Proverbs 22

I will be honest and tell you it is very hard to read a book in Proverbs and try to limit my writing to simply one or two verses! Each verse is so good! I realize it is a good problem to want to write too much rather than not wanting to write at all. As I read Proverbs 22 today, verse 28 is the one I want to focus on a little more.

"Don't stealthily move back the boundary lines staked out long ago by your ancestors" Proverbs 22:28

I realize at the time this was written it most likely referred to physical boundaries that had been marked on the land. However, for our sakes, I want to look at it in terms of moral boundaries. I find it interesting that in the Message translation, the movement of the boundaries is described as being stealth. This is the way boundaries are moved. A society does not dramatically change their accepted boundaries through a giant transition of beliefs all at one time. The acceptable boundaries are moved a little at a time over decades or perhaps centuries. I would imagine if our great-grandparents compared the world they knew as children to the world we know today, they would hardly believe it is the same world.

It was only 50 years ago where most moms were home and able to be full-time moms and homemakers. Before I proceed with what I'm about to say, let me state I am not against women working outside of the home. What I am going to share is simply from my personal experience of working in the corporate world for 13 years and my last 10 months of being home. What happened 50 or so years ago was this: satan lied to us. He slowly convinced us that we were equal to men. He told us we didn't need to be "tied down" to the home all day and we were capable of managing and caring for our families ourselves. He lied to our men by telling them we do not really need them. These lies resulted in men feeling no commitment to their homes or responsibility for their children. He began telling us our boundaries were restrictive. This was not just in the area of caring for our home, but regarding our sexuality. He told us if men could be carefree in their exploits, then we could too. He lied to us by telling us if it feels good, then it's okay. Our society's boundaries began to move.

I watched several of the History Channel's specials yesterday about the 7 Deadly Sins. The History Channel made several references to the role of the Christian church in regards to society's view of these sins. They portrayed the church as establishing the belief of sin in order to control their society. I don't believe these were simply an invention of man. The boundaries erected by God and spoken to our ancestors were done in order to protect. Without the boundary to respect life and not murder, we would be "free" to murder at will. Without the boundaries of sex within marriage, we reap the consequences of unplanned pregnancies. These consequences are single mothers becoming "normal" in our society. The consequences are millions of unborn babies because satan has lied and told us the life we carry is not really a life. We see an outrageous increase in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and even new diseases have surfaced in the last few decades. Millions of wounded individuals pay the price for living outside of God's boundaries.

I know within my own life I have moved my boundaries many times. At certain times I'm not sure I had any boundaries at all. The amazing thing I've learned through it all is that Jesus was not afraid to cross the boundaries in order to come get me and bring me home. During His time on earth He crossed the boundaries of His society in order to love and rescue those who had crossed before Him. The bible is full of stories of those who had crossed the accepted boundary, but returned home to be welcomed safely into God's kingdom. Think of the woman caught in adultery and brought before Jesus to be judged. Not only did He not judge her, but He rescued her for the persecution of others. Jesus crossed the boundary to visit a well and ask a woman for water. He not only asked for water, but told her about her many husbands and how the man she lived with was not her husband. Consider the tax collectors, some of the most hated people in their culture. Jesus frequently visited their homes and dined with them. The woman who anointed Jesus with oil crossed the boundary to be in His presence. The woman with the issue of blood defied the boundaries of being shunned by her culture just so she could touch Christ and be healed.

My prayer for you today is two-fold. If you have crossed a boundary in your life that has been established for your protection, please know it is never to late to come home. While there are those in your life who may judge what you have done or try to condemn you for the choices you have made, please know there is a Savior who is waiting for you and will welcome you into His arms. My second prayer is if there are boundaries on you that have been imposed by someone other than God, that today is the day you break free of that bondage. If there have been restrictive words spoken over your life, I rebuke them. Perhaps you feel God is calling you to something that is greater than yourself. I pray you seek His wisdom in how to proceed. Think of all the stories in scripture of people who broke through their society's boundaries to find their healing waiting on the other side.