1:8-19

⁸ Listen, my son, to your father's instruction

and do not forsake your mother's teaching.

⁹ They will be a garland to grace your head

and a chain to adorn your neck.

¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you,

do not give in to them.

¹¹ If they say, "Come along with us;

let's lie in wait for someone's blood,

let's waylay some harmless soul;

¹² let's swallow them alive, like the grave,

and whole, like those who go down to the pit;

¹³ we will get all sorts of valuable things

and fill our houses with plunder;

¹⁴ throw in your lot with us,

and we will share a common purse"-

¹⁵ my son, do not go along with them,

do not set foot on their paths;

¹⁶ for their feet rush into sin,

they are swift to shed blood.

¹⁷ How useless to spread a net

in full view of all the birds!

¹⁸ These men lie in wait for their own blood;

they waylay only themselves!

¹⁹ Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain;

it takes away the lives of those who get it.

I have been struck recently (again) of how the suffering of this world validates God's word and truth. The bible speaks of how the earth will groan, falling apart under the grips of sin, and we see it, don't we? As christians we feel as though we need to sell the bible in tricky ways, knowing it's power, but doubting its relevance or appeal to those who are not yet saved. As non believers we assume the bible has nothing for us, it is old and big, relevant only to years gone by. But when we look at the big picture of the bible we can see it's all happening...now. We do seek valuable things (forsaking others if need be) and our feet rush to sin. We see lives swallowed by ill-gotten gain. The bible speaks of the creator, the world he created, and the creation who turned away. We are that creation, in that world, there could be no book more relevant than the bible.