Proverbs 30:15-23

Well, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. Hey, I don't do this very often, but this is one of those things that Facebook and YouTube and et cetera just kind of lets go by the wayside. If you could hit a thumbs up or share this with a friend or subscribe, that would be really helpful. There's lots of content on YouTube and Facebook and all these other platforms and good content that actually adds value to your day is really slim margin of it. This is one of those things I'd encourage you to hit that like or subscribe button.
Put it out to others. Well, why don't we go ahead and have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Oh, I should say, one of my friends at church got this for me. Pastor, warning. Let's see, it says the same on the front and the back. Anything you say or do could be used in a sermon. So he got, I drink coffee with the farmers a lot of the mornings. And one of the guys who works construction got it for me as a joke.
So why don't we go ahead and pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day and we thank you for your word. Lord we pray that as we read your word this morning that you would teach us, please care for us, please watch over us in Jesus' name, amen. Here we go, Proverbs chapter 30 beginning at verse 15. This is, again, we're gonna continue in this wisdom of Agur.
The leech has two daughters, Giv and Giv. There are three things that are never satisfied. Four, never say enough. The grave, the barren womb, the earth that is not satisfied with water, and the fire never says enough. You know, there's, well, each always has two daughters, give and give. There's no, there's no fulfilling of it. There's no end to it. There's other things here that are no end. So these are, this part's kind of the numerical Psalms, or numerical Proverbs, where it will say four, yes, three, or five, yes, even six, and things like that. There are three things that are never satisfied. Four never say enough. What are they?
The grave, the womb, the earth that is never satisfied with water, and fire never says enough. There's always going to be more people dying. This year, next year, the year after that, she'll is never satisfied. Hell always wants more souls. The gravest never says, ah, I'm full. The barren womb, the woman who longs and desires to have a child, is never satisfied until that child comes.
The earth is not satisfied with water. You're thinking of, he's in a more arid region than I am, but in Israel, It can rain, and rain, and rain, and rain, and rain, and the water will soak it up. Suck it up, because it needs the water. And also fire. Fire never says enough. It just gets bigger, and bigger, and hotter, and hotter. It will just consume, and consume, and consume. Verse 17.
The eye that mocks his father and scorns obedience to his mother, the ravens of the valley will pick it out, and the young eagles will eat it. Oh, that's pretty graphic imagery, isn't it? The eye of the one who scorns his father, mocks his father, and scorns obedience to his mother. It says that the ravens will eat his eye out. It's meant to be graphic and ugly imagery.
And even though it's not meant to be literal, the point is that we need to honor our parents. The fifth commandment is that we shall honor your father and your mother. It's the first commandment with a promise that it might go well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. When Paul restates this in the book of Ephesians, children obey your parents and the Lord. This is right.
There will be a long life on your parents. It gets tough. It gets tough as you get older. It's tough when you're a child. but it changes a little bit in how we honor our parents as we get older. This is something I struggle with and I know many of you do as you think about how you are to honor your aging parents. Verse 18 and 19. There are three things which are too wonderful for me. Yes, four which I do not understand.
The way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a young man, a man with a virgin. And there's this beauty that happens of an eagle soaring in the sky as it hovers and it goes on the drifts and it seems to glide over everything. And then there's the serpent on a rock. How does it move without having any feet or legs? How does it get up onto a rock to get the sun and then soak up the energy of the sun?
He says, this is an amazing thing to see. He says, another amazing thing to see is a ship at sea. I love being on ships. I was in the Navy. I loved being in the Navy. If I wasn't called to be a pastor, I would still be in the Navy. And the way a ship is able to ride up and down in the waves and is able to to pierce through a wave and is able to navigate the waters. It's pretty incredible that we can make such huge ships with buoyancy.
Another thing that's incredible to see is, and we see this when we have things like family camp and stuff, is the way of a young man with a woman. You have kids who are flirting and high school kids chasing each other around. When I was in college, I was already married when I was at college, but watching my friends as they would try to learn about their hopefully future spouse. It was amazing to see how God would bring people together.
Verse 20. This is the way of an adulterous woman. This is a more difficult one. This is the way of an adulterous woman. She eats and wipes her mouth and says, I have done no wickedness. It's pretty graphic imagery, isn't it? It's this idea that the adulterous woman is like, you know, someone who's caught eating honey and it's literally dripping off from her mouth.
I haven't done anything wrong. Yeah, you have. The evidence is there. But often this is how we are with our sin. We act like we haven't done anything wrong. And there are ways in which people do this in private and ways in which people do this publicly. The adulterous woman, this is most likely talking about the harlot, engages in her craft and just doesn't even care about the immorality of it.
And yet, how often do I justify my sin? How often do I do this with my own anger and I say, well, I haven't sinned in my anger. Yes, I have. I just got mad with my kids. It's something insignificant. How often do we sin with our mouths, saying harsh things, spreading gossip and slander?
And we just, ah, it's okay. And we justify it away. I haven't done anything wrong. That's the temptation with sin is that it's just, I haven't done anything wrong. All the while, everybody else is looking at us and saying, the evidence is all over you, man. Let's go to the next three verses. For three things, the earth is perturbed.
Yes, for four, it cannot bear up a servant when he reigns. a fool when he is filled with food, a hateful woman when she is married, and a maidservant who succeeds her mistress." This has turned the world on its head. There's things that disturb us, things that aren't right, and we see this world history, when we look at leaders and rulers, when servants become the kings, when they usurp their power. This is the entire point of if you've ever watched the kids movie Robin Hood. There's King John and then there's the, I forget his name, in the Disney movie, you know, he's this weak little figure and he's not the real king. He's a servant and he's taken over the rule and he's overtaxing the people, burdening the people, stealing from the people.
The servant who gets a big head and thinks that they can run everything. The other thing is a fool when he's filled with food. We know what this is like. The psalmist cries this out. We looked at that a few months ago of when the psalmist looks and says, why do the wicked get what the righteous should have? It doesn't make sense, Lord. When the fool is filled with food and you see the righteous hungering, it makes you think, hold on, this is disturbing. Something is wrong.
A hateful woman when she's married. There are lots of women, wonderful women, who would love to be married and cannot find a good spouse. And then the question is, well, why do these other women get to be married? Or why do these other guys get to be married? And yet I can't find a spouse.
It doesn't seem right. and a maidservant when she secedes her mistress. Go look at Anne Boleyn. Go study the life of King Henry VIII and it's not right. It's not right when a king would send away his wife and marry his mistress instead. It's evil and wrong. Let's go ahead and pray.
Father we thank you so much that you'd show us what injustice and wrong things look like and we thank you that that at the end of the day we can hope in you. We can rest in your wisdom. We can trust you. Lord, we pray that you would let us follow you and keep your words. Father, we pray that you would show us mercy in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus Christ. May you take comfort knowing that he watches every one of your steps, counts every hair on your head. and may you walk in his ways. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.