Simple Minded and Lacking Good Judgement

Proverbs 9: 4b-6, 16-18

“Come in with me,” she urges the simple.
    To those who lack good judgment, she says,⁵ “Come, eat my food,
    and drink the wine I have mixed.
⁶ Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live;
    learn to use good judgment.”

¹⁶ “Come in with me,” she urges the simple.
    To those who lack good judgment, she says,
¹⁷ “Stolen water is refreshing;
    food eaten in secret tastes the best!”
¹⁸ But little do they know that the dead are there.
    Her guests are in the depths of the grave.

I was looking up some bible verses about food and comfort and noticed something interesting in these verses.  This is a chapter talking about wisdom as if she is a person asking people to come into her home.

In the first verses (4-6) she urges the "simple" and "those who lack good judgment" to eat food & drink wine and THEN says to leave your "simple ways" and "use good judgment".

In the second set of verses (16-18) again she urges the "simple" and "those who lack good judgment" and AGAIN mentions food & water.  But she skips right over being simple minded and having good judgment and goes straight to the truth. "Little do they know... her guests are in the depths of the grave."

I don't think this is a coincidence knowing what our society lives for.  We live to satisfy ourselves.  And given the epidemic we have of obesity, we satisfy ourselves with food. (This is also called gluttony, but that's another blog for another day.)  I know I turn to food for all kinds of emotions: sad, tired, angry, even happy! Sometimes a little alcohol to calm me down from a rough/stressful day (usually involving children!).  I would probably turn to alcohol more often except that I think about how many calories and sugar it contains.  And then I think about how "out of control" I can get if I drink too much. And I also think about the after affects/how I'll feel the next day!  What's funny is, food has the similar affects and yet I don't have this mind set as ingrained in my head about food as I do about alcohol...  And maybe that's because alcohol is a "drug" and can be very bad for you. 

You know we've all heard over and over to not drink when you're pregnant and don't drink and drive. These things are ingrained in your brain!  But how many commercials or advertisements do you see talking about how food is bad for you?   We may see a few news reports on certain foods: sugar & diabetes, fried foods & cholesterol, etc. But I guarantee you that during that 7 minute commercial break you're going to see AT LEAST 1 Food Commercial!!  And it is NOT going to be advertising health foods!  So, even though food is necessary for our survival, food IS OUR DRUG OF CHOICE in America!  People are dying from eating too much food and too much of the WRONG food!  I mean, you would think that a marathon runner would be the golden standard of health.  But how many do you see or hear about getting injured, getting dehydrated, having heart attacks.  A lot of this comes down to what they are putting into their bodies.

If we could just change our mindset about food.  Food is our Energy that sustains our life.  Food is not intended for pleasure or to heal us from pain (emotional or physical).  If you eat too much food you will feel terrible afterwards!  You will feel tired. You will feel dehydrated (even though you may not recognize that you are thirsty. You will probably end up eating more instead of drinking water).  You will feel bloated. And you will feel fat.... because you will be getting fat if you continue to over eat what your body needs on a daily basis.

According to these Bible Verses we are simple minded and we lack good judgment when it comes to what we eat and drink. And I wholeheartedly agree!  We don't think through the process of what we are doing to our bodies when we eat and drink food that is not good for us.  (To think through our biological processes is very technical!! Definitely not a simple thought.) Instead of thinking through a meal plan; Instead of making a recipe made with real, non processed foods; Instead of thinking about the nutrients our bodies actually need, we simply stuff our faces with what is convenient, quick and will satisfy our wants (not our needs) in that moment.  In that moment we may be happy and want to celebrate! But why do we have to have ice cream to celebrate?  Why not get together and hang out with friends to celebrate?! I mean, that's what we do for our birthdays, right? And when t comes to our food CHOICES: We all know that we can't live on ice cream for every meal of every day.  But we sure could if we had to, right??  But why do we think that we can live on cheese nips, 100 calorie Oreo snack packs, sugar & milk filled Frappuccino's (These are dessert people!!! Not Your Morning Coffee!!!) 

²⁹ Then God said, “Look! I have given you every seed-bearing plant throughout the earth and all the fruit trees for your food. ³⁰ And I have given every green plant as food for all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, and the small animals that scurry along the ground—everything that has life.” And that is what happened. Genesis 1:29-30 tells us what we need: plants and fruit.  Before sin the animals and the humans got along. They didn't eat each other.  But in Leviticus 11 it talks about the clean & unclean animals.  Animals that are good and healthy to eat vs what is not good to eat.  (There's a lot more that goes into that, but we'll leave it as that since we are working slowly on our simple minds ;)

It sure does look like understanding and figuring out what is good and healthy to eat requires some research and discipline.  It is challenging because it is somewhat complex.  We are lazy people. We do not use good judgment when it comes to food, alcohol, what our bodie's need, what we mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually need.

But if you desperately want to be healthy, you will make the extra effort to research why you eat when you shouldn't, research why foods aren't good for you (if what I said wasn't enough), research what you should eat, research when you should eat. 

"Leave your simple ways behind, and begin to live;
    learn to use good judgment.”

When your body is healthy it's easier to make your mind & spirit healthy and vice versa.

Measuring Up

I feel the need to give out a big dose of encouragement today.  I happen to have a couple of people specifically on my mind, but I figure, there's a reason for that. And this may be meant for just those two, but I have a strong feeling that MOST of us need to hear this.


If you are feeling down on yourself in any way, why? Do you feel your not good enough? You don't look good enough? You're not a good enough mom or wife or daughter or friend? Maybe you think you just don't do enough.... to be good enough. 


How is it that we get into this negative frame of mind to begin with?  Usually something has happened or someone has said something.  there are the obvious thing like, you're fired from a job or an abusive person in your life (parent, friend, teacher, boss, etc) said some terribly mean things to you.  Either way, it was some thing that was important to you, like a job or a position, or it was said by someone important to you.  What's funny is that, it may not have been done in a negative way or said directly to you.... Let me give an example.


You wanted so badly to be promoted to a certain position, but the company passed you up for someone outside the company.  You ended up getting fed up and quitting and finding a different job later.  But being passed up has stayed with you and made you feel that maybe you just weren't good enough, even though the job you found was even better for you.


Maybe a mentor gave you constructive criticism. You can't believe that they don't respect you and don't realize how much you look up to them and how much they have hurt you by telling you "you need to do this better".  When in reality what they actually said was "try to improve this".  You end up moving on and not talking to that  mentor much anymore. What you don't know is that that mentor recommended you to that place you moved onto. And they recommended you improve that one thing because "that" was just what they were looking for.


We make up these scenarios in our head (especially us ladies!!) and we just think of all the ways that we don't measure up!  But what... or who... is that we are trying to measure up to?  Maybe it's ourselves, our own expectations of keeping up with the house work or home work or workouts or food prepping and planning, etc.  But if you really dig deep.... are you trying to keep up with your friend who is always on top of her house work? your colleague who is always on top of her homework? That girl on Facebook who posts her COMPLETED food prepping every Sunday?


What you don't know or don't see is the OTHER areas in their lives where they do struggle!  Maybe that person who is always on top of her housework has trouble socializing and feels lonely and that she has no friends. Maybe your colleague who is always on top of her homework has marital problems and getting her work done is keeping her from dealing with her husband.  Maybe that girl on Facebook who is always prepping her food has an eating disorder and doesn't think she's pretty or good enough for anyone.


DON'T BELIEVE THE ENEMY'S LIES!  Lies that you are not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, talented enough…or simply just not enough period. It is time to overcome the lies of the enemy with the promises of God. You are who God says you are! You have what God says you have! You are His holy, chosen, forgiven, and dearly loved child that is equipped by God, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and enveloped by Jesus Christ.


I know that reading this and agreeing with this are much harder to actually, truly BELIEVE THIS and FEEL IT in your SOUL that it is truth. So I'm going o repeat it, but YOU need to repeat it, outloud, to yourself, as well, as many times as you need to until you believe it.


Let me tell you a little of my story. 


I have a pretty good head on my shoulders. I think positively most of the time.  I'm pretty modest, humble, but I think that is also because I have a decent combination of thoughts that say "you look horrible today because your workout has left you with frizzy hair and the lack of sleep has left you with some night purple circles under your eyes."  But then I have those days when I get to dress up, put on some make up, some cute clothes and heels and cute jewelry. I even get to blow dry my hair!  (That's an accomplishment with 4 kids and living in workout clothes 5 days a week).  But on those days I look in the mirror and think, "Man, I really am looking good today!"


But, when I got married my husband would tell me all the time, "You're Hot!".  It was a running joke because when ever one of us would say "You're Hot" the other would respond with "You're Sexy".  It was fun and cute, but one day I had this realization.  My husband actually meant it!!!!  I mean, he would say this "you're hot" or "you're sexy" after I worked out with the frizzy hair and purple circles under my eyes!!!  And this was 4 years after we had been married!!  I think God finally opened my eyes to the TRUTH that My Husband Truly thought/thinks that I am Hot! Even when I think I'm not! 


This is the same way with God.  God created you! You are His precious child! Don't you love your child?  Don't you think your child is beautiful even when they are at their messiest?  Don't you think they're cute even when they've done something wrong? (So you have to hide your face from them when you laugh after you've just scolded them.)


God Loves You The Way You Are!! 


And that is ALL THAT MATTERS!!! 


This life here on earth is soooooooo temporary.  God put us here to love Him. 


It takes our kids a while to realize how much we love them (usually when they become parents themselves, right?)  So don't feel bad if you it takes you a long time to realize that God Truly Does Love Every Single Part Of You and Truly Has Forgiven Every Bad Thing You've Done.  My prayer is that you have this same realization one day.  I pray that you, one day soon, KNOW that YOU. ARE. WORTHY. IN GOD'S EYES.


It is our responsibility to take care of our bodies and the things God has given us, but if your mind and spirit are not in the right place, you cannot take care of your physical body properly.


Remember, we have ALL FALLEN SHORT of the Glory of God.  So don't compare yourself to others!  They have fallen short, too. Just maybe in a different area than you.  Instead compare yourself to God's example, but give yourself Grace, forgive your own short comings.  If JESUS, part man part God, PERFECT in every way, can FORGIVE YOU!!! YOU CAN FORGIVE YOURSELF.


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Y'all be Healthy, but more importantly, Be Happy!