An Ornament to Grace your Neck

     One of the definitions given for grace on Dictionary.com is, "a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment." This definition applies to the verse in Proverbs 1 that I shared a couple weeks ago and it also applies to the next verse in the Bible where the word grace appears.
     Proverbs 3, verses 21 and 22 say, "My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck." Solomon clearly believed in adorning ourselves with things besides nice clothes and jewelry! Just to review, Proverbs 1:8-9 say "Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck."
     Garlands for our heads, chains and ornaments for our necks. What are these pleasing qualities and attractive endowments that Solomon is referring to? Sound judgment, discernment (or understanding) and our parent's teachings. If you haven't read the first few chapters of the book of Proverbs, I would invite you to do that. Solomon spends a lot of time talking about how godly wisdom, knowledge, understanding, sound judgment and other desirable qualities are way more important than rubies, gold, jewels, or any other wealth.
     Why? My guess is because Solomon was extremely rich and he wanted his people and his children to know that there were things out there more desirable than material wealth. Solomon was appointed as king at the tender age of 12. God appeared to him in a dream and told Solomon that he could ask for whatever he wanted and the Lord would give it to him. What did that 12 year old boy who just became king ask for? Did he ask for riches? Gold and silver? Precious jewels? Nope. He was humble and knew he did not have the wisdom and knowledge at his age to run a kingdom. So that is what he asked for. He wanted to be able to rule his people with a wise and understanding heart and to distinguish between right and wrong (1 Kings 3:6-9). Because God was so pleased with Solomon's request, not only did he give him the wisdom he asked for, God also gave him extreme wealth. In fact, it is believed that King Solomon was the richest king ever!
     What is it that you are adorning yourself with each day? I know for me, it's not always wisdom, understanding, or patience, especially with my kids. But I really want it to be! And I know that if I humble myself and ask my heavenly Father to give me wisdom to be a good wife and mother He will. And you know what? He will give those things to you too. So as Ephesians 6:14-17 says, lets put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, fit our feet with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace, put on our helmets of salvation, pick up our shields of faith and our swords of the Spirit and do battle each day against the evil one who loves nothing more than for us to be unkind, impatient and selfish people. I pray that today you will resist the devil and choose the abundant life that God has for you. Have a blessed day!