Reflections From The Proverbs: Consistently Caring, Forever Faithful

Consistently Caring, Forever Faithful

Proverbs Chapter Three:
3. Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
4. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. NIV

I am what I would call a word person. I have always been a word person. I can get pretty excited about how words fit together shedding color and feel and intensity. In comparison, my husband can be watching a sporting event and see a play that to him is just a beautiful thing, bringing strength and skill together to culminate in a goal. Others must get the same thrill because it is then replayed over and over from every imaginable angle to derive every bit of thrill from it. That is how I feel about words, and discovering the perfect word to convey a thought or feeling or message.

This is how I feel about the word "bind".These verses say to take love and faithfulness and bind them around your neck. Let me first say that it isn’t telling us to make necklaces out of them to hang around our neck like trinkets for ornamental value. Although adorning oneself with love and faithfulness is a beautiful thing.

The word bind is a wonderful word. It is translated here from the Hebrew word "qashar" The words used to translate this particular word are, "to bind up", "to join together", "to knit", "stronger", and "work".

Love and faithfulness are to become a part of our being. Joined together as part of our character. Knitted into the fabric of who we are, worked into us. When we do this we become stronger.

This same word is found in Nehemiah 4:6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof; for the people had a mind to work. KJV

It is also found in I Samuel 18:1 regarding the friendship of David and Jonathan, And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. KJV

Returning to our verses in Proverbs, they goes on to further emphasize the importance of these two qualities, it says write them on the tablet of your heart. Notice it doesn’t say put them in your memory. This is about what really matters to you, what you really care about. It is about heart things.
Do you want to make a good impression before men, and even before God? Become a person of mercy and trustworthiness. A man or woman with the attributes of loving mercy and continual trustworthiness knitted into the fabric of their character will be a person who will be looked upon with admiration. This person will also receive God’s favor.

God is a God of love and faithfulness. When we bind these to our being and imprint them on our hearts, we become more like God.

"Dear Father, help us to make these two qualities of love and faithfulness part of who we are. Help us to become more like you."