This morning I was reading in the book of Proverbs and something JUMPED off the page at me. Two little words that packed a big punch. Check it out…
“My son, keep my words and STORE UP my commands within you.”, Proverbs 7:1
“Store up” — do we truly remember what we learn from Scripture…storing it away as something that will be needed to sustain us and nourish us in the days to come?
GOD’S WORD HAS PURPOSE
The Bible is not just something we read quickly to be able to check it off our “good Christian” to-do list. God doesn’t just teach us useless facts so that we feel smart and become proud of all we know. I heard a good saying not long ago. It went something like this.
“When the Spirit teaches or reveals something to us,
God will often provide a ‘test’ to see
if we have learned what He wanted us to know.”
Have any of you watched the show “Alaskan Frontier”? I really enjoy watching how those folks survive in an area where the comforts we know are just not available. They work. They work LONG and they work HARD. They plant gardens, hunt for food, and tend animals. They put in the effort storing up the things that will provide sustenance during the bitter, harsh, and long winters. I’d venture to say that they wouldn’t fare very well if they didn’t prepare for the season they know is coming.
Well, “storing-up“ spiritually is as important to the Christian as storing up food is to the folks living on the Alaskan Frontier. Just as the farmer stores up food knowing that the long, hard winter is coming, so the Christian stores up wisdom knowing that life will bring challenges and trials.
God tells us not to be surprised “at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you” (1 Peter 4:12). God is warning us that the “winter” seasons of life are coming, and He’s taught us through His word how to be prepared for those trying times.
“STORE-UP!” brothers and sisters! Get in the Word. Read it. Study it. Meditate on it. Memorize it. “Winter” times are comin’. Don’t let them find you unprepared.