June 16

Jun 16 - Today from Proverbs 16 we look at verse 20
"Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord."

What a picture. Twelve four and five year old children sitting at their little tables working on a rather complex craft. There were various steps to be taken, and they had to be done correctly and in order or the end product wouldn't much resemble the example sitting on the teacher's desk. Can you see it? If you were ever a parent or a teacher, you can already begin to imagine . . .
We need to remove the thought of money from the terms prosper and prosperity if we are ever going to grow in our understanding of God's ways. Money is such a narrow and misleading definition. To prosper means to succeed. Prosperity is having all one needs in order to succeed. Success is properly accomplishing a task. It is much broader than mere money and finances. The world system has placed money and power as the ultimate level of prosperity, not God. God's goal is much higher. His example for us sets before Him.
The twelve children in the little illustration above have a task before them. In order to successfully accomplish the task, they must follow careful instruction from the teacher. They must carefully perform each step of the process in the proper sequence in order to prosper - that is, to produce something closely resembling the teacher's example. If they are an average group of four and five year olds, how many do you suppose will prosper? One? Maybe two? Oh, I am sure mom will love and adore whatever they take home from the class - mother's are like that. But to the rest of the world, the effort meant very little.
The value of the effort for the child is called experience. If the child has a desire to prosper in the tasks at hand, the child will grow to receive instruction. The better the child gets at this, the more the child will prosper in his education and abilities. But if the child remains to be too proud, too impatient or too distracted to receive instruction, he will be bringing junk home to mama all his life. A child might like to think they know how, to believe they can do it faster, to exercise their independence by doing it themselves - but they will never grow to their potential, they will never truly prosper, until they learn to humble themselves and receive instruction.
There is still some strong-willed child in each of us. There are some areas in our lives where we still believe we can succeed and prosper without God's instruction. We don't have to wait for Him to take us through the process. We can move ahead on our own because we know how to do it ourselves. I am convinced that when we first became believers, God was proud of some of the ‘junk’ we brought home to Him. We were enthusiastic about our relationship, and we wanted so badly to please Him. He was very patient with us, and He saw our potential. But how many years have we claimed to be walking with Him, and we are still taking ‘junk’ home? How many years have we been too proud, too impatient or too distracted to humble ourselves in His presence and patiently listen to His instruction and follow it step by step toward His goals for our lives? Toward the example sitting before Him?
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." -Jer. 29:11. Yes, God has a plan for each of us, and a part of that plan is to prosper us. That doesn't mean He wants to make us all monetarily wealthy. It means that He wants to see that we have everything we need to fulfill His purpose for us. Just as the teacher in the little illustration, God has set the example before us. His Name is Jesus. Jesus is the 'finished product', and step by step God wants us to be transformed into His image. That is prospering. How serious is He about this? Look at the cross. There you will see the fullness of His commitment to our success in life. Isn't He worth receiving instruction from?