Daily Bread: Prudent Strategy

"A GOOD name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold. The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all. A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life." Proverbs 22:1-4

The word prudent means acting with or showing care and thought for the future. The scripture says that a prudent man foresees evil, and hides himself. So the prudent man (or woman) knows that evil will come and acts in way that shows that he or she has already given thought or planned for the future situation.  In a post last week, I submitted the idea that suffering was inevitable.  So if we know that bad things will happen, that life will inevitably throw us a curve ball, we should have a strategy in place that we can hide in when the time comes.  

Last week,  I suggested that we should practice praising God in the good times so that it would be easier to do in the bad times.  This week, I think that the strategy needs to be a little more concrete than that.  So I started to think about what I've done when I've come face to face with evil. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I do have a strategy in place, because I've realized that I do the same thing every time.  

Step One.  Pray.  I usually just straight up ask God to make the situation better or make it go away.  And then, when I'm a little bit calmer, I acknowledge that there is some lesson in the situation, so I ask for the strength to endure whatever the evil is, to be open to His will in the situation, and to be used as an instrument in the process.  

Step Two.  Prayer Warriors.  I have some praying friends.  I mean friends that can go to God on my behalf with my best interest at heart.  I don't even have to ask them to pray.  I just tell them the situation and they usually respond with, "I'll pray for you".  If you don't have some prayer warriors in your life, get some.  There is something so comforting about knowing that somebody is praying for you.  

Step Three.  Keep My Focus on God.  Evil situations can be distracting and draining.  In order to keep my focus on God and off  the situation, I listen to gospel music constantly.  Thanks to the Brighter Day radio station that I created on Pandora, I have an endless stream of songs that remind me that God is in control, that  trouble won't last always, that there's going to be a brighter day, that the LORD is with me. 

This is the strategy that I hide in every time evil comes my way.  What about you?  What is your prudent strategy?  --Lady S.