Word for the week
You can regularly receive our Word for the Week by
contacting the IBC Hamburg office
“for receiving instruction in prudent behaviour, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young” (Proverbs 1:3-4)
Prudent Planning
Dear Friends and Members of IBC,
Have you ever looked back at the week/month/year and wondered where all the time went? In this week’s Word for the Week, we will turn to the Proverbs, that wonderful book of wisdom, and consider the importance of prudent planning.
One of the first things we learn about getting wisdom, is that it is closely linked to prudence. Proverbs 8:12 says: “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.” Prudence is one of the words used almost exclusively in the book of Proverbs and rarely found outside it. It is similar to wisdom. The modern definition is: “showing good judgement in avoiding risks and uncertainties”. (Cambridge Dictionary) It can also mean ‘marked by wisdom’. Nowadays, we often use it in financial settings. We might say “It would be prudent not to spend all your money as soon as you get it.”
A prudent person, not a prude, is a ‘person with a plan’. Such a person understands that there needs to be some kind of strategy for living. A prudent husband, for example, begins to think about what he wants his family to look like, and together with his wife, starts taking practical steps to achieve it.
It’s so easy to go through life reacting to everything. Just getting through it. And if that always happens, there will be
even more uncertainty than there normally is. Maybe we think to ourselves “Well, I know that at some point, when I have time, when this current busy time is over, I will have a whole day when I can sit down and hopefully think about the future”.
But that never happens if we don’t make it a priority. That doesn’t mean we already need to be considering prospective universities for our two-year-old. But with both wisdom and prudence, there is an intentionality involved. We deliberately reflect over things.
We might sit down with our wives or husbands and talk about what our values are, our hopes, the family traditions we would love to have. Then we take practical steps towards them. And the same principle applies if we are single. We consider the kind of life we want to live before God. The values we want to shape our decisions, the friendships we want to cultivate. How we will use our time, gifts and resources.
So, as we head into this week, let me encourage us to give careful thought to our steps ahead – remaining safe in the knowledge that God will establish them if we commit them into His hands.
God bless you
James
