Jen’s Dance

Proverbs 18:24
A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 27:9-10
Oil and perfume make the heart glad,
and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.
Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend,
and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity.
Better is a neighbor who is near
than a brother who is far away.

Blessed is a friendship that is based on the solid foundation of Christ. There is a security and trust that is welcomed by many and given by few. We all too often confide in a friend and have them in turn share it with their friends. I am to blame as well. For when I hear something, I sometimes think about who I should tell. Though this isn’t usually my habit, I am thankful that God has spared me from much of this as I strive to push through and overcome this temptation. I only have about 2 people with whom I would share everything with, and in turn never share what they tell me. However, I am quick to trust people which can quickly lead me to my own suffering if they should betray my trust.

God has some ideas about friends and neighbors that are important to remember. His Word comments sometimes about family and neighbors and when they are important. If you are in dire need and your neighbor is available to you but your brother is far away, don’t call your brother. Your neighbor is there for you, as you should be there for your neighbor. When times are tough and you need a helping hand, don’t burden people who can’t help you from a distance, but rather seek those who are near that are able to help you.

But many friends are with the rich and the poor man is deserted by his friend. (Prov. 19:4)   What hard words these are to understand. So many things are said about being poor and rich in the Bible. It is hard to understand why being poor is better than being rich when this world is so demanding of us. There are so many things to buy, to take care of, and then to replace with something better. But being poor also provides freedom. I remember being poor in college. When I didn’t have the money to buy anything, there was great freedom in not having the responsibility of what or when to buy things. What I didn’t have didn’t need worrying about. Though, I do remember times when I wanted things but couldn’t have them. I was not content with being without. I am that way still.

I don’t understand how to be a friend. I have a few friends, but I don’t really know what it takes to stand with my brother or sister in Christ and face persecution. I don’t know what it is like to grieve the loss of a very close friend. Though I am a friend I don’t feel  adequate. I pray to God that he will continue to teach me to be a friend. To be a friend and neighbor that will respond to needs. But here is some direction. Direction that He has graciously given us, that we might be Christ to each other.

Colossians 3:12-17
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

Psalm 21:1 O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,
and in your salvation how greatly he exults!
2 You have given him his heart’s desire
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For you meet him with rich blessings;
you set a crown of fine gold upon his head.
4 He asked life of you; you gave it to him,
length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great through your salvation;
splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6 For you make him most blessed forever; [1]
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the Lord,
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;
your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9 You will make them as a blazing oven
when you appear.
The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,
and fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
and their offspring from among the children of man.
11 Though they plan evil against you,
though they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12 For you will put them to flight;
you will aim at their faces with your bows.

13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power.

A great article by Carolyn McCulley:
Though it was an unusual question, I understood it immediately: “How does a woman appropriately, biblically, humbly, and submissively go about ‘cracking the twigs and stirring the leaves?’ A friend of mine said that it seems like girls end up ‘breaking logs and throwing leaves’ too vigorously at times.” more…

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Proverbs 31:10-31

0 [4] An excellent wife who can find?
She is far more precious than jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,
and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax,
and works with willing hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant;
she brings her food from afar.
15 She rises while it is yet night
and provides food for her household
and portions for her maidens.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She dresses herself [5] with strength
and makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She puts her hands to the distaff,
and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her hand to the poor
and reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household,
for all her household are clothed in scarlet. [6]
22 She makes bed coverings for herself;
her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates
when he sits among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them;
she delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing,
and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently,
but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,
and let her works praise her in the gates.

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! for the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.—“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.”—The Lord is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.—My soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.In Christ Jesus, then, I have reason to be proud of my work for God.—We also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.—I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Neh. 8:10; Isa. 49:13; Isa. 12:2; Ps. 28:7; Isa. 61:10; Rom. 15:17; Rom. 5:11; Hab. 3:18

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.