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Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 196 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
Proverbs 6:1-5 Lessons for Daily Life
Thank you for joining us for our 7 days a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 196 of our Trek and yesterday we finished our hike to the summit up Rationalize Mountain as we learned to make better and more logical decisions ourselves, and to assist with others in making better decisions. Today and for this next week, we will remain in camp digging for nuggets of wisdom as we continue our exploration into the book of Proverbs, starting with Chapter 6.  If you miss any days of our Wisdom-Trek episodes, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.



We are recording our podcast from our studio at ‘Home2’ in Charlotte, NC.   Friday evening Paula and I had the privilege of watching a live performance of Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’ put on by the Intune School of Arts.  The acting and singing were excellent.  They also had a short gospel message at the end, which tied in well with the storyline of the play.



Today and throughout this next week, we will remain in camp and dig through Proverbs chapter 6 for nuggets of wisdom.  As if we were digging for real gold, the lessons learned may be difficult, and we will soon find out that all of us have dirty hands, and mud caked under our fingernails.  We will also learn, though, how we can wash that dirt away and be completely clean.  Proverbs Chapter 6 is referred to as:
 
 
Lessons for Daily Life
Today we will dig through Verses 1-5 – let’s first look at Verses 1-2

1 My child, if you have put up security for a friend’s debt
or agreed to guarantee the debt of a stranger—
2 if you have trapped yourself by your agreement
and are caught by what you said—

In this poem, Solomon compares our mistakes to a hunter’s trap. When a hunter works, he may build traps. He hides his traps so that animals will not see them. He hopes that the animals will fall into his traps. Then he can kill and eat the animals.

In our lives, our mistakes can be like traps. Perhaps we want to do the right thing. Perhaps our plans are good. But our best plans could fail. Then, like a trap, our plans can destroy us.



This passage specifically refers to co-signing on the debt for another person. In verse 1, Solomon’s son had good intentions. He wanted to help his friend because his friend did not have good credit to borrow money on his own. The son trusted the friend. The son tried to do the right thing, but in the end, the friend was unable to pay.  In the agreement, Solomon’s son promised to pay if his friend could not.  The lender now expects Solomon’s son to pay. The son’s plan failed and now he is in danger.



Sometimes we place ourselves in danger. Our own choices can become like traps, even when they seem so harmless at first.  In today’s society, many people suffer from all sorts of addictions.  This could be alcohol, dangerous drugs, pornography, sex outside of marriage, or even foods.  Originally, you just want to enjoy yourself, even if you realize that it is outside of God’s precepts. Once addicted to the substance or behavior, when you try to stop, you will fail. Now you must turn back to God and ask Him to help you. God is greater than all addictions, of course, and he can free you from those addictions, but we still may suffer some of the physical, emotional and spiritual consequences.  As you ask God to free you from the traps that you may find yourself in,