“Do not move the ancient boundary
Which your fathers have set.”
Proverbs 22:28
Boundaries. They are there for our good. but how often we want to ignore them, step over them, or remove them. Literally, Solomon was talking about land boundaries given by God to the Hebrews as they took over the land. But I think we can also apply this to moral and Christian boundaries. Look at Proverbs 9:1-6:
“Wisdom has built her house,
She has hewn out her seven pillars;
She has prepared her food, she has mixed her wine;
She has also set her table;
She has sent out her maidens, she calls
From the tops of the heights of the city:
To him who lacks understanding she says,
‘Come, eat of my food
And drink of the wine I have mixed.
Forsake your fooly and live,
And proceed in the way of understanding.'”
Notice that wisdom is a done deal. It was laid down before the creation of the world and existed since before time. (Proverbs 8) There is no new wisdom of the age. God’s wisdom laid the foundations of the earth and will be there when those foundations are destroyed. Therefore, do not move the ancient boundaries.
Absolute truth was also laid down with wisdom. “The sum of God’s word is truth.” (Psalm 119:160) His word will never change or fail. So do you want to know what boundaries you should set on relationships, finances, marriage, business, etc.? Go to God’s word. It is black and white and will never change. Base your life on these boundaries and your life will be lived out within God’s will and His protection and provision will be yours. This does not mean that nothing bad will ever happen; we live in satan’s world for now. But (Greater is He who is in me than he that is in the world! – 1 John 4:4)
Hint of the day: Some of us were born with a very good sense of right and wrong, black and white. Others were not. You can develop this sense within yourself or your children by role playing situations and asking is that right or wrong. Don’t forget to discuss the motive as well as the action. Seek God’s word when you are not sure. When a child has acted out of wrong motives or with wrong actions, you can ask them how they might have done differently according to God’s wisdom. proverbs is a great place to start. Reading the Proverbs is good, but we don’t always really learn by just reading. Nathan, my second son, said that he used to journal through the Proverbs. That is, he wrote down a proverb and then discussed it with himself – the why, the what, the who, the where, the when, and the how as well as other verses that supported this verse. Others draw out different proverbs. These are all great ideas. Then, of course, there is Practical Proverbs which can be found on our website that will take you into deeper understanding of Proverbs and help you to apply them to your life.