Tied Up

“Follow my advice, my son; always treasure my commands. Obey my commands and live! Guard my instructions as you guard your own eyes. Tie them on your fingers as a reminder. Write them deep within your heart”. Proverbs 7: 1-3

I’ve never owned a boat, but I do enjoy walking along marinas and seeing the various vessels securely tied to the docks. I’ve had the privilege maybe a dozen times or so to actually go out on the water in a boat. No matter what the size, the reason, or the destination each journey began and ended the same way. Someone who knew what they were doing would untie the boat from the dock and immediately the boat would begin to drift from shore. When it was time to return, before we disembarked, the responsible party would take the rope and tie the proper knot to once again secure it to the dock. That rope and knot is what kept that vessel from drifting back out to sea.

Solomon, in the book of Proverbs, tells us more than once that we should tie God’s commands, His Word, around us so that we won’t forget it. This doesn’t mean we walk around with a Bible hanging from our neck or scripture tattooed all over our body. In fact I myself have been guilty of having a Bible in my purse and ignoring the very thing it said. What Solomon is talking about is the idea that God’s Word should be ever before us. It should be our focus, our guide, the first source for answers. If the wisest man in all of scripture knew the human tendency to forget God’s instruction, how much more are you and I at risk of scriptural amnesia? Solomon knew that when we begin to forget God’s Word, we will drift away from the Lord, himself.

God is our safe harbor, our shore and His Word is the rope that keeps us from drifting away into the seas of our own foolishness. When we fail to keep God‘s Word at the center of our life, we will drift away to the lies, desires, and false promises of sin. We like Eve, will fail to notice the subtle twists of the Truth. We too will begin to doubt “if God really said that”. We will begin to justify our poor attitude, unkind response or impatience.

When I think about my spiritual walk with God, I can‘t count the numerous times I’ve drifted away into foolishness. I’m not talking life-altering back-sliding, but rather more subtle drifts that have come as a result of failing to tie that knot and make God’s Word the center of every thought and decision. Everything that does not draw us closer to God, drifts us away from Him.

If you find yourself drifting, it might be time to take a look at what role God’s Word plays in your life. Have you tied it around your neck or finger? Is it in the forefront of your heart and mind? Or is it somewhere, tucked away in the filing cabinet of your brain in some emergency folder, pulled out as a last resort? If you carry a Bible but never read it, it is of no more use than that rope on the boat when it is drifting in the middle of the ocean.

The Focal Point: When I look at this knot, I am reminded to tie God‘s Word around my heart so not to drift away from my Safe Harbor!