Kept by the Covenant

Proverbs 7:5 KJV — That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.

Your Covenant with wisdom keeps you safe from that which is outside the Covenant.

Under the old Covenant, your ability to keep it was what kept you safe.

Under the new Covenant, Jesus’ ability to keep His Covenant with you is what keeps you safe, protected and provided for.

That’s what keeping you.

Make sure you activate this reality by mixing it with faith and expecting it to be so for you.

Provide your meat

Proverbs 6:8 KJV — Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest.

The ant doesn’t receive her meat in the summer.

The ant doesn’t try to get her meat in the summer.

She provides it.

This verse speaks of abundance and the expectation of providing for one’s needs.

The ant goes out and gets what she needs…and so can you.

Don’t even start

Proverbs 5:4 KJV — But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.

The end determines the beginning.

The end defines whether or not you should begin the journey.

The start may be smooth as honey, but if the end is bitter as wormwood, don’t even start.

On promotion

Proverbs 4:8 KJV — Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.

The key to promotion isn’t self-promotion.

Instead, promoting and honouring wisdom will lead to wisdom promoting and honouring you.

Remembering gravity

Proverbs 3:1 KJV — My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

Gravity is one of God’s laws that governs our physical experience on earth.

It’s not the supreme law, but one a number of physical laws e.g law of aerodynamics.

You don’t have to remember or even be aware of gravity in order for it to affect you.

There are other laws at work in the world, such as the law of sin and death. There are also laws like the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:2).

The law of aerodynamics can enable the experience of flying, one that isn’t facilitated solely by the law of gravity.

The law of the spirit has set us free from the law of sin and death.

Ignorance of these laws doesn’t stop them existing.

And forgetting about the laws doesn’t help you benefit from them.

The Lord gives wisdom…

Proverbs 2:6 KJV — For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

…but you need to ask for it.

Asking isn’t about God’s ego or meanness.

Asking is about your free will and God’s inability to violate His Word in forcing you to do anything against your will…even if He’s trying to bless you.

Take the limits off God. Ask Him for the things He is desperately trying to get to you.

Before we get to how

Proverbs 1:29 KJV — For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

God is not a puppetmaster. Everything God has provided by grace must be chosen.

You have agency and freewill.

The gap between God’s provision and your enjoyment of it is merely a decision.

Before we get to how, start with choosing to walk in the fullness of everything God has for you.

Wisdom is taught

Proverbs 31:1 KJV — The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.

Wisdom is taught, not told.

It’s broken down into bite-size pieces, reinforced from multiple angles, repeated over and over and over again.

That’s what it looks like to be instructed in wisdom.

God sees

Luke 7:44 KJV — And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.

Jesus noticed all the things that Simon hadn’t done, but he still sat down to eat with him.

Jesus knew exactly who the woman was, but He still allowed her to anoint Him.

God sees more than you think. Don’t mistake His apparent inaction for ignorance and apathy.

His stillness is deeper than it appears.

What about Moses?

Genesis 6:3 KJV — And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

This verse is where God makes a covenant with man, granting him a minimum of 120 years of life.

This verse follows the genealogy of Genesis 5 which lists people living for many hundreds of years, including Methuselah who lived for 969 years.

This verse is an expression of God’s grace. He is so good that despite man’s wickedness, He is establishing the provision for man’s longevity on the earth through placing a minimum lifespan of 120 years.

However: what about Moses?

Specifically, Moses – who lived to 120 years – writing in Psalm 90:10 about man’s days being 70 or 80 years.

The answer is quite simple when you understand the difference between law and grace.

Roughly speaking, the story of humanity can be broken down into

  • 2000 years of Grace (Adam to Moses)
  • 2000 years of Law (Moses to Jesus)
  • 2000+ years of Grace (Jesus)

The covenants God made under Grace precede and supersede the covenants made under the time of the Law.

And when you see in Galatians 3:24-27 that the Law was simply a schoolmaster, designed to bring us unto Jesus, you can see the statement about 70 or 80 years old was simply a temporary placeholder that is superseded by the covenant we have in Jesus.

All this to say that the question of Moses writing about 70 or 80 years, when he himself lived to 120 years, isn’t a contradiction in Scripture, but a collaboration of Scripture.

It’s a moment of tension, like the burning bush, where two things that don’t make sense are an invitation to enter into the revelation of Truth that exists outside the limits of your understanding.