Down Turns

(Pro 4:5 KJV)  Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.

I am reading this month in the new American Bible.  As I came across verse five, I noticed that there are two ways that we can keep from getting wisdom.  One is to forget, and the other is to deliberately turn aside.

We tend to think that forgetting is accidental, but I’m not sure that it’s true.  Much of what we forget it’s because we don’t give it the attention that is necessary to remember.  I was introduced to someone new last Sunday.  Because the previous Wednesday I had forgotten a name, I kept repeating it until it was burned in.  

It would also be interesting to compare this to the wording of the King James, which uses the word “decline” (5186) for “turning aside”.  The word can be translated both ways but decline brings in the context of being a down hill move.

So?  Take responsibility for the choices God has given you.