“These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: But the honour of kings is to search out a matter. The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, And the heart of kings is unsearchable. Take away the dross from the silver, And there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. Take away the wicked from before the king, And his throne shall be established in righteousness. Put not forth thyself in the presence of the king, And stand not in the place of great men: For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; Than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince Whom thine eyes have seen.”
Proverbs 25:1-7 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/pro.25.1-7.KJV
Don’t Lose Heart
As we start getting older, our bodies begin to change.
Muscles might ache. Hair might gradually turn gray. Vision and hearing might eventually get less sharp. And we, or someone we love, might even struggle with significant or devastating health challenges.
The apostle Paul once offered some ageless wisdom to the believers in Corinth, Greece, which can still be helpful for us today:
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”
2 Corinthians 4:16 NIV
Paul knew what it was like to face hard things; he’d been beaten, shipwrecked, snake bitten, and imprisoned.
Earlier in the letter, he’d said, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NIV)
The ripple effects of sin’s existence in the world might frustrate us physically, but it ...