“Ponder the path of your feet, let all your ways be established. Turn not from the right hand or to the left: remove your foot from evil.”
Proverbs is full of Godly advice. That’s why in my annual trek through the Bible, I always pause over the verses and try to get them in my heart. There are so many of the proverbs that it is difficult to get them all in my mind, but some stick with me and I return to them again and again. Proverbs 4:26-27 is a case in point. I have preached and written on this theme many times in my ministry. In fact, somewhere in the couch potato files I have probably written on this theme. Bear with me once again as I share with you what these verses said to me this morning. They told me to walk prayerfully. The word “prayer” is not in the text, but I know that if one is to watch his or her step, he or she must spend time in prayer. Actually, we do not know where our steps may lead, but God knows every step that we have taken and every step that we will take. We need to be careful that where we put our feet are somehow where God would have us put our feet. When we misstep, it is because we have not prayed over our steps as we should. I can remember walking across a muddy pasture with a couple of my friends years ago. We just climbed over the fence and started walking. Little did we know that every step would dig us deeper into the muddy mire. When we got across the pasture, we found ourselves muddy and dirty up to our knees and I was missing a shoe. (This was not funny to my dear mama.) I think of this incident often when I find myself mired in my own mistakes, foibles and missteps. It makes me want to bathe my own footsteps in prayer. I think often of the advice in Psalm 40:1-2: “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. 2. He brought me up out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” If we want our “goings” established, we need to walk prayerfully. They told me to walk carefully. Here is the advice: “Ponder the path of your feet.” That is the biblical way of saying “watch your step,” and is actually where I got the title of this article. Ponder means to “think over and consider.” We need to give some thought to where we are going to walk. Some directions that we take are going to get us into trouble. I remember that when I was a youngster, I used to get in trouble at home, school or church because I did not watch my step. I can also remember thinking: “Now why in the world did I do that.” Okay, I will confess that this has happened to me as an adult. (But you probably cannot judge me on this point. Right?) Another translation of this is: “Make level paths for your feet.” (NIV) Why should we walk uphill if we do not have to walk uphill? We make life tougher for ourselves when we do not watch our steps. We need to remember that Satan has set traps all along our paths and wants us to step in those traps. When we do, we end up regretting the steps that we took. We need to remember that “the devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) They told me to walk surely: “Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. 27. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left, remove your foot from evil.” “Let all your ways be established” is what caught my attention here. We need to be sure that where we put our feet is where we are supposed to put our feet. No one does this perfectly, but we do need to make a real effort to make sure that our ways are established. The Bible is full of ways to help us do this. The Ten Commandments would be a good place to start. I also recommend the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 as a good place to make sure that our ways are established. None of the established ways make the walk easier by human standards, but they are wiser by God’s standards. In any case – Watch your step! Bro. Joe
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“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides forever.”
The title reveals my Southwest Georgia, small town/rural upbringing, but it communicates what I want to write about today. This plain, simple little article might do all of us, including me, more good than any high-sounding concepts that I might share with you. Frankly, I woke up at 2:30 this morning thinking of these “p’s” and of the title – so it might be the result of a lack of sleep. Anyway, read it and get the good out of it. As you read, you will understand what I mean by the “P” patch. The main “P” that causes us to get lost in the “P” patch is pridefulness. My computer tells me that “pridefulness” is not a word, i.e., it is not in the dictionary. What does this smart-aleck computer know, and what does the dictionary know, we know what it means. Pridefulness means that we have too much pride. Pride, itself, is not always bad. I take great pride in the accomplishments of my children, including my son-in-law and my grandchildren. I might sound prideful when I brag on them, but, hey, I’m a granddaddy. What do you expect of me? Anyway, the aforementioned dictionary, which I will now take seriously, defines the negative aspect of pride as: “high or overbearing feeling of one’s worth or importance.” That is what I mean by pridefulness. If we are not careful, we can all be prideful about ourselves. I might add that pridefulness is not the result of too much ego, but too much ego need. (Remember this when you are feeling too prideful, or are around a prideful person.) Following will be the result of too much pride in our lives: Too much pride, or too much of a feeling of self-importance, can lead to pettiness. Here in Southwest Georgia we would call this “touchiness.” We usually associate this pridefulness and touchiness with people who are wealthy or highly educated. This is probably true to a certain extent, but some of the pettiest people that I have had to deal with over the years have not necessarily fit that description. It comes in all socio-economic groups and in all ages. We are petty when we think that someone has overlooked us, insulted us, in some way and we decide that we will never speak to them again. “We will show them…” Before you think too long about petty people you have known, think back on some of the times that you have been petty. (I did, and it is a humbling experience – no pun intended.) With that in mind, I want to point out that too much pride, and a false sense of self-importance can lead to peevishness. According to American Century Dictionary, to be peeved means “to be irritated,” but to be peevish means to be irritable. Now, we all get peeved about some things, and are right to do so. The problem comes when being peeved leads to peevishness, then we begin to get on people’s nerves. My thesis is that peevishness comes from pridefulness. If we were not prideful, we would not be peevish, and we would not be needlessly irritated. We sometimes get out of sorts and irritated with people because they have punctured our weak egos in some way or the other. It is natural to get peeved about one thing or another, but it is bad to get peevish and needlessly irritable. Stop it! I have one other point that I want to stick in here that too much pride will result in, and that is pouting. “Pout” is defined as, “push the lips forward, as in displeasure or sulking.” “Pouting” is a pout in action. This will result when we needlessly get our false pride pricked and we withdraw into ourselves and, well, pout. We decide that some person is persona non-grata, and will just ignore them. Don’t do this. I have called this “lost in the ‘p’ patch,” because all of these actions are “not of the Father,” are downright unchristian, and will not result in being effective Christian witnesses, or for that matter good Christians. If you are in it, get out of the “P” patch. Bro. Joe “He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
My daily reading of the Bible led me once again to Psalm 23. Now, I am familiar with this psalm. I have preached whole series’ of sermons on it. I have studied it “every which way.” As I read it this morning, I thought of how familiar these beautiful words are, and how they minister to me. Then I saw something in verse 4 that I had never seen before. This loaded verse shows us how the Lord works in us, for us, and for whom He does the work. Let me share with you what I found. The Lord works in us: “He restores my soul.” What does “restore” mean? According to my trusty American Century Dictionary, it means: “bring back to the original state by rebuilding, repairing, bring back to health, reinstate, replace, put or bring back.” The Lord knows that we regularly need restoring, so He does the work on our souls. Life has a way of depleting us. If nothing else, the daily news is enough to do this. Besides there is the moral decay going on around us, and if we aren’t careful, we will become part of that decay. The Lord uses His word to restore us. I spend all of this time in the Bible, not because I’m so good, but because I need it to restore my soul. The Lord uses His Spirit to restore us. I find His Spirit at work in my restoration in even the mundane things of life, like observing a sunset. He restores us through refreshing fellowship with Christian friends. He restores us through just loving us, if we will take the time let Him love us, or stop fussing over what He has done and just appreciate what He does. The Lord works within our souls to restore us to fellowship with Him, with each other, and to repair our weary hearts and minds. Being restored means that we are ready to get up and go again. The Lord works for us: “He leads me in paths of righteousness.” A note at the bottom of the page of the Bible I am presently reading, reminded me that “paths of righteousness” can also be translated, “the right paths.” When the Lord restores our souls, He endeavors to put our feet on the right paths. The Lord knows that we need to be reminded of the right paths, because we take so many wrong paths. Think back over the years about those times when you put your feet on the wrong path. David, who wrote these words, had some idea about the devastation of wrong paths. If not when he wrote Psalm 23, he certainly did later on. The Lord reminds us that there is a right way to live and a wrong way to live. We have about forgotten this today as the daily doses of atheism and just downright rebellion take their toll. The Lord restores us and puts us on the right paths, because, left on our own, we will take the wrong paths. Pay attention to the Lord today and see what He is trying to do in your life. If you are reading this, you probably care about such things. Let Him restore you today and put you on the right paths. The Lord works in us and for us in order to restore us to Himself: “for His names’ sake.” Understand that the Lord does not need us, but He wants us. It is sobering to think that the Lord could do very well without us. I discovered when I was out of circulation for about two years with illness, the world went on and the kingdom of God went on without my services. But, what I discovered was that while the world went on, God was restoring my soul in order for me to have a greater appreciation for just Him. It was not about a new sermon, a new idea or a Christian ministry – It was about Him and me. The Lord is trying to do the same thing in your life if you will let Him. He wants to work within you through His Spirit, His word and His presence in order to put you on the right path so that you can be right with Him. He doesn’t need for you to be right with Him, but He knows that you need to be right with Him, and He wants that for you. Let the good Lord do His work in your life today. Do it! Bro. Joe “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men/women liberally; and upbraids not (without finding fault); and it shall be given him. 6. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with wind and tossed. 7. For let not that man/woman think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. 8. A double minded man/woman is unstable in all his/her ways.”(I have taken the privilege of adding “woman” to the text because man here refers to all people. I could have added “boys and girls.”)
The question is “do you lack wisdom?” You might consider yourself a wise person, but do you always act wisely? Things come up in our lives that call for wisdom beyond ourselves and that is what I see in this text. What I see here is a promise and a condition. The Promise The first part of the promise is that if we lack wisdom, we should “ask of God.” In other words, “take it to the Lord in prayer.” There are some things that I have faced in life that I knew were beyond my wisdom, and that is when I “took it to the Lord in prayer.” I think that the modern term for it is that some things are “beyond my pay grade.” The good news is that whatever it is that you are dealing with at the present time that calls for wisdom beyond yourself, God is ready and waiting to hear what you have to say. Take it to God in prayer. The second part of the promise is that if you will take it to the Lord in prayer, He will not upbraid you, or find fault with you. God already knows about your dilemma, and He is simply waiting for you to bring it to Him. Just think of it: The God of the universe is waiting to hear your prayer, and is waiting to give you a solution to your dilemma. The solution might be that you will have to endure whatever it is, but He will be with you through it all and will give you the wisdom to bear it. It is great to know that God will hear our requests, and our dilemmas, without finding fault with us. That is a biblical promise; therefore, it is steadfast and sure. Open up your heart and mind to God in prayer, and He will hear you. The third part of the promise is, “and it shall be given him.” God will not only hear your prayer, He will answer your prayer. Understand that His answer will be what He knows is best for you and not necessarily what you think is best for you. We should not take our own pre-conditions to God in prayer. We should just take the issue at hand to Him, and wait for His answer. When we pray, God says “yes,” “wait,” and “no.” But understand that when God says “no” to that request, it means that He has something better for you than you could ever have imagined. The Condition The first condition is that when we take it to the Lord in prayer, we are not to “waver.” This means that we know in our minds and hearts that God will answer, and that His answer will be what is best for us. The second condition is that “not wavering” means that we have faith in God that is steadfast and sure. James does not go easy on us about this matter. He wrote: “For he that wavers is like a wave on the sea driven by the wind and tossed.” Having been a sailor in my younger days, I am familiar with what it means to be tossed by waves. The waves can take a ship wherever the waves want it to go. We have to take our eyes off of the waves and put them on Jesus. This is illustrated for us by Peter when he walked on the water to go to Jesus. When He took His eyes off of Jesus and put them on the waves he began to sink. The good news is that when he cried out “Lord save me,” Jesus took his hand and lifted him up. When we cry out in faith, Jesus will hear us and give us the wisdom that we need for the moment. The third condition is that if we do not have faith we will “not receive anything of the Lord.” Here is the point: Trust the Lord, for He has the answer that we need – trust Him completely and fully and receive the blessing that He has for you. Bro. Joe “But this I say, he who sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly: and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. 7. Every man as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you: that you in all things, may abound to every good work.”
I know that giving is not one of the favorite topics to write about, but it is an important aspect of Christian living. In 2 Corinthians 9, Paul reminded the Corinthians of their promise to send a love offering to the famine-stricken Jerusalem Church. In this challenge Paul gave them, and us, a biblical view of Christian giving. The text gives us the motivation for Christian giving: “But this I say, he who sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly: and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.” Paul used an agricultural analogy, i.e., if a farmer sows few seeds, he gets a small crop. If he sows a large amount of seeds, he gets a large crop. This obvious illustration makes sense for givers as well as for farmers. It is a simple analogy, but when it comes to getting Christians to be generous givers it becomes a little complicated. One motivation for giving is that the more we give the more we receive. This was not a new concept. Malachi 3:10 stated the same principle. In this verse, God challenged Israel to tithe and see, “If I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” It is really true that we cannot out give God. When we give generously, our hearts are open to receive the bountiful blessings of God. These blessings can be spiritual as well as physical. Furthermore, the amount of the gift is determined by the ability of the giver to give. (Read about the “widow’s mite” in Mark 12:42-44.) The text shows us the right attitude in Christian giving: “Every man as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” The Corinthians were to give cheerfully, knowing that their gifts would meet a lot of needs in Jerusalem. When we give, we should not consider what we have lost, but that we have made an investment in God’s work. This knowledge should make giving a pleasure, not a mere duty – “of necessity.” We are to do it for Jesus in order to fulfill His purposes in our community and in the world. “For God loves a cheerful giver.” Let me reword this: “God loves it when we give cheerfully.” I don’t think that this changes the meaning. God does not stop loving us if we do not give cheerfully, but He really loves it when we do. The text reveals the grace of Christian giving: “Therefore as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence; and in your love to us, that you abound in this grace also.” The grace of God is included in everything that we do, and that includes giving. In His grace, God has given us everything that we need in order to share Him with others. The nature of grace is to give. This is true of God’s grace towards us and it should be true of His grace at work in us. In a real sense, how we give determines how we live. In God’s abounding grace, we can “abound in every good work.” As we give, so will we live; therefore, we should give abundantly so we can live abundantly. A cheerful giver is probably a cheerful person. A generous giver is a generous person. Bro. Joe “Again the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hid in a field; which when a man has found it, he hides it, and for joy thereof goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. 45. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: 46. Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it.”
When I felt led to write about this subject, I decided to call what I wrote “reflections.” What I am sharing with you is what I see in this text, and what I think it can mean to me - and to you. Notice that Jesus said, “again.” These two parables are part of a cluster of parables given in Matthew 13 that have to do with describing the “kingdom of heaven.” The parables of “the field” and “the pearl” are rich with meaning. Here are my reflections on these two great parables: First, the “kingdom of heaven” is found by faith in Jesus Christ. That is the teaching of the New Testament throughout the gospels, the letters and Revelation. When He stood before Pilate in John 18:36, Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world…” The kingdom belongs to Jesus and to those who have put their faith in Him. The kingdom cannot be seen like an earthly kingdom. It is not based on what we can see, touch and hold. It is far greater than that. Though the kingdom cannot be seen, it is nevertheless real. Entrance into the kingdom is granted by faith in Jesus Christ – period. Second, the “kingdom of heaven” is worth more than anything that this world has to offer. In the parable of the field, the man went out, found the treasure, hid it and sold all that he had. In the parable of the pearl, the man found “one pearl of great price,” sold all that he had and bought it. The kingdom of heaven is worth more than anything this world has to offer. This is difficult to understand because our flesh keeps getting in the way. The “things of the world” are what we understand, and they are available to us. We treasure them because we can see and hold them. As we grow older, we understand that “things” do not last. We buy a new car and within a short time it is our old car. We buy that “thing” which is to fulfill all of our earthly desires, but, like all else that “thing” is eaten up by time, and we still have not found that joy and peace that “things” are supposed to bring. Hopefully, we discover that fulfillment in this life is not found in what we can see, touch and hold. There is something beyond this world that can help us find this fulfillment – the kingdom of heaven. Third, the good news is that the “kingdom of heaven” cannot be seen, but it can be found. I have already written that it can be found only by faith in Jesus Christ. It is His kingdom and we enter it by His command. The kingdom is revealed in Jesus and is found in Jesus. In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said: “Come unto me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” That is an invitation that is still given after two thousand years. Time has not worn it out. Many earthly kingdoms have come and gone over the years, but the invitation to the “kingdom of heaven” is still the same, and the “kingdom of heaven” is still the same. At the close of the Book of Revelation, John wrote: “I Jesus sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 17. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whosever will, let him take the water of life freely.” Fourth, it is important for you to know that the “kingdom of heaven” is available to you through faith in Jesus Christ. If you have found that kingdom, rejoice and thank God. If you have not, it is only a prayer away, and the invitation still stands. Bro. Joe “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a lively (living) hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 4. To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you.”
When I recently read 1 Peter 1:3-4, I saw some of the great blessings that we have in “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Blessed” here can be translated “praise.” In these two verses we see some very good reasons to praise God. These are not all of the reasons that we should praise God, but they are good reasons that you can reflect on today. We can praise God for His “abundant mercy.” I have often asked congregations if they would prefer the wrath of God or the mercy of God. Of course, the “vote” is always unanimous – they all prefer God’s mercy. The King James Version translates this mercy as “abundant.” The NIV translates it as “great.” They both surely fit as descriptions of God’s mercy toward us. God’s mercy is abundant because it is sufficient to save and bless us. His mercy is great, because it looms so large in scripture and in our lives. We can praise God that in His abundant and great mercy, He has given us new birth. “Blessed be the God and Father of Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again…” Through His mercy, God has given us new life, a new chance to live a good life, and new vision for our lives and a new reason for living. In John 3, a man named Nicodemus who was one of the leading religious leaders, came to Jesus and bragged in Him because of the great things that He had done. Jesus immediately went to the source when He told Nicodemus, “Verily, verily (truly, truly) I say unto you, Except a man be born again, He cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) In John 3:16, Jesus clarified the issue for Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” We are born again through faith in Jesus Christ, and that is another good reason to praise God. We can praise God that in His abundant mercy we have been born to again to a “living hope.” There is no reason for a Christian to ever feel hopeless. I know that the hardships, and even the cruelties of life can sometimes make us feel hopeless, but all we have to do is remember that we have a living hope in our resurrected Savior. This means that our hope is based on the fact that Jesus Christ is alive and at work in our lives. Our hope in the Living Christ is always alive, even when we do not feel that it is alive. You might want to stop reading here and praise God for His living hope that keeps you from ever being hopeless, even when life seems to be headed in that direction. I know that I need to refer to this reality often in my own life. I, like you, need to be reminded that we have a hope that transcends all of the things that go on in our lives – the good and the bad. We can praise God because He has given us an “inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled that fades not away.” Wow! (I couldn’t help that “wow.”) Have you ever wished that you would receive a phone call one day and you were told that a wealthy relative, who you did not know, died and left you a million dollars? That would be great but you need to realize that the Son of God died and rose again so that you could have an inheritance that is greater than worldly riches. Perhaps this is difficult to understand while we are in the flesh, but one day we will fully realize the truth of it. It is an inheritance that “does not fade away.” It is an inheritance that cannot be taken away from us. At this point, you should be praising God. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, everything in these two verses is true for you. Maybe you are at a point in your life that you need to realize these truths, and just break loose and praise God. Do it!!!! Bro. Joe “As for God, His way is perfect: the word of the Lord is tried (proves true): He is a buckler (shield) to all those who trust in Him.”
Psalm 18 is one verse of praise to God after another. As I was reading this psalm this morning, verse 30 just “jumped out” at me. I read it over several times and the title listed above occurred to me, for I found here some very good reasons for praising God. Read the verse and the article and see if you don’t agree that these are some very good reasons for praising God. “As for the Lord, His way is perfect...” It occurred to me as I read this that we need for God to be perfect. It is certain that our world is imperfect. All one has to do is read about the history of the world to know this for sure. Jesus said that there would “wars and rumors of wars.” The leaders of the world have tried very hard not to disappoint this prediction by Jesus, for our history is war after war. War is not the only sign of the world’s imperfections. The history of the world is written in our tendency to sin, to break the law of God and to embrace paganism. These imperfections are not only written on the pages of our history, but in the Bible as well. There is the Garden of Eden, there is the flood, there is Sodom and Gomorrah, there is David and Bathsheba, there is Simon Peter’s denial and Judases betrayal, finally, there is the cross, on which Jesus died to save us from sin. In His perfection, God knew that we would need saving from sin, so He sent Jesus to die, rise again, ascend to the right hand of the throne and intercede for us. We need our perfect God because of our own imperfections. Praise Him! “The word of Lord is tried…” The ESV translates this, “The word of the Lord proves true.” Both of the translations mean the same and both are true. Jesus illustrated what it means to try the word of the Lord and to prove it true when He was tempted in Matthew 4. Each time Satan threw a temptation at Him, Jesus threw God’s word right back at Him. For example, when He was tempted to turn the stones into bread, which Satan knew that He could do, Jesus replied from Deuteronomy 8:13: “It is written, ‘man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” In the two temptations that followed, Jesus quoted Deuteronomy 6:16 and 6:13. Each time the word of God proved true, and each time that the word of God was tried it refuted Satan. Deuteronomy is probably not the most read of all of the books of the Bible, but it is the word of God and it proves true. God has given us His true word in order to help us live for Him in this sinful world. Perhaps our own behavior sometimes proves that we do not read and study God’s word as we should. None of us can claim to live God’s word perfectly, but we can grow stronger as we read it each day. Try God’s word and it will prove true in your life. Praise Him! “He is a buckler/shield to all those who trust in Him…” David’s own life is an example of the importance of this point. When David faced Goliath, he claimed the protection of God. In 1 Samuel 17:36-37, when King Saul expressed doubt that David could challenge Goliath, he replied: “Your servant slew both the lion and bear (who threatened his sheep), and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he defied the armies of the living God. 37. David said moreover, ‘the Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.’ And Saul said unto David, ‘Go, and the Lord be with you.’” David was delivered. There are other instances in the Bible that show even if we have to go through the troubles of life, God still serves as our shield as we go through them. At any rate, He is our shield and it is good to have Him on our side. Praise Him! There you have it. Three good reasons to praise. Read these reasons, apply them to your life and praise God. Bro. Joe “But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. 20. For it is not your that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.”
These words were spoken by Jesus to His disciples just before he sent them out to teach, preach and heal in His name. He told them that He was sending them out “as sheep in the midst of wolves.” In these two verses, Jesus reminded His disciples that they would not be alone and that they would not be speaking for themselves, but for Him --- for God. We also need to understand that God speaks to and through us if we would be used of Him. The text gives us a hint as to how God speaks to and through us. Jesus said that it was “the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you.” God speaks to and through us through the Holy Spirit. This was before Jesus sent the Holy Spirit into the church on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, but that doesn’t mean that the Holy Spirit was not already operative. He spoke to and through people in the Old Testament too, but He had not been sent into their hearts and lives. In Acts 1:18, Jesus made a promise to His disciples that is our promise as well: “But you shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” God speaks directly to our hearts and minds through the Holy Spirit. We do not hear a voice, but we experience a voice that is unmistakably His. You have to be a believer in Jesus Christ for this to be true. If you do not know Christ as your Savior, ask Him into your heart and life now. The Holy Spirit is probably speaking to you about that right now, either inviting you or assuring you. God speaks to us to and through us by scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16 reminds us: “All scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.” What was the source of this inspiration? We are given the answer in 2 Peter 1:20b-21: “No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” The One who speaks to our hearts and minds, is the same One who spoke God’s word into scripture. That is why we need to carefully and prayerfully read and study the word of God. We learn right from wrong through the word of God. It is ignorance of God’s word that causes a lot of people to live the lives they are living today. People accept things that are not biblical because they either do not know what the scriptures teach, or they do not care. When you read the Bible, consider what God is saying to you from His word through His Spirit. God speaks to us through our fellowship as Christians. Consider that when you are sitting in church listening to your preacher, you will find the sermon more interesting if you will ask what God is saying to you through him. (I hate to think of the time I spent as a child in church looking through the hymnal, or thinking about something that I thought more interesting, instead of listening to the preacher.) Even today, after being a preacher for over fifty-five years myself, I can still discern God speaking to me through His preachers. But God does not just speak to us through preachers. He speaks to us through one another. One of the greatest witnessing tools that a church has is Sunday School. Many people have come to God because of godly Sunday School teachers. He speaks to us through daily and weekly fellowship. It is a fact that most people who come to the Lord and join the church do it initially through a friend. (Consider being that friend.) Let God speak to you through His Spirit, His word and His people, and let Him speak through you to others. Bro. Joe “Be not wise in your own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. 8. It shall be health to your navel, and marrow to your bones.”
Let me begin with a disclaimer: I am in no way telling you that I have the authority to tell you how to live wisely. I am basing the thesis of this article on the authority of the Bible. The text that is printed above is the best start that I know to living wisely, First, it tells us: “Be not wise in your own eyes…” (This probably gives you some idea of why I put the disclaimer in introducing this subject.) I imagine that I am a wiser person at the age of seventy-six that I was at the age of twenty-one, which was my age when I entered the ministry. The people who heard me preach then, those who are still alive, would probably tell you that I have garnered a little more wisdom. But my wisdom, like yours, is tainted by my human biases and by my own opinions. (Don’t you dare look down on me, for the same is true of you.) We must conclude that we are not all-wise, and that our biases and opinions might be wrong. We used to call people who thought they knew everything “smarty pants.” I guess the Bible is telling us not to be a “smarty pants.” It is true that the people who think that they know everything are the most ignorant. What should we do to not be wise in our own eyes? Second, the text tells us “fear the Lord…” Instead of being overrun with conceit, we must yield to the One who really does know everything. The admonition to “fear the Lord” is loaded with meaning. It means that we are to have great reverence and respect for the Lord. It means that we are to trust Him more than we trust ourselves, or any human being. If we do not want to “be wise in our own eyes,” we must confess that we need to depend on the wisdom of God to lead our own lives and to help others who might come to us for help for their own lives. I learned in the years when I was counseling people that the first thing that I had to do was to get them to reading the Bible and praying. I knew that I could give them some guidance, but that their main guidance and wisdom had to come from God. The first thing that we had to do to be saved was to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then to live for Him we had to seek His wisdom through Bible study and prayer. We had to trust that Jesus knows best. One reason, among many, that He sent the Holy Spirit into our lives was to give us the benefit of His wisdom and guidance. Third, the text tells us “and depart from evil.” If we are left to our own devices, we will not depart from evil; instead we will run furiously toward it. It is never wise to run toward evil. Satan is good at making evil look so good that we have a difficult time running away from it. Satan loves it when people are “wise in (their) own eyes,” because they become easy prey for him. I guess we could say that Satan loves for us to be “mister smarty pants.” He loves for us to adopt the “if it feels good do it” mentality. We shouldn’t let Satan decide for us what feels good. We need to learn to listen to the urging of the Holy Spirt in deciding right from wrong. We need to look to the Bible in deciding right from wrong. In other words, we need to seek the wisdom of the all-knowing, all-encompassing God in making decisions in our lives. In order to “depart from evil” we need to pray for God’s wisdom and seek the wisdom of the word of God. Verse 8 informs us that fearing the Lord and departing from evil is the healthy thing to do. Seeking God’s wisdom will actually strengthen us physically as well as spiritually. That is a good promise. I hope that you will accept its premise for your life, not because I advised it, but because it is in the Bible. Bro. Joe |
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