Encouraging - Wisdom

Read Proverbs 2:1-22

The first way to get wisdom is to store up God’s commands (1). The second way is turn your ear to wisdom (2). And the third way is to call out for insight (3). To put these ways into familiar language, we could say we get wisdom by reading our Bibles (storing up God’s commands), listening to sound advice (turning ears to wisdom), and praying to God (calling out for insight). The second and third are nearly interchangeable because when God gives us wisdom, He most often gives it through other people.

Kevin DeYoung, Just Do Something (Moody, Chicago, IL: 2009), 91.

Encouraging - Principle of the Path

Direction – not intention –determines our destination.

The direction you are currently traveling – relationally, financially, spiritually, and the list goes on and on – will determine where you end up in each of those respective arenas. This is true regardless of your goals, your dreams, your wishes, or your wants. The principle of the path trumps all of those things. Your current direction will determine your destination. And like every principle, you can leverage this one to your advantage or ignore it to your disadvantage. Just as there are paths that have led us to places we never intended to be, there are paths that lead us away from those places as well.

Andy Stanley, The Principle of the Path: How to Get from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be (Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN: 2008) 14-15.