God Speaking

“A prudent man sees danger and takes refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” (Proverbs 22:3)

Just recently a young friend was telling me about a fascinating course she was taking on Risk Management. I was intrigued by the title and surprised that one needed to go to such a course, especially in the business world, but I had a lot to learn from my young friend. She assured me risk could be defined and when we recognized this we could save ourselves from many mistakes. She was referring to business and the project management of which she was a part, but as she enlightened me I began to realize a lot of what she was saying could relate to our own daily walk.

She spoke of anticipating risk and being prepared for it. She spoke of the “known risk” and being equally ready to respond to that. She spoke of the “unknown risk” that must not take one unaware. The more she told me about this course the more I began to see that God’s word was way ahead of this present day lecturer and many wise words had been recorded long ago, for the children of the Heavenly Father to help them with exactly the risk problems that faced all of us in everyday living, not only in the business world.

I decided to a little research myself on the meaning of the word. The word does not have a happy definition;

“to expose oneself to danger, mischance or peril.”

When Solomon was writing the book of Proverbs, he knew his son was going to be exposed to all sorts of danger, perhaps the biggest risk he faced was wandering away from the wisdom of the Lord, so many verses remind him, and of course us, of the danger in doing this. Many of the verses contrast being foolish or wise and the Psalmists were very definite about the definition of who was a fool;

“The fool says in his heart, “There is no God…” (Psalm 14:1)

Oh how we long to teach our children (especially our teenagers who are venturing into adulthood) the wisdom of this next verse;

“He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” (Proverbs 13:20)

As I thought back about my young friend’s course, I began to see that yes, being at risk was a very real threat that had to be addressed for all of us and yes we would be well advised to anticipate risk in our own lives and to be aware of the known and unknown risk that could be around the corner, but unlike the business world, we who know and love the Lord have a wonderful insurance policy. When we read the benefits of being covered by this particular policy, being at risk holds no terror for us. We have a handbook that outlines how we can avoid perils and mischance, by adhering to the advice contained there, and by committing every action to our Heavenly Father’s scrutiny before we go ahead.

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.” (Proverbs 16:3)

This lovely old hymn assures us that trusting and acknowledging our Lord will certainly manage risk in our own lives.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart

And lean not on your own understanding

In all your ways acknowledge him

And he shall direct

And he shall direct your path.