What’s Around Your Neck?
By Elin Henderson
“Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck...”
Proverbs 3:3a (NKJV)
One of the first things we noticed in our village was that from the youngest infant to the most elderly, everyone wears one or more fetishes around their necks. They were quick to tell us that these fetishes (called “ehirisi” in the local language) are small cloth pouches within which are found leaves or written words that are meant to protect and heal them. You can tell by the color of the cloth which sickness they are hoping to be protected from.
Something dangling around the neck is not easily missed; our eyes are naturally drawn to it. Neither is it something easily forgotten by the one wearing it. Maybe that is why here in Proverbs 3, Solomon tells us that our neck should be well-adorned with two great objects: mercy and truth.
We wear “mercy” to help us remember where we came from. It reminds us of what the Lord has done for us, as well as of His unfailing mercy that keeps us afloat each day. It also dangles there as a reminder to us to show mercy to those with whom we come into contact each day.
We wear “truth” as a reminder of the need to walk in the truth and light that He pours out from Heaven above onto us. With truth comes transparency and vulnerability, all of which God desires to use in our own lives and those around us. As he reveals things to us, we must be willing to allow truth to shine into our dark worlds and purify us.
So, what’s around our necks? Are we proudly showing the “Mercy and Truth” that He wants us to bind around our necks? Or do we have it tucked under our shirts and not as obvious as it should be? Do people we come into contact with leave the encounter saying, “Wow, did you see that Mercy and Truth she was displaying?” Let us ask God to renew in us an awareness of these two adornments that He has asked us to wear.
GOING DEEPER:
1. In Proverbs 3:3b, Solomon further admonishes us to write these truths on the “tablets of our hearts.” What does this mean in real life? How can writing these on the “tablets of our hearts” impact our lives and those we come into contact with?
2. Where else in Scripture are “mercy and truth” found closely linked together? Here’s a link to help: http://www.biblegateway.com/keyword/?search=mercy%20and%20truth&version1=50&searchtype=phrase&spanbegin=1&spanend=73
FURTHER READING:
Oakwood’s missionaries Elin Henderson (a registered nurse) and her husband Phil serve as church planters with New Tribes in Mozambique, Africa. Elin is mother to fourteen-year-old Callie and twelve-year-old Elias.
