Tidbits on Psalms and Proverbs

So I am married! The past four weeks have been a whirlwind to say the least. So many best friends coming from out-of-town for the wedding. The wedding itself. Nine day honeymoon in Hawaii. Two chaotic days packing and saying goodbye in Washington. Road trip in a huge Budget truck down the Arizona. Starting school, renting an apartment... it's been crazy!

I was able to keep up on my first goal of maintaining my reading schedule throughout the wedding/moving weeks, but I failed miserably at my other goal of continuing to blog (at least one or twice) during those weeks as well. So here I am. I did, however, jot down blog notes as I read, so I think I am going to give a brief re-cap of my past few weeks of reading. I finished Psalms and Proverbs right before my wedding, and have now read the rest of II Kings, II Chronicles, all of Isaiah, and many of the minor prophets. My thoughts are below:

Psalm 112 - Redemption - There is a note in my Bible that describes the word redemption as the process of "renewing the image of God in man" - since we have clearly so skewed the image of God with our own sin. I love that. Psalm 112 talks about what life is like for the righteous man - one who has been redeemed by God and is able to reflect Him well. This man is not perfect, but "delights in (God's) commands) (v.1) and his "righteousness endures forever" (v.3), as he passes his ways on to future his offspring.

Psalm 135 - His name is beautiful - Psalm 135:3b says "...sing to his name, for it is pleasant." It can also be translated "...sing to his name, for he is beautiful." I love that. God is pleasant. His name is pleasant. We can dwell there. He is beautiful and there is power, joy, and peace in his beautiful name. We can sing to his name, call on his name, rest on his name, rely on his name. And it is good.

Proverbs - The Fool - As I was counting down the days to my wedding, I was also finishing up the book of Proverbs. While I definitely paid attention to Proverbs 31 and the example of the ideal Godly wife (and have already been convicted by this passage multiple times in my brief three and a half weeks of being married), I also found myself drawn to the theme of the fool in Proverbs - and found myself taking careful mental notes on how NOT to be a fool. I can't remember now the exact details I focused on, but I found myself analyzing my own life. Am I quick to anger? Impatient? Am I ever lazy? Do I ever refuse to heed wise counsel? Do I judge? Do I fail to do my work in a timely manner? These are the faults and traits of the fool. Instead I long to be wise and to receive the gift of wisdom from the Lord. I hope to gain wisdom, as the Proverbs advise: "Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge" (Proverbs 22:17).