Would You Jump Without a Parachute?

I know you won't believe this about me, but I am not much of a risk-taker. If you're going skydiving, rock climbing, deep sea fishing, or riding the Ferris wheel...I'm not your girl! I'm saving those activities for Heaven!
But in my spiritual life, I haven't always been so careful. In fact, I've jumped from the plane of truth without a parachute, climbed mountains of decisions without a harness, gone to the sea of choices without a life jacket, and boarded the Ferris wheel of purity with people I knew would find it funny to rock the seat!
Sparing you the details of a life filled with unnecessary sin and self-centered choices, I write today to praise the Lord for His protection! I am in awe that He has preserved my reputation, my paths, my purity and my life.
In Proverbs 2, the writer urges his son to call out to the Lord for wisdom. Notice how the Lord grants more than just wisdom, and included in the list...a whole lot of protection!

Proverbs 2 
¹ My son, if you accept my words
   and store up my commands within you,
² turning your ear to wisdom
   and applying your heart to understanding—
³ indeed, if you call out for insight
   and cry aloud for understanding,
⁴ and if you look for it as for silver
   and search for it as for hidden treasure,
⁵ then you will understand the fear of the LORD
   and find the knowledge of God.
⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom;
   from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
⁷ He holds success in store for the upright,
   he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
⁸ for he guards the course of the just
   and protects the way of his faithful ones.
 ⁹ Then you will understand what is right and just
   and fair—every good path.
¹⁰ For wisdom will enter your heart,
   and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
¹¹ Discretion will protect you,
   and understanding will guard you.
 ¹² Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
   from men whose words are perverse,
¹³ who have left the straight paths
   to walk in dark ways,
¹⁴ who delight in doing wrong
   and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
¹⁵ whose paths are crooked
   and who are devious in their ways.
 ¹⁶ Wisdom will save you also from the adulterous woman,
   from the wayward woman with her seductive words,
¹⁷ who has left the partner of her youth
   and ignored the covenant she made before God.
¹⁸ Surely her house leads down to death
   and her paths to the spirits of the dead.
¹⁹ None who go to her return
   or attain the paths of life.
 ²⁰ Thus you will walk in the ways of the good
   and keep to the paths of the righteous.
²¹ For the upright will live in the land,
   and the blameless will remain in it;
²² but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
   and the unfaithful will be torn from it.

Praying God's wisdom for each of you, for with it comes protection!

~Rebecca Phillips