Will Vaus

Today in our journey along Route 66 we are visiting the book of Proverbs... Author   The book of  Proverbs  is one of three biblical books ascribed to Solomon. According to the Talmud, Solomon wrote  The Song of Songs , when he was young, the wisdom of  Proverbs  in midlife, and  Ecclesiastes  in old age. Some sections of  Proverbs  are ascribed to other authors: Agur son of Jakeh, and King Lemuel. Modern scholars doubt whether Solomon wrote any part of  Proverbs.  Neither the language nor the content fits the time of Solomon.    Scholars today view  Proverbs  as a collective work, containing the wisdom of mostly anonymous wise men and women from many walks of life and different periods of time. Some scholars think the authors of  Proverbs  were the sages who served as counselors, bureaucrats, and teachers during the Divided Kingdom. Perhaps, all three wisdom books of the Old Testament ( Proverbs, ...

One of the most oft-repeated phrases in this prophetic book is: “The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah…” It appears over thirty times in 52 chapters. Of course, this phrase is not confined to the book of Jeremiah. We read that… The word of the Lord came to Abram… (Genesis 15:1) The word of the Lord came to Samuel… (1 Samuel 15:10) The word of the Lord came to Nathan… (2 Samuel 7:4) The word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad… (2 Samuel 24:11) The word of the Lord came to Solomon… (1 Kings 6:11) The word of the Lord came to the prophet… (1 Kings 13:20) The word of the Lord came to Jehu… (1 Kings 16:1) The word of the Lord came to Elijah… (1 Kings 18:1) The word of the Lord came to Shemaiah… (2 Chronicles 12:7) The word of the Lord came to Isaiah… (Isaiah 38:4) And Ezekiel says, over and over again, “The word of the Lord came to me.” Where would the people of God have been without the word of the Lord, especially in the time of Jeremiah, w...

Often it is hard for us to step into the new thing that God is doing because we are still clinging to the old. The Jews in exile probably could not imagine that God was going to do as great a thing with them as he had done when he brought their ancestors out of slavery in Egypt. The Jews in exile probably worshipped the glory days of Israel as they were told stories about the reign of David and his son Solomon. They could not conceive that they themselves were going to be part of a new story of God’s great work. What are you holding on to from your past? Is it keeping you from stepping into the new thing that God wants to do with you and through you? Along with the Apostle Paul, and every child of God who has ever lived or will live, we need to focus on one thing today. But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phil...