your might”
- Underline “whatever your hand finds to do”
- Circle the reason word “for”
Notice the list. What is not found “in the grave”
- Circle “no” and “in the grave”
- Underline “work”, “device”, ‘knowledge”, “wisdom”
A job well done will bring you joy and satisfaction.
2 Thessalonians 3:10-12
Hi-lite the commands.
- :10 “If anyone will not work neither shall he eat”
- :12 “work in quietness and eat their own bread”
What happens when we aren’t working and paying attention to our own business?
Underline:
- :11 “disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies”
- Circle “disorderly” and “busybodies”
Proverbs 31:10-31
Did the “Virtuous Woman” work?
Underline some of the jobs she did.
- :13 “seeks wool and flax”
- :14 “brings her food from afar”
- “15 “provides food for her household” “portion for her maidservants”
- :16 “considers a field and buys it”, “plants a vineyard”
- :19 “stretches out her hands to the distaff”, “her hand holds the spindle” (this is weaving on a loom)
- :20 “extends her hand to the poor”
- :22 “makes tapestry for herself”
- :23 “makes linen garments and sells them”, “supplies sashes to the merchants”
- :27 “watches over the ways of her household”
With what attitude did she do her work? Hi-lite
- :13 “willingly works”
- :14 “rises while it is yet night”
- :18 “perceives that her merchandise is good”
- :21 “not afraid of snow”
- :25 “strength and honor”
- :26 “wisdom”, “kindness”
This beautiful poem was probably written by Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. The “Virtuous Woman” did not exist except in the lines of this poem. It is the kind of woman she wished for Solomon to find as a wife. But the point is, part of her virtue was that she worked at many jobs and yet had a happy attitude about them. We should strive for that kind of mindset.
Finances
1 Timothy 6:10
- Circle the reason words “for” (twice)
The first instance refers to verse 9 which says that “those who desire to be rich fall into temptation…”
- Draw a line connecting the first “for” to this statement in verse 9.
- Hi-lite “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil”
Underline what happens when we love money.
- “strayed from the faith” and “pierced themselves through with many sorrows”
Money does not cause these problems (it is merely a tool to use for good or bad), but “the Love” of it does! Don’t let greediness for money get in the way of raising your family, or contributing to the work of the church.
Proverbs 22:7
When we borrow money, who do we become a servant to?
- Underline “the borrower is servant to the lender”
Is borrowing money wrong? No, it is like money, a tool to use in our daily lives, but beware of too much credit. One wise Christian sister once taught me, “Pay as you go and you’ll know what you owe”
Good Works
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
Doing good works is giving. We usually apply this passage to financial giving, and rightly so, but it can also be applied to doing good works.
Paul “announces” his important statements:
Circle
- :6 “But this I say”
- :7 “So let each one”
HI-lite the emphatic statement
- :6 “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully”
Underline how we are to give
- :7 “as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity”
Circle the reason word
- :7 “for”
Double underline
- :7 “God loves a cheerful giver”
Proverbs 11:25
- Circle “generous soul” and “he who waters”
- Underline “will be made rich”, “will also be watered”
How can doing good works bring us joy?
Can a selfish person be “rich” in God’s eyes?
In this and the last couple of lessons we have seen where joy comes from.
In our next study we will see Reasons To Rejoice.