My son, keep my words
and store up my commands within you.
2 Keep my commands and you will live;
guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.
3 Bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and to insight, “You are my relative.”
Too often, we disagreed and perhaps even fought with our siblings, cousins, and family when we were younger. Sometimes, we wonder, how our family can still ‘get on our nerves’. I once heard someone share, “Our family knows exactly how to push our buttons to make us upset, because they are the ones who put them there.” Getting along with the siblings and family can be tough at times, but when someone outside of the family starts to disagree or quarrel we find ourselves standing up quick for our family. As far as I knew, my older brother was the only one allowed to pick on me – he didn’t allow the other kids at school or in the neighborhood to give me a hard time, that was his job. This family loyalty, the family bond is the image we see here portrayed as our connection with Wisdom. Wisdom is to be our family, we are to keep It close and connected. Wisdom may tell us some things that are hard to hear, It may challenge us at times, but in the end, Wisdom is family.
May we keep God’s wisdom close, know and understand it as well as we know our own family.
Matt