Proverbs and a verse for yesterday

First of all, in Isaiah 32...there's such a great image in the second verse of four things:
1. shelter from the wind
2. refuge from the rain
3. streams of water in a dry land
4. shade of a massive rock in an arid land
What an incredible picture of what God is to us....to put it simply - he saves us from certain death. Riley's dad, Mr. Scott, recently returned from a year in Iraq. He said sometimes the sandstorms would get so bad that they would last for over a day and going outside was impossible. The wind stirred the sand up so much that it would surely blind you if you were in it without protection. Protection, for us, is Adonai. He is our shelter from the wind. Mr. Scott also talked about how the rain would come through the sandstorm, slapping red stains on everything it could reach. The Israelites/Hebrews/God's chosen people lived in this desert...amidst the sandstorms and torrential rains. He was their shelter and refuge.
Another thing that is cool is...He is our refuge from rain, yet the provider of water in dry land. He gives us just enough - not too little or too much because we can't handle either of those. He gives us enough. Number 4 reminds me so much of Moses in Exodus 33...His light is so bright that He has to provide for us a shelter...Adonai hid Moses in the rock because Moses couldn't see Adonai's full glory and still live...how wonderful. How incredible to know that He's looking out on both sides - the 'too much' and the 'not enough' side..how incredible to know that He is just enough.

In a similar way, Isaiah 32 speaks against the overconfident and the complacent - there's a 'happy medium.' The middle of the chapter tells of destruction and mourning...then vs 15 says "until the Spirit from heaven is poured out upon us." I'm not sure if I'm right, but this seems to be a picture of Yeshua...He brought the outpouring of the Spirit ... to dwell within us forever, right? "The desert will become an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest."
Verse 17 says "The result of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quiet confidence forever." - this reminds me so much of yesterday: Isaiah 30:15 & 18. Deliverance/strength/patience all tie in with quiet confidence. How incredible.

Chapter 2 of Proverbs is full of pictures and contrasts between the wise and the foolish - I challenge you to write it down - in your own words what the scriptures say - in a chart and keep track of it as you read through Proverbs. The pictures are striking and very humbling. Specifically, verse 17 tied in with a few other things I've learned recently. It says, "...who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God;" - it's discussing a 'forbidden woman' - a married woman, I would presume.
WOW.
She has divorced her first love and has forgotten the covenant of her God. Think back to Moses and the Israelites after their deliverance from Egypt. Moses met on the mountain with Adonai.. when the cloud was on the mountain and Moses was receiving the Word, God makes a covenant with the Israelites. The image of that is where the chuppah comes from...it is a covering. The chuppah is used in wedding ceremonies, but holds the most meaning in Jewish weddings where it symbolizes this covering as the Israelites received the Torah among other things. But seriously, the fact that Proverbs discusses this woman, obviously previously married, forgetting the covenant of her God, is such an incredible picture of how we should not forget His covenant, but also should not enter into marriage, or abandon it, with any sort of nonchalance. It's a HUGE deal!! Such a big deal that God entered into a covenant with the Israelites, His chosen people, in the same sense that we enter into a marriage - it is a covenant that should not be broken!