Sunday Scripture

 

For this week's Sunday Scripture series, I'm continuing on with my simple study of a little devotional journal titled Reflections: The Woman God Sees, by Jane L. Fryar -- a journal gifted me by some dear young friends.   It has a daily devotional one works through -- about a month's worth or so.  The daily devotions were a blessing to me when I worked through the book, so up through November I had been sharing them here.  I switched to something more seasonal for December and now -- for a few weeks at least -- I am back to these again.  There are four more pages after this, so we will see what I come up with next!

The Scripture for today is Psalm 51:6.   Here's the assignment: "True wisdom includes insights into life's real meaning and the ability to deal with life's problems in godly ways, relying on Jesus for forgiveness and salvation.  As you look back over your life so far, what wisdom has your Lord taught, placing it in your 'secret heart'?"  I chose to SOAP Psalm 51:6 as I considered this assignment.

S= "Behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part thou shalt make me know wisdom."  (Psalm 51:6)

O= I thought it might be instructive to look at this verse in the ESV also:

 "Behold, You delight in truth in the inward being, and You teach me wisdom in the secret heart."

 The verse begins with "Behold"!  Pay attention!

A cross-reference for "the inward being" is 

"Who has put wisdom in the inward parts?  or given understanding to the mind?"  (Job 38:36, ESV)

Spurgeon, in the Treasury of David, quotes George Swinnock: "A great French pear is called le bon Chretien, the good Christian, because they say it is never rotten at the core."

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Now you just know I had to dig a little deeper to find out more about this.  Turns out the variety of pear he's referring to is actually the good old Bartlett pear most of us are familiar with.  And I'm not 100% sure, because I seldom buy pears, but I dare say I have tasted at least one that was in fact rotten at the core.

I was surprised when I searched for the name of this pear to find that it's actually called Williams Bon Chretien.  I read on the Taste France site: "Williams Bon Chrétien’ is a fruitful collaboration between both sides of the Channel. Let’s start with ‘Bon Chrétien’, meaning ‘Good Christian’ in French: in the 15th century, St Francis of Paola is said to have gifted King Louis XI of France a pear seed when he came to visit him on his deathbed. It then later made an appearance in England at the end of the 17th century, where it was popularised by a gardener named Williams. Voilà! Centuries of cultivation followed, and the Williams pear as we know it today is the star of French orchards!" 

But, in 1765 in England, this pear was first discovered in Aldermaston, Berkshire. It was sold commercially by  nurseryman Richard Williams of Turnham Green near Chiswick in London,  who recognized its great potential and formally named it Williams in 1814.  So now we have two names: Williams and Bon Chretien.

But there's more!   According to the British site Orange Pippin, "Samples were soon sent to the USA where, unlike many European pears of the era, it appeared very well suited to the climate and quickly became an important commercial variety.  However the variety name became lost so a Boston nurseryman who was involved in propagating it, Bartlett, named it after himself."

This is all just a rabbit trail, but I was interested in getting to the bottom of Swinnock's quote.   Hope others find this almost as fascinating as I did.  Let's pray that we all live up to our name as Christians without all the confusion and mixed messages that surround this pear variety!

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But then there's a better quote, this one from Spurgeon himself: "No one can teach our innermost nature but the Lord, but He can instruct us to profit.  The Holy Spirit can write the law on our heart, and that is the sum of practical wisdom.  He can  put the fear of the Lord within, and that is the beginning of wisdom.  He can reveal Christ in us, and He is essential wisdom.  Such poor, foolish, disarranged souls as ours, shall yet be ordered aright, and truth and wisdom shall reign within us."

A= True wisdom includes so much!  I love the phrase in our assignment: "insights into life's real meaning and the ability to deal with life's problems in godly ways".  So, so important!

In answering the question "As you look back over your life so far, what wisdom has your Lord taught, placing it in your 'secret heart'?" I wrote:

Trusting Christ as Savior brings about a change of mind and heart.  As we grow in our faith, we come to understand what life is truly all about and how God wants us to live our lives as His children and representatives.  We do indeed learn to handle life's problems in godly ways, and a large part of that is learning who God is and understanding that He allows difficulty for good purposes of His own and to help us learn to trust Him.

God wants us to be truthful, not only with others, but also with ourselves.  We need to honestly acknowledge our sin and face it before God, confessing and forsaking it.  There is wisdom in making the choice to do this and to have the reverential trust that is "the fear of the LORD."

Another question was asked:"As you look into the mirror, do  you see a wise woman looking back?  The answer is yes, because 'the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.'  (Psalm 111:10)"

I wrote this verse out:

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.  A good understanding have all they that do His commandments; His praise endureth forever."  (Psalm 111:10)

Reverential trust -- the 'fear of the LORD' -- is where wisdom starts.  As we gain understanding, we grow in obedience and bring glory to Him.

P= "Lord, I am so thankful to be Your child!  I am so eternally grateful that You drew me to Yourself and brought me to the place where I trusted Christ as Savior.  You have indeed taught me so much over the years since then.  I'm so thankful that You've helped me learn what life is truly all about and how to handle its problems in godly ways.  I'm blessed that You've helped me to learn more and more about who You are and to learn to trust You accordingly.  I pray that You will help me as I seek to show others the way to You.  I know that You will give wisdom for this, and I praise You for all things in Jesus' name, Amen."

And there is the Sunday Scripture for this week!  Four more to go in this series!