Gold Rings And Pigs
I love the Spirit and the way He works through God’s word!
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and over the years, I have trained myself to not merely listen to the word of God, but also to the Holy Spirit. Especially as He takes that word and tells me to do something with it! Like last week in our “through the Bible reading.” This is the 10th year that Ken and I have been reading through the Bible in a year, and not long ago we were in the book of Proverbs. Well okay, we were sitting there at the kitchen table. I’m listening to Ken go through all the Proverbs in Chapter 11, and he gets to verse 22 and reads “Like a gold ring in a pig snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.” Immediately—I mean, right there at the kitchen table—a conversation I had had the day before flash through my mind.
You see, I was with several coworkers at Joni and Friends: two or three women along with our president, Doug Mazza. Anyway, it was during a lunch break right after a morning leadership meeting. We finished our meal and we were just gabbing, sitting around the table. We were talking about driving and being pulled over by police officers. Anyway, I shared how once, when I used to drive my van (yes, I am a quadriplegic, but I used to drive. My van did not have a steering wheel, but that’s another story. Besides, I don’t drive anymore). Anyway, all this to say, I shared how when I was pulled over by a police officer once for making a right-hand turn into oncoming traffic, I explained to the policeman that he was going to have to come into my van, sir, and reach for my license in my handbag. I explained that my wallet was probably hidden beneath a lot of stuff, even a few feminine hygiene products (to my friends, I used exact wording) and boy did the girls around the table laugh! But Doug, the man, leaned back and rolled his eyes. He was a guy after all, and I had brought up an embarrassing detail in this story about feminine hygiene products.
So, you can see why, as soon as Ken read Proverbs 11, verse 22, the Holy Spirit brought to my mind that story that I had shared the day before! And boy was I convicted: I was the pig with the gold ring in my snout, totally without discretion—at least for having included that unnecessary detail in my story to a mixed group.
And so, the very next day at work, I pulled Doug Mazza aside and I apologized. At first, he wasn’t sure what I was talking about, but when I quickly rehashed my story with its embarrassing details and our Bible reading, he laughed and laughed. I said, “Doug like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion. And believe me I will never add those details to that story again. It was totally unnecessary, and I’m sorry I caused you embarrassment. Please forgive me!” Which he happily did, but I think he smiled, just picturing me as a pig with a gold ring in my nose. But, hey, to me it was important that I confessed my wrong, my “indiscretion”, as it were. That’s the way the Holy Spirit works.
And so the moral of this story is the next time you are reading God’s word, and something about it convicts you—maybe a conversation in which you included an indiscreet comment, or you shared an inappropriate word at the wrong time, or something stupid you did—no matter how small the offense, make amends for it. Act on it. Don’t second guess the Holy Spirit when He whispers conviction to you through God’s word. Just correct the wrongdoing and ask for forgiveness. Because there is nothing more telling than a nice, golden ring worn in the wrong place, like your nose. So, keep reading Gods word and keep acting on it, whether it’s conviction or comfort.
© Joni and Friends
