Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
19 The Lord said to Moses, 2 Say to the whole community of the Israelites: You must be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. 3 Each of you must respect your mother and father, and you must keep my sabbaths; I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves; I am the Lord your God.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Though it is often ridiculed by those that have not read it, or misunderstood by those who do not have spiritual discernment, the fourth book of the Torah, Leviticus, is a book that directly concentrates its readers upon holiness – the 100% ultimate holiness of God and the need for the nation of Israel to be holy.
“You shall be holy,” God informed His chosen nation through Moses.
“You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Leviticus 19:2
From start to finish, Leviticus is a book that points the faithful to Christ.
He is pictured in the perfect Law of Moses in many ways, and by careful reading and studying its words, He can be identified in the various sacrificial offerings.
The person and work of Christ can also be seen in the holy articles of the Tabernacle, the function of the priesthood, and the feasts of the Lord.
The book of Leviticus points to Christ in many ways – for His “One and Done” atoning sacrifice of his own blood alone forever takes away the sin of the world.
Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity, Who was fully and finally, ultimately revealed to the world through the birth, life, death, and Resurrection, Ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is undeniably the eternal Son of God, Who did tabernacle among us, for a time and a season while He walked and talked and who had taught, healed and ministered unto the ancient people of the early first century Israel.
He is the perfect Word of God made flesh, through Whom the world was made and in Whom is life eternal, through which darkness and death have no power.
He is the eternal Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.
And He is the sinless Son of Man, Who was sent by His Father to live among us, to set the example of life, set aside His heavenly glory to become like one of us.
Jesus is the Second Person of the immortal, invisible, almighty, HOLY God.
He is the only Member of the Holy Trinity Who was clothed in human flesh, so sinful men and women might be saved by grace – through faith in His sacrificial work at Calvary.
Throughout the Hebrew [Old] Testament, God gradually revealed His character, His attributes, His name, His miraculous redemptive plan for mankind, through the writings of specifically anointed holy men of God, many prophetic voices.
But in these last days, God has spoken to us in His Son, Whom He appointed Heir of all things, and through Whom also He made the world.
However, hidden deep within the pages of the Hebrew [Old] Testament, are many concealed references to Christ Jesus.
For those with eyes to see and a teachable spirit, we discover many ‘types’ and pictures of His person, His mission, His atoning work, and His supernatural life.
Numerous prophecies give details of His coming to earth as a newborn babe in a manger in Bethlehem, His ministry on earth, His sacrificial death, His glorious Resurrection, His ultimate victory over sin, over death and ultimately, Satan.
And Scripture records His coming millennial rule as King of kings and Lord of lords, for He is God’s appointed Messiah of Israel, He is the Savior of the world.
Moses was one such prophetic voice in Scripture, and he was inspired by God to write the book of Leviticus.
He was the man that God chose to become the first great leader of His people.
He was God’s anointed mouthpiece unto Pharaoh and the one who finally led millions of God’s redeemed people out of Egypt, on that first Passover night.
It was Moses through whom the Law was first written down and given to God’s chosen nation, and it was Moses who led, guided, directed, and instructed His people how to live as God’s own people, if they were to receive God’s blessings.
It was Moses who warned them what would happen if they disobeyed the Lord’s command and Moses was instructed by God to
“Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.'”
Israel was to be set apart from the gentile nations.
They were to be a separated nation, a covenanted people, an atypical race that was holy to the Lord.
They were to be God’s unique nation and a people for His own possession.
They were chosen out of all the people groups who live on the face of the earth, to have a holy relationship with the one and only, holy God.
Israel was to be a holy people unto the Lord their God.
They were to be sanctified unto the Lord – a peculiar people unto Himself.
They were to be an example of a nation that was consecrated to God.
Israel was to be God’s earthly light to the pagan nations and an example of a holy community, who honored the Lord.
They had seen God move before them as pillars of fire and smoke and they had witnessed the mighty miracles that decimated their proud Egyptian overlords.
They had made a covenant with the Lord and had promised to do all that the Lord had commanded – which is why God said to Moses,
“speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.'”
The call to holiness still stands for Christians in this epoch of the grace of God.
Like Israel, we are also instructed to be obedient children who are to be holy unto the Lord.
Like them, we are not to be conformed to the lusts of the flesh and pride of life.
Like Israel we are also instructed to be holy ourselves also in all of our behaviors – because as it was covenanted and written then and is still covenanted, written for us today, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
As God’s “Holy” People in the World Today?
Proverbs 27:17-19 Common English Bible
17 As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens a friend. 18 Those who tend a fig tree will eat its fruit, and those who look after their master will be honored. 19 As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects one person to another.
When God created us, He created us in His image.
Because we are, we should reflect every aspect of who He is because His image in stamped and engraved in us.
In Leviticus 19:2 God instructs Moses to tell the Children of Israel to be holy because God is holy.
That applies to us today as well.
Our words should be holy.
Our actions should be holy.
Our thoughts should be holy.
The way we live should be holy.
Other characteristics of God includes: merciful, forgiving, grace, truthful, keeps his promises, righteous, just, faithful, and unconditional and unfailing love.
As beings created in our Creator’s image, we should reflect these attributes in our everyday lives.
Colossians 3:10 says, “And have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.”
And in Ephesians 4:24, Paul wrote, “And to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
In Proverbs 27:19, Solomon wrote, “As water reflects the face, so the heart reflects the person.”
Whatever is living in and within our hearts is what is reflected in our lives.
Is our heart reflecting the holiness of God and His attributes/characteristics?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
God, my Heavenly Father, thank You for the uncountable, invaluable lessons that Your Church can learn through the history of Israel and for the many types and pictures of Jesus that are hidden within the sacred pages of Scripture. Thank You that like Israel, I have also been called to be holy, because You are holy. It is humbling to realize that as part of Christ’s Body, we have also been chosen, in Him, to be kings and priests unto God – to be a chosen people, who tell the world that Jesus died for their sin and rose again, so that by faith in Him we may be holy, as He is holy. Thank You that by faith in Christ, I have been called to be Your very own, and to proclaim the wonderful deeds of Him Who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light. May I live and work from this day forward, to be more like Jesus, and to live a holy life that is separated from this fallen world system. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.
129 Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul keeps them. 130 The unfolding of Your [glorious] words give light; Their unfolding gives understanding to the simple (childlike). 131 I opened my mouth and panted [with anticipation], Because I longed for Your commandments. 132 Turn to me and be gracious to me and show me favor, As is Your way to those who love Your name. 133 Establish my footsteps in [the way of] Your word; Do not let any human weakness have power over me [causing me to be separated from You]. 134 Redeem me from the oppression of man; That I may keep Your precepts. 135 Make Your face shine [with pleasure] upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes. 136 My eyes weep streams of water Because people do not keep Your law.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria, In Excelsis Deo, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
Blessings From God’s Word …
Make your face shine with pleasure on your servant and teach me your decrees.
— Psalm 119:135
The words of the Psalmist from verse 135“Make your face shine on your servant” echoes the great blessing found in the High Aaronic prayer Numbers 6:24-26.
There God explains how to give his people a blessing, saying:
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”
Here God conveys to his people that He has turned His face upon them, sees them and promises to be gracious to them, to love and vigilantly protect them.
In our reading from the Psalms for today, the psalmist sees the light of God’s Word, and his passion for God grows, leading to a greater thirst for God’s Word.
As he reads and meditates, ponders and absorbs, the writer’s understanding of God’s love, mercy, and compassion deepens and his longing for God increases.
The intensity of his passion for God leads him even to pant for God’s Word!
Another important thing to note here is that the psalmist calls himself God’s servant.
Connecting God’s blessing with service, the psalmist reminds us that blessings do not stop when they land on our doorstep.
God blesses us—his servants—so that we can serve and be a blessing to the people around us.
Go ahead and ask God for his blessing, because God wants to bless you.
He also wants us to be keenly attentive to his Word, to praise Him, to pray and to worship Him and to learn His statutes, to revive, actively serve in his world.
Teach Me Your Statutes, O God …
God’s word is a treasure filled with fine riches that teach us about the God who created us and how to live in a way that pleases Him.
Often, we can disconnect God’s word from our lives and make reading His word a mere intellectual pursuit or religious practice.
Psalm 119 is a beautiful prayer that asks God to deeply connect the psalmist’s life with the word of God.
One of the most oft repeated phrases the psalmist passionately prays is for God to teach him to live by his statutes, which appears Psalm 119 at least ten times:
“Blessed are you, O LORD; teach me your statutes!” Psalm 119:12
“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.” Psalm 119:18
“When I told of my ways, you answered me; teach me your statutes!”Psalm 119:26
“Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.” Psalm119:33
“The earth, O LORD, is full of your steadfast love; teach me your statutes!”Psalm 119:64
“You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.” Psalm 119:68
“Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.” Psalm 119:73
“Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.” Psalm 119:124
“I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!” Psalm 119:25
“Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.” Psalm 119:135
“Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word!“ Psalm 119:169
We could, would, should be all be the wiser to make these verses (and the whole psalm) an essential element of our daily prayer life, our heart cry to our Savior.
Ah, the Sweetest Mystery of Life …
Ecclesiastes 8:16-9:6Amplified Bible
16 When I applied my mind to know wisdom and to see the activities [of mankind] that take place upon the earth—how some men seem to sleep neither day nor night— 17 and I saw all the work of God, I concluded that man cannot discover the work that is done under the sun. Even though man may labor in seeking, he will not discover; and [more than that], though a wise man thinks and claims he knows, he will not be able to find it out.
Men Are in the Hand of God
9 For I have taken all this to heart, exploring and examining it all, how the righteous (those in right standing with God) and the wise and their deeds are in the hands of God. No man knows whether it will be love or hatred; anything awaits him.
2 It is the same for all. There is one fate for the righteous and for the wicked; for the good, for the clean and for the unclean; for the man who offers sacrifices and for the one who does not sacrifice. As the good man is, so is the sinner; as he who swears an oath is, so is he who is afraid to swear an oath. 3 This evil is in all that is done under the sun, that one fate comes to all. Also, the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and madness is in their hearts while they live, and afterwards they go to the dead. 4 [There is no exemption,] but whoever is joined with all the living, has hope; surely a live dog is better than a dead lion. 5 For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing, and they no longer have a reward [here], for the memory of them is forgotten. 6 Indeed their love, their hatred and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share [in this age] in anything that is done under the sun.
The Searcher’s claim is quite clear: life is too complicated, too vast, too filled with conflicting elements for any one of us to figure out all the answers.
Though we stay up all night and day, trying to think through and understand the complicated events that bring to pass the circumstances of our lives, we will never fully understand.
The Bible attaches no stigma to trying to understand life.
Rather, the pursuit of knowledge is everywhere encouraged in Scripture.
We must never adopt the attitude of anti-intellectualism that characterizes some segments of Christianity today.
We are to reason and think about what God is doing and what life gives us.
But we must always remember that no matter how much we try to think about life, mysteries will still remain.
We do not have enough data, nor do we have enough ability to see life in its totality to answer all the questions.
We must be content with some degree of mystery.
Though the wisest man of the ancient world wrote these words, he admits that humans cannot know all the answers.
He even says that diligence in labor will not unravel life’s mysteries: Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning.
We will still be left collectively knitting our brows, collectively scratching our heads, and asking the eternally unanswerable question: “Why, Me, Lord”?
Even when people claim to know the answers behind what happens to us, they are really only deceiving themselves.
Many people are unwilling to accept the truth of the precepts of Scripture until they can “come to fully, completely, utterly,” understand everything in it.
But if you and I are waiting for that, you will never make it -“failure to thrive” .
Although this book Ecclesiastes was written almost 2,500 years ago, it is still true, even in our age of advanced knowledge, no one can find all the answers.
We must diligently search out the statutes of God – through prayer and study.
When you and I think about our own life, about how many of the things that have happened to us have been determined by events over which we had zero control—events that had to fall together in a certain pattern before they could ever come to pass [by God’s Plan]—you, I, can see how true these words are.
No one can find out all the answers.
The sweetest mystery to life is that the destiny of our lives may all hung upon a simple decision to go or not to go to a church on a particular Sunday because we had some sort of “issue, grievance, grudge etcetera,” against the church itself.
Learning something about God’s precepts for our “Christian living” may just be revealed on that day during the course of praise, worship, reading of scripture.
We have to continuously place ourselves directly in the path of the Word of God.
We have to continuously stay passionate about letting God work in us and also through us by means of the unmatched power of His transformative Word.
How can we understand that strange merging of simplicity and complexity?
The Searcher of Ecclesiastes continuously and constantly argues that life is too complicated without the Word of God, for us ever to answer all the questions.
We will inevitably run out of brain power when, all by ourselves, we keep trying to be “a Sermon in Shoes Christian” finding our answers to the mystery of life.
Is understanding everything in Scripture necessary before accepting it as truth?
A Puzzle and a Song …
Romans 11:30-12:3Amplified Bible
30 Just as you once were disobedient and failed to listen to God, but have now obtained mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now become disobedient so that they too may one day receive mercy because of the mercy shown to you. 32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all [Jew and Gentile alike].
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and decisions and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways! 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counselor? 35 Or who has first given to Him that it would be paid back to him? 36 For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist] and to Him are all things [directed]. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.
Dedicated Service
12 [a]Therefore I urge you, [b]brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies [dedicating all of yourselves, set apart] as a living sacrifice, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is your rational (logical, intelligent) act of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world [any longer with its superficial values and customs], but be [c]transformed and progressively changed [as you mature spiritually] by the renewing of your mind [focusing on godly values and ethical attitudes], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His plan and purpose for you].
3 For by the grace [of God] given to me I say to everyone of you not to think more highly of himself [and of his importance and ability] than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has apportioned to each a degree of faith [and a purpose designed for service].
I love puzzles but it bothers me and it frustrates me to no end the challenge of sitting still long enough and putting together any 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.
Like my wife, some people will go online, just to do the most complex Sudoku.
She has developed a system whereby she just systematically “breezes through.”
That is not me, either …
I like Sudoku … but I cannot just “breeze through” them like she does.
I watch her, admire her ability to “order and sort out” all of the numbers.
I just need take my time and pray I finish without too many mistakes.
Too many mistakes … I just shut the game down as quickly as possible.
Revealing that sometimes our puzzles can end up puzzling us.
That’s how it was for the apostle Paul.
Paul wrestled with a very personal problem.
By God’s grace he had come to know Jesus as his Savior.
As he went about doing his missionary work, many Gentiles came to faith in Jesus as Lord.
But many of his own Jewish people rejected Jesus.
It was mind boggling to him.
Were they not God’s special people chosen to share God’s love with the world?
Nevertheless, Paul was so confident of God’s great mercy he broke into song.
Paul confesses that we can never fully grasp God’s eternal plan.
Our efforts to understand God, define him, or reduce him to our level will ultimately fail.
God owes us no explanation; nor is he accountable to us—for he is God.
There is something we can do—in fact, two things.
First, Paul implies that we should keep praising God because all glory belongs to him forever.
Then Paul goes on to say that the only reasonable response to all this is to offer ourselves in complete service to God and to be completely available for his use.
Are we doing that?
By Praise and Worship, by Prayer and Meditation and Study of God’s Word,
Are we looking to God for answers to even the most uncomplicated of puzzles?
“Reviving” the “Lost Art” of “Knowing God better than we Know Ourselves?”
Do you desire to continually learn and be taught God’s word and statues?
Does your heart yearn to be taught the path of God and to fix the gaze of your heart and your soul upon Him?
How say Ye to this …?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray, ….
Lord, often we are as puzzled as the Psalmist, the Teacher and the Apostle Paul about the host of ways you deal with us. Even so, may we stand in awe of your amazing grace and respond to you with songs of praise and acts of service.Lord, cause us to continually grow in our understanding and learning of your statutes, making us wise and obedient to you. Cause us to fear your name and pursue an obedient and joyful life as Bible-saturated people who look to you for wisdom, grace, and life.Teach us your statutes and may our lives be characterized by joyful obedience to your word and by demonstrating constant dependence on you.And may you fill us ever more increasingly with your Holy Spirit, who alone, can truly teach us all your statutes.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen.
4 After this I looked, and behold, [a]a door standing open in heaven! And the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a [war] trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” 2 At once I was in [special communication with] the Spirit; and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with One seated on the throne. 3 And He who sat there appeared like [the crystalline sparkle of] [b]a jasper stone and [the fiery redness of] a sardius stone, and encircling the throne there was a rainbow that looked like [the color of an] emerald.4 Twenty-four [other] thrones surrounded the throne; and seated on these thrones were [c]twenty-four elders dressed in white clothing, with crowns of gold on their heads.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Once John was charged to write the book of Revelation, when he met with the resurrected, glorified Lord Jesus in chapter 1, and having received Christ’s 7 letters to the 7 churches in chapters 2-3, he is given a vision of the throne room of God and commanded to, “Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”
Not only was John given important information for the Churches, but he was also commanded to ‘see’ and to ‘hear’ what was going to happen beyond the current Church age, “after these things.”
After acting as God’s heavenly, High Priest to the Church-age saints and interceding as heaven’s Mediator between God and man, John is shown how Christ will begin to take on His role of Judge, before returning to earth to claim His position as King of kings and Lord of lords.
“I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven,” John writes,“and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me.”
The angel who met John in the prologue was the same angel who accompanied him throughout the entire revelation of Jesus Christ – which the Father gave to His Son… to give to John through His angel.
The apostle John was about to receive a preview of the future, which began with a vision of heaven in chapter 4 and moved to the worship of the Lamb of God in chapter 5.
He saw One seated on the throne which had the appearance of crystal-clear jasper and a blood-red Sardis stone, and John recorded that there was a rainbow surrounding the throne that reminded him of a brilliant green emerald.
Twice he was summoned to, “come up here.”
The same voice which sounded like that of a trumpet in chapter 1, commanded him to join the heavenly host of angelic beings that surrounded the throne of God, by means of a door which was standing open in heaven.
And being, “in the spirit on the Lord’s day,” John was given an amazing insight into the future.. and greater revelation of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God and Lion of the tribe of Judah.
After Christ’s revelation to the Churches ended, John’s vison changed, and he was ushered into heaven – in spirit and in truth.
He discovered that the heavenly scene into which he had been brought, was preparing to unseal a special scroll which had been securely sealed by God Himself with seven seals.
As the heavenly scene unfolded, John discovered that he was witnessing to the precursor of the prophesied judgement on earth – the Day of the Lord which he recorded in chapters 6-19 when the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness.
The sight that John saw during chapters 4-5, were the heavenly preparation for that future time of Great Tribulation, recorded in chapters 6-19, which is to fall on a Christ-rejecting sinful world and which will bring Israel to national repentance and punishment to the God-hating, Christ-rejecting, sinful world.
While John’s body remained on earth, his spirit was translated into heaven where he witnessed a vision of the angelic host that surround the throne of Almighty God – the Ancient of Days.
As he looked, John was introduced to four living creatures who worship God day and night and 24 elders who were clothed in white raiment with crowns of gold on their heads.
The vison of the throne-room of God, the worship of the Lamb Who was slain, and the presentation of a seven-sealed scroll, which no-one but Lamb could break, are all part-and-parcel of the heavenly vision John saw in chapters 4 and 5.
It was after he had received Christ’s revelation to the Church (chapters 1-3) but before the revelation of Christ to the world in His role as Judge (chapters 6-19) when the wrath of God is poured out upon the children of disobedience, that the aged apostle John looked,
“and behold, a door was standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said to him, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.'”
In chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation, the focus shifts to a new and powerful story of God’s ongoing mission.
This new section begins with John seeing “a door standing open in heaven.”
This picture surprises us because we know that an open door often extends an invitation to come in.
This is an enticing opportunity to believe because heaven is often considered a place of mysteries that we do not have access to.
For the most part, it is God’s secret—at least from our day-to-day living in this life.
But here Jesus opens heaven’s door.
And in a voice like a trumpet, he welcomes us, saying, “Come up here.”
The invitation promises to reveal “what must take place after this.”
But as John tells the story of walking through heaven’s open door, the future is not the first thing that catches his attention.
Instead, he sees “a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.”
Heaven’s open door has us standing before the throne of all thrones, from which everything in heaven and on earth is loved and cared for.
Still today, the Holy Spirit opens heaven’s door wide so that we can visualize, believe, this scene and let its story encourage us to live by faith in Jesus today.
Considering Reasons to Believe in Heaven
Let us strive to remember that the one who reads, hears, and takes to heart this amazing revelation is blessed.
“Blessed is he that reads, and those that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein, for the time is at hand.”
Believing in Heaven …
“Heaven is a fairy tale for people afraid of the dark.” –Stephen Hawking
I’m afraid of the dark.
If we are talking about the endless kind of darkness which offers us no light anywhere, no hope ever, and nothing but nothingness, who among us would not panic at the thought of that?
I expect people like Mr. Hawking simply find the idea of Heaven too good to be true, and thus conclude that it must be a product of man’s delusional yearning for “pie in the sky by and by.”
And yet, there are solid reasons for reasonable people to believe in the concept of a Heavenly home after this earthly life.
Here are some that mean a lot to me.
By no means is this list exhaustive.
It’s simply my laymen’s thinking on the subject.
The God who made us created us with a longing for Himself and a satisfaction in nothing less. {Ecclesiastes 3:1-22}
When we get to Heaven, we will finally be satisfied, but not until then.
“I shall be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake” (Psalm 17:15).
“I go to prepare a place for you,” said our Lord. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3).
If it were not so, I would have told you.
Jesus said that.
I believe Him.
I choose to believe.
1. Jesus Believed in Heaven
In fact, He claimed to be a native.
The Lord said to Nicodemus, “No one has been to Heaven except the One who came from there, even the Son of Man.” (John 3:13). No one knows a place like a native.
Jesus told the dying thief, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43).
So, wherever we go when we die, it’s a paradise.
True, He left us a thousand unanswered questions on the subject, but what He told us is pure gold.
For instance, when He returns, the dead in Christ accompany Him (I Thessalonians 4:14).
It appears that our eventual destination is somewhere different from the initial, intermediate place called “Paradise,” but we should have no trouble leaving the details to Him – after all, we can trust the One who died for us.
2. Scripture consistently teaches the existence of Heaven.
We must not let people get by with saying the Old Testament knew nothing of Heaven.
“I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever,”said David in everyone’s favorite psalm.
Or this one:“As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness; I will be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake” (Psalm 17:15).
Job said,“My Redeemer liveth and at last shall stand upon the earth; yet even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes shall see and not another” (Job 19:25-27).
Neither must we cave to those who say the only way to understand such verses is to get inside the mind of the one who said those words originally, as if what they said is determinative and authoritative.
Peter said the prophets said more than they understood and even angels could not fathom some of these things. (I Peter 1:12).
3. I believe in Heaven because I believe in earth.
It’s so wonderful.
There is nothing else like it in the universe.
Suppose we lived in some distant world and all we knew was the planets we have seen–the barren, rocky planets that are molten in the day and frigid at night, those covered with acidic clouds or endless hurricanes–
and if someone told us about earth, with its steadiness, its atmosphere, its lovely scenery and its plant life and the richness of its minerals and a thousand other delights, we would find it hard to believe.
And yet here it is.
We are residents of this amazing planet.
We take the earth in stride because it’s all we know.
4. There has to be a heaven to even up the earthly hell God’s most faithful sometimes endure for Jesus’ sake.
Those of us who are “carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease,” to use Isaac Watts’ unforgettable image, have little idea of the price some have paid for their loyalty to Jesus Christ through the centuries.
Many live under oppressive regimes in our day, punished for doing nothing more than meeting in someone’s living room to worship or giving a friend a Bible.
I’m tempted to say “God owes them, big time,” but I don’t believe I want to be presumptuous or blasphemous.
“God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love that you have shown toward His name in having ministered to the saints, and in still ministering” is how Hebrews 6:10 puts it.
If God were not to reward the faithfulness of the most loyal, it would be sin on His part.
After all, “this momentary light affliction is working for us an exceeding weight of glory far beyond all comparison” says 2 Corinthians 4:17.
5. Every caterpillar/butterfly testifies to our heavenly future.
Suppose we could inform that caterpillar crawling across a leaf of the glorious future just ahead of him (it?).
Would that humble creature believe he (it) would someday have gorgeous wings and flit through the sky?
So, why do we have such difficulty believing in the destiny God has planned for and promised to His own?
6. I believe in Heaven because the alternative belief is in despair.
“I would have despaired had I not believed I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living”(Psalm 27:13).
This world, by the way, is not the land of the living, but is the land of the dying.
The “land of the living” is just over the next ridge, immediately following our final breath here.
Jesus said, “Because I live, you too shall live.”
Who among us has not grieved at the thought of never seeing a precious loved one again, as we have left the cemetery.
The alternative to faith is despair.
7. I believe in Heaven because some of the best people who ever lived believed in Heaven.
Pick up a Bible and read it ….
A whole lot of formerly ordinary people from literally all walks of life had come to faith in God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit long before I was ever even told there was a God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [Hebrews 11, Hebrews 12:1-2.]
8. I believe in Heaven because I believe in hell.
Luke 16:27-28Amplified Bible
27 So the rich man said, ‘Then, father [Abraham], I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may solemnly warn them and witness to them, so that they too will not come to this place of torment.’
There has to be a hell.
I don’t like to think much about hell.
But I have to because God’s Word teaches about it.
The plain truth is that hell is real, and real people go there forever.
Several times in the Gospels we read Jesus was grieved when people turned away from him–grieved because he knew they were walking down the road that eventually would lead to hell.
The message Jesus brought is simple: Unless you turn and put your trust in me, you will die in your sins and face an eternity without me.
In Jesus’ parable of the rich man and Lazarus, we see the rich man begging for a little relief from his suffering.
Father Abraham explains that this kind of relief is not possible.
The rich man then turns his attention toward his brothers who are still living.
“Then I beg you … send Lazarus… Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.”
Notice a short time in hell turned this unbeliever into a motivated evangelist.
In a sense the rich man is saying,
“Someone has got to warn people that hell is real and that real people go there.”
How tragic that the man in this story found out too late.
What’s it going to take for you to become motivated?
Pray God’s grace, not his wrath, will fill your heart with a passion to save the lost.
9. I believe in Heaven because it’s a great incentive to responsible living and compassionate everything.
Skeptics will point to the shallow sayings of some believers that for the Heaven-bound this world does not matter, and that improving life on Earth is just so much arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
Those who say such are wrong, their thinking unbiblical, their teachings are misleading.
We have great responsibilities here in this life, and it’s not just to get people to (ahem) “pray the sinner’s prayer” so they can go to heaven.
We were commissioned to make disciples, a far bigger thing.
“The heavens are the heavens of the Lord,” says Psalm 115:16, “but the earth He has given to the sons of men.”
We are stewards of this planet, and thus answerable to Him.
I’ll go so far as to say those who are working to give the planet clean air and pure water, safe streets, are also doing the work of the Lord in their own way.
10. I believe in Heaven because of reasons I’m yet to discover.
There is so much more.
As some have said, we are “hard-wired” to believe in God and likewise in Heaven.
I willingly accept that and see it as residue of the creation.
The God who made us created us with a longing for Himself and a satisfaction in nothing less.
When we get to Heaven, we will finally be satisfied, but not until then. “I shall be satisfied with Thy likeness when I awake”(Psalm 17:15).
“I go to prepare a place for you,” said our Lord. “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:3).
“If it were not so, I would have told you.”
Jesus said that. I believe Him.
I simply choose to believe.
God, the Father …
God, the Son …
God, the Holy Spirit …
The Revealed Word of God …
The Resurrection ….
In Heaven …
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly Father, thank You for the book of Revelation and for the greater insight and understanding it gives us into the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus, of what is to take place after He comes to take the members of His mystic Body to be with Himself, and how we should live in this present age. I pray that You would bless me as I read and take to heart all that is written in this final book of Scripture. Thank You that You are the eternal and immutable God Whose plans and purposes can never fail. Thank You for the Cross of Christ and His glorious Resurrection, which secured for us an eternal inheritance, by faith. I pray that all I say and do would give glory to You and that one day I may cast my crown before His feet. Thank you for all Your goodness and grace to me and to all men. This I pray in Jesus’ wonderful name.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria. In Excelsis Deo. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Amen
12-14 I want to report to you, friends, that my imprisonment here has had the opposite of its intended effect. Instead of being squelched, the Message has actually prospered. All the soldiers here, and everyone else, too, found out that I’m in jail because of this Messiah. That piqued their curiosity, and now they’ve learned all about him. Not only that, but most of the followers of Jesus here have become far more sure of themselves in the faith than ever, speaking out fearlessly about God, about the Messiah.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
How passionate are we about sharing the Gospel?
How much or how little are we willing to extend ourselves, sacrifice and take risks so that unbelievers may become followers of Jesus and believers may become that much better equipped to share the good news of our salvation?
As we approach the Lenten Season and consider these questions, are we helped by the example of the apostle Paul, who heroically, single-mindedly, pursued God’s call through all manner of difficulties and persecutions and throughout the Mediterranean world—all so that others may come to know Christ as Lord?
If nothing else, we we learn that nothing would stop Paul from preaching and teaching about Jesus—not a trial before royalty, a storm at sea, a shipwreck, a poisonous snake bite, chains, or even prolonged wrongful imprisonment.
Paul was hyper-zealous to make all of his days and deeds count for the Gospel.
His dramatic missionary journeys, and finally his journey to Rome to face down the Roman authorities on their home ground, illustrates God’s faithfulness and encourages us to see our circumstances as “God” opportunities for us to throw all of ourselves into our own mission, ministry journey’s to share the Gospel.
As I sit on a pillow in my dining room recovering from “urological surgery,” yesterday, my only thoughts were to start writing another devotional entry.
I can sit here in some fair measure of discomfort with my God, my Savior and the Holy Spirit and my caregiving wife at my side, to feel enormously blessed, so fully and completely grateful for what is stirring me to write and not rest.
God has formed and shaped out a place of such an enormous and intense joy in my heart, in my soul just for sharing of His Gospel, no matter the discomfort.
I have this ministry and mission of writing which Reverend John Wesley states:
“I look on all the world as my parish, thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of the world I am in … I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty, to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation.”
Even if my only place in the world is my very own dining room in my own home.
As of now, by God’s grace, the matchless power and purpose of His scriptures, His own grand plan, [Isaiah 55:10-13] these writings have reached 125 nations.
I cannot speak to the work God has done, but I am still writing after 18 months.
For GOD my Savior and for the Sake of the Gospel
Philippians 1:12-14Amplified Bible
The Gospel Is Preached
12 Now I want you to know, [a]believers, that what has happened to me [this imprisonment that was meant to stop me] has actually served to advance [the spread of] the good news [regarding salvation]. 13 My imprisonment in [the cause of] Christ has become common knowledge throughout the whole [b] praetorian (imperial) guard and to everyone else. 14 Because of my chains [seeing that I am doing well and that God is accomplishing great things], most of the [c]brothers have renewed confidence in the Lord, and have far more courage to speak the word of God [concerning salvation] without fear [of the consequences, seeing that God can work His good in all circumstances].
Follow Paul through Acts and he leaves you breathless.
He’s constantly on the move, going from place to place.
One moment he’s stitching tents together, then he’s bringing Eutychus back to life, and then he survives a snakebite and heals the sick on Malta.
It’s almost as if you can’t imagine ever being able to keep up with him.
Surely the worst thing that could ever happen to someone like Paul is to be stuck in one house for two years.
But at the conclusion of Acts, that’s exactly how we find him (Acts 28:30-31).
You can just imagine the devil’s response to Paul’s imprisonment:
Now I’ve shut him down! That’ll get rid of him. He won’t be able to go anywhere for a long while. He’ll just shrivel up and die a prisoner.
Not a chance!
It is during Paul’s imprisonment that he penned some of his most noteworthy letters under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit—letters that God is still using to transform lives these long and tornado twisting, storm driven 2,000 years later.
And, remarkably, the gospel has continually advanced not only despite Paul’s chains but because of them.
Paul was likely very different from other prisoners.
The soldiers who guarded him would have probably said to one another,
He is the most remarkable person we’ve ever had. We’re used to people constantly cussing, screaming, agitating, and complaining. But this Paul has joy and purpose, and he just preaches!
As a result of Paul’s daily ministry among these soldiers, word began to spread throughout the entire palace guard: The reason this guy is a prisoner is because of Jesus.
They got the point: He’s chained to us, he says, because he’s chained to this man Jesus Christ.
And it appears that some of these guards not only heard the gospel but responded to it.
As they were redeployed throughout the Roman Empire, arriving at their new posts as new men, the gospel would advance to different places through them.
And so Paul’s imprisonment, which at first appeared to be diametrically opposed to the spread of the gospel, actually proved to be essential to it.
You do not need to be a prisoner, a missionary, or an apostle to be used by God in spreading the gospel, nor do you need to wait for all the circumstances in your life to line up just as you want them to before you simply talk about Jesus.
Whether you are in your home, prison, a hospital, an office, a field, or wherever, and whether you realize it or not, you are never far from someone who needs to hear the amazing story of God’s grace.
What are the situations you face that you naturally see as obstacles to sharing the gospel, and how might they in fact be opportunities?
Who are the lost and longing people that God has placed in your life today?
They need God.
And they might only meet Him through your loving, sacred, holy boldness.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 40The Message
40 1-3 I waited and waited and waited for God. At last he looked; finally he listened. He lifted me out of the ditch, pulled me from deep mud. He stood me up on a solid rock to make sure I wouldn’t slip. He taught me how to sing the latest God-song, a praise-song to our God. More and more people are seeing this: they enter the mystery, abandoning themselves to God.
4-5 Blessed are you who give yourselves over to God, turn your backs on the world’s “sure thing,” ignore what the world worships; The world’s a huge stockpile of God-wonders and God-thoughts. Nothing and no one compares to you! I start talking about you, telling what I know, and quickly run out of words. Neither numbers nor words account for you.
6 Doing something for you, bringing something to you— that’s not what you’re after. Being religious, acting pious— that’s not what you’re asking for. You’ve opened my ears so I can listen.
7-8 So I answered, “I’m coming. I read in your letter what you wrote about me, And I’m coming to the party you’re throwing for me.” That’s when God’s Word entered my life, became part of my very being.
9-10 I’ve preached you to the whole congregation, I’ve kept back nothing, God—you know that. I didn’t keep the news of your ways a secret, didn’t keep it to myself. I told it all, how dependable you are, how thorough. I didn’t hold back pieces of love and truth For myself alone. I told it all, let the congregation know the whole story.
11-12 Now God, don’t hold out on me, don’t hold back your passion. Your love and truth are all that keeps me together. When troubles ganged up on me, a mob of sins past counting, I was so swamped by guilt I couldn’t see my way clear. More guilt in my heart than hair on my head, so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.
13-15 Soften up, God, and intervene; hurry and get me some help, So those who are trying to kidnap my soul will be embarrassed and lose face, So anyone who gets a kick out of making me miserable will be heckled and disgraced, So those who pray for my ruin will be booed and jeered without mercy.
16-17 But all who are hunting for you— oh, let them sing and be happy. Let those who know what you’re all about tell the world you’re great and not quitting. And me? I’m a mess. I’m nothing and have nothing: make something of me. You can do it; you’ve got what it takes— but God, don’t put it off.
Adeste Fidelis. Venite Adoremus. Dominum.
Gloria, In Excelsis Deo, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia Amen.
1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. 4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. 5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
One of the great hymns of the faith is “Surely Goodness and Mercy.”
In its verses, this hymn summarizes what is taught in Psalm 23.
The chorus, of which I’m sure you are familiar, simply quotes verse 6.
Please read Psalm 23, then sing along with this hymn (at least verse 1):
A pilgrim was I, and a wandering—In the cold night of sin I did roam
When Jesus the kind Shepherd found me—And now I am on my way home.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days, all the days of my life;
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days, all the days of my life.
If you want to keep singing, then you’ll have to look up the other verse in your hymnal or online, but please wait to do so until after you have finished reading the rest of this devotional.
Of all the words that David could have used to describe the blessings of God, he chose “goodness and mercy.”
In this brief study of this Psalm, we have previously talked about our Shepherd providing for us, about restoring our souls, leading us, comforting us, securing us, anointing us with oil, fattening our lives, and overflowing us with blessings.
David sums all this up as “goodness and mercy.”
Goodness supplies all of our needs, and mercy saves us from our sin.
What wondrous blessings our Shepherd has lavished upon us!
Yet, the focus of this final verse is not on the blessings of goodness and mercy, but on their temporal extent—how long will they last – they will last forever!
God’s goodness and mercy will follow me “all the days of my life.”
This means that God is good and merciful when the days are bright and sunny, and when the days are dark and grey.
God lavishes me with goodness and mercy in the days of feasting and in the days of fasting.
God shows me goodness and mercy when I am in the prime of life, and when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life!
But God’s goodness and mercy are not limited to this life only!
They will be shown to me “forever!”
When I pass from this life to the next, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord.”
I will not be condemned to destruction.
I will not be made to pay for my sins.
I will not be isolated from my Lord. I will dwell in His house forever!
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me, all the days of my eternal life!
What Does ‘Surely Goodness and Mercy Will Follow Me’ Mean?
This verse appears in the beginning of Psalm 23:6.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
King David wrote this Psalm.
It very eloquently an passionately speaks of the goodness of God.
One of the rewards of being a Christian is the love that God shows to us.
He loves all His creation.
However, submitting to God and accepting Jesus Christ as personal Savior affords us special benefits.
As Christians, God’s goodness and mercy are available to us even when we miss the mark.
We have access to Him through Jesus Christ.
We can ask for forgiveness, and it is like we have a clean slate.
You will not receive this sort of treatment from man.
Man keeps a record of our faults and is quick to remind us of who we were.
Sometimes it is hard to imagine someone just forgetting about all the stuff that you used to do, but that’s God. God sees our worth.
He sees the brighter picture.
Jeremiah 29:11 reads, “I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
I pray that God will help you to grasp what it means to know that goodness and mercy shall follow you all the days of your life.
The goodness and mercy of God especially follows you when you are hurting.
Psalms 34:18 says, “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saved such as be of a contrite spirit.”
Contrite means to show remorse or be filled with guilt.
You can feel the presence of God draw near to you best when you are in tears.
That is a comforting feeling.
Even when no one else wants to listen, God will draw near to you.
You might say goodness and mercy have not always followed me.
The Bible says that “in this life you will have tribulation but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
God’s peace will allow us to remain stable in an unstable world.
His peace has already overcome the world.
What is the Context of Psalm 23?
Most Christians learned Psalm 23 in Sunday School, or your parents made you read it at home until you memorized it.
In the Kingdom of God, people are often referred to as sheep.
The church leader or pastor is referred to as the shepherd.
Here King David uses the imagery of a shepherd to show God’s blessing and protection of His people (The KJV Study Bible, Barbour Publishing, 2011).
You might ask, why does my pastor care about what I am doing?
As much as we do not like people in our business, pastors are shepherds.
Ultimately, God will hold them accountable for how they tended the sheep.
We are sheep.
If you go line by line, you realize that since the Lord is your shepherd; you shall not want for anything.
I have heard some Saints say that they do not want for nothing.
Think about your life.
You have everything that you need and many things that you want.
You have so much stuff until you must give it away annually.
I know people with some incredible wardrobe closets.
A lot of people would be happy with just two week’s supply of the clothes in someone else’s closet.
God gives us what we need and much of what we want.
When God makes us to lie down in green pastures, that is symbolism for basic needs.
Verse three says “He restoreth my soul.”
God restores you when life or the enemy seeks to depress you and worry you about the cares of this life.
All humans sleep and should wake up refreshed.
I remember the host of times when I have felt that I had a difficult day, all I would desire to do, is to just go to sleep where ever, when ever convenient.
When I would awaken, I would feel refreshed and just have a different outlook on things.
It is a trick of the enemy to make us feel like our situation is the worst that it could be.
That is why you and I need to discipline ourselves to read the Word of God every single day, pray the Holy Spirit, and find out what God says about the situation.
God as shepherd also guides us.
Psalms 23:4 says “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
We should not be fearful living this life.
God is our shepherd.
Many times the wife and I I have driven by the scene of an accident and thought that if we had been five minutes earlier, that could have been us.
God is going before us and making the crooked places straight (Isaiah 45:2).
We have been, by measures and degrees ill and perhaps even sometimes close to death, but our ever vigilant God sets his rod and staff, keeps us here on purpose.
There are twists and turns on this walk called life, but God is always near us.
Verse five says “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil: my cup runneth over.”
I have been in both enlisted in the Navy and an Officer in the Army.
I have completed both of their Basic Trainings.
During marches from this point of some place to that far off place called “somewhere else, who knows where,” we sang cadences to keep in step.
I have often marched to the song;
“You dig one ditch, you better dig two.”
“You never know whose coming for you!”
Often, your blessing is in the presence of your enemies.
Everyone is not your friend, and you are a nice person.
Different people have different motives and intents, but the plan of the Lord prevails (Proverbs 19:21).
Like a Lion lurking in the brush, the enemy of mankind is wily and persistent- constantly looking to redirect our steps away from where God requires us to be
It is important to note that if you know the purpose that God has for you, you need to stick with the plan, aware of the plan and let Him work out the kinks.
You can talk to God about issues and ask Him to fix it.
Sometimes, I am amazed at what He will do if you just ask Him.
It is even better when you can hear that He is listening.
So I try to be careful about what I say and do because I know that He is listening, and we can always on the fact that He will at the most inconvenient of time (for me anyway) “drop a dime” on you and a quarter on me and on those around us.
God also gives us integrity checks.
So step up to the test.
God, your Shepherd is with your every single “pilgrim” step of the way.
What is God’s Goodness?
God’s goodness is His love.
God is love and, God is good.
Many of us can say that we do not deserve to be here.
Sometimes people do not want God to have mercy on people that have done some awful things.
I remember a soul chilling phrase from the movie Chicago when the defendant was asked why she killed someone. She said, “He had it coming.”
I am still amazed about who God chooses to use.
He is not calling us up and asking for permission to use certain people.
God looks at the heart and sees how repentant people are (1 Samuel 16:7).
His Word says that He is married to the backslider (Jeremiah 3:14).
When we sin, we must repent.
God knows that we are not perfect.
He knows that temptation and trials are all around.
We must get in the Word so that we have some help for what we face.
Look to Luke 15:11-32.
Read about the prodigal son.
He came in like a spoiled brat and demanded what he thought was his.
You normally get these things at the reading of the will.
His still living father gave him his inheritance early.
The younger son went away, lived his life as he saw fit and best for him and in the midst of all his presumed joy and happiness, things did not go as planned.
He ended up broke, wishing he could eat any food with the pigs.
He stood up, took a long accounting of himself in his mirror, returned home, presumably by the longest and the narrowest and the safest paths possible.
Amazingly, Radically, His father waited at home, treated him well at his return.
Sometimes, God will allow us to learn, earn our Doctorates in Life, through the “long way around the barn” school of hard knocks, but in His goodness and in His mercy He remains steadfast, waiting at home, stands ready to receive us.
How Can We Know Goodness and Mercy Will Follow Us Every Day?
Episode by episode, long experience, David knew God’s record of faithfulness.
Episode by episode, experience by experience, we too can know God’s record.
If you have been around for any length of time, you have experienced God’s goodness and his mercy and probably never even fully realized it every day.
If you need confirmation, become the prodigal son as he turns away from the smells and sights of the pig sties, turns around, determines that at no matter what the cost in time and effort and risk, steels himself, and just goes home.
Become that prodigal son and on the “journey home” just search the scriptures.
Look at the scriptures from beginning to end and the many clouds of witnesses.
Read the stories, as much as humanly possible, pray the scriptures, purposely become the people of the scriptures – become like Abraham, leave it all behind.
Pick everything up, go to that far off, unknown place where God is sending you.
Where step after step, meal after meal, day after day, trial after trial, tribulation after tribulation, God is setting up your table of abundance in full sight of every single enemy who will seek to stop you in your tracks from going home to God.
How long did it take for the prodigal son to finally crest the hill where he finally saw, took a glance of home – the Lord who is our Shepherd, guided every step!
Along the way, how many fields and meadows and still waters did the prodigal take his rest in, refresh and bathe himself by and long gulps, slaked his thirst.
Most importantly, look at Jesus who God sent as a sacrifice and atonement for our sins – because ultimately – that prodigal son – made it all the way home.
Hard steps?
Absolutely to be expected ….
Yet by Psalm 23, we must not allow ourselves to give up on the goodness of God.
Because our Father awaits us at our eternal home ….
“AND WEI SHALL DWELL IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD OUR GOD, FOREVER ….”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 24 The Message
24 1-2 God claims Earth and everything in it, God claims World and all who live on it. He built it on Ocean foundations, laid it out on River girders.
3-4 Who can climb Mount God? Who can scale the holy north-face? Only the clean-handed, only the pure-hearted; Men who won’t cheat, women who won’t seduce.
5-6 God is at their side; with God’s help they make it. This, Jacob, is what happens to God-seekers, God-questers.
7 Wake up, you sleepyhead city! Wake up, you sleepyhead people! King-Glory is ready to enter.
8 Who is this King-Glory? God, armed and battle-ready.
9 Wake up, you sleepyhead city! Wake up, you sleepyhead people! King-Glory is ready to enter.
10 Who is this King-Glory? God-of-the-Angel-Armies: he is King-Glory.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him any children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “See here, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. I am asking you to go in to [the bed of] my maid [so that she may bear you a child]; perhaps I will [a]obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to Sarai and did as she said. 3 After Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian [maid], and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife. 4 He went in to [the bed of] Hagar, and she conceived; and when she realized that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress [regarding Sarai as insignificant because of her infertility]. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the Lord judge [who has done right] between you and me.” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your maid is entirely in your hands and subject to your authority; do as you please with her.” So Sarai treated her harshly and humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her.
7 But [b]the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, on the road to [Egypt by way of] Shur. 8 And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” 9 The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit [c]humbly to her authority.” 10 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” 11 The Angel of the Lord continued,
“Behold, you are with child, And you will bear a son; And you shall name him Ishmael (God hears), Because the Lord has heard and paid attention to your persecution (suffering). 12 “He (Ishmael) will be a wild donkey of a man; His hand will be against every man [continually fighting] And every man’s hand against him; And he will dwell in defiance of all his brothers.”
13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are [d]God Who Sees”; for she said, “Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after [e]seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?” 14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is [f]between Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, [g]Ishmael (God hears). 16 Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
The Word of God for the Children of God
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Today’s story centers on the painful triangle of relationships between Abram, Sarai, and Sarai’s slave Hagar.
The ancient story contains moral weakness, self pity, jealousy, competition, contempt, scorn, rejection, revenge, meanness, and other emotional violence.
When the situation becomes unbearable, Sarai sends Hagar to Abram that Abram should have sexual relations with her and then bear the family a child.
A child is conceived and this is where things really break down.
Hagar looks down with jealousy and contempt upon Sarai in her infertility.
What had started with Sarai good intentions, her self sacrifice to give Abram a lasting hope for the continued future of his lineage, just turned seriously sour.
Sarai blamed Abram ….
Sarai wanted maximum accountability from Abram for Hagar’s behaviors.
5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the Lord judge [who has done right] between you and me.”
Abram washes his hands of the matter ….
6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your maid is entirely in your hands and subject to your authority; do as you please with her.” So Sarai treated her harshly and she humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her.
But now she is in a desperate situation: pregnant and alone in the desert with barely enough provisions for survival.
It all began with a promise from God to secure Abram’s family future.
Time had lapsed and a hopeful, hope-filled promise turned into a situation of impatience and desperation, a lapse of personal faith in God to change lives.
We are greatly shocked by the sequence of events – great promise to an even greater descent into great jealously, rage, humiliation – threatening the family.
Putting the prospect of great hope in a blessed and abundant future in jeopardy.
But the one thing we notice which seems to be missing from this tragic story is anyone’s attempt to seek out God, to pray for change, courage, patience, mercy.
The one thing we do not see is any sincere desire for an “attitude adjustment.”
To caught up in their very raw emotions …. there is no offer of prayer to God.
This instantaneous moment when all Abram, Hagar and Sarai can see is each other trying to sort out an extraordinarily volatile situation by their own wills.
Was grace an unknown commodity?
Was the thought of compassion or mercy an unknown commodity lost to anger?
On the human side … very much so.
Too fast to respond with raw unfiltered emotions is all too soon our first hope, first response for lasting meaningful successful resolution to a hopeless cause.
But, what if we were to counsel these parties and try to insert a moment or two of “attitude adjustment” – set these people apart – insert another perspective?
Remind them in the midst of this, there’s grace and mercy in this raw story too.
Remind them and ourselves of the promise: the presence, sovereignty of God?
The name for God in this text draws from the Hebrew word ‘roi’, which has to do with “looking,” “appearance,” “seeing,” and “sight.”
Abram and Sarai seem to have lost their sight, vision, of God’s faithfulness.
Yet, alone and utterly forsaken in the desert—in her darkest moment—Hagar realizes that El Roi, “the God who sees,” sees her, has never lost sight of her.
Some choose to see God, envision God, prayed, inserted into their situations.
Look for hope in seemingly hopeless situations ….
Believe all things “impossible in our eyes” are always possible in God’s eyes.
Others?
Like Abram and Sarai (and perhaps us?) in that moment …. not so much ….
Don’t we all find ourselves at times in desperate situations?
Even if our circumstances are not desperate, they can certainly be difficult at times, and we can absolutely feel as if we will never have a hope for any future.
Life was harsh and difficult in those ancient of days and even today is difficult, and living in today as a Christian does not mean we are spared those difficulties.
As we will continue to confront and face illness, unemployment, heartache, broken relationships, separations and divorces and other moral challenges, we are always and forever will be confronted by this single fundamental question:
Is their an “Attitude Adjustment” anywhere in our futures?
Is there time for a “God sized” “Attitude Adjustment” anywhere in our plans?
Is God’s perspective going to be even minimally, voluntarily sought out?
Remember the faithful Promises of God for an abundant future of hope?
Not our own hope or lack of hope we exclusively reserved for ourselves?
Lose sight of God’s wisdom to know how we should respond to adversity?
Walk the narrow paths of God’s promises?
Walk the broad pathways which lead to our destruction? (Matthew 7:13-14)
Walk the path of faith or will we try to take matters into our own hands?
Abraham was a man who was just like us—he experienced both triumph and failure in his walk of faith.
God had personally promised Abram to make his family a nation and to bless the world through someone from that nation (Genesis 12:1-3).
Though childless, elderly Abraham and his wife, Sarah, would have their “very own son” who would be their heir (Genesis 15:4).
Abraham “believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness” an even Sarah herself received the ability to conceive Isaac. (Hebrews 11:8-11)
But after years and years of waiting, Abram and Sarai’s faith had wavered.
They were expecting God to act in good faith, but now had grown impatient.
Presumably, on a monthly basis, their hopes would rise and collapse—and with every passing month and year, Sarah grew older, sadder, and more impatient.
So it was that they reached an explosive crisis of faith.
They knew that God is real, that God is all-powerful, and that God had promised them a son, but they also knew they both got older and didn’t yet have a son.
Would they allow the questions of their hearts to overturn their faith or would they allow their vision of faith in God to overturn the questions of their hearts?
The verses above narrate the sorry conclusion: they took matters into their own hands, and the “best” solution that they adopted was a destructive self-effort.
In doubting and despair, Sarai ordered Abram to sleep with her maid servant, Hagar, in hopes of bringing about the promised child, and Abraham complied.
Perhaps this was acceptable practice in that time and culture, based on the idea that the children of such a union would belong to the owner of the slave-girl.
Abram undoubtedly informed Sarai of God’s promise to him, and Sarai perhaps thought that this was necessary in order to bring about God’s plan for them.
Ancient and Contemporary 20/20 hindsight being what it is, always will be;
It was the wrong decision.
Doubting that God would keep His promise, they instead sought to bring it about by their own (immoral) actions.
They made their decision based on expediency.
They didn’t ask, What is right?
They asked, What can we do for ourselves that will “work things out” for us?
They allowed pragmatism to be their guide over and against faith—and in doing so, they brought about more suffering, more pain, and more heartache for themselves and for Hagar.
They thought intervening by their own devices and their understanding of human nature would simplify things; instead, it complicated everything.
Making Attitude Adjustment, Leaving Matters in God’s Hands
Whenever we set faith aside and apply self-effort, we complicate our lives.
Whenever we seek to take things into our own hands and make our own plans instead of trusting God to keep His promises, we end up with chaos, heartache.
Faith and waiting go hand in hand.
Do not lose heart as you sit in life’s waiting rooms.
It is always right to wait upon God, and it is always right to wait for God.
God sees and knows everything and everyone.
We do not know everything and everyone.
But we can know God more than we do now – if we want to know Him more.
If we want to surrender the sum total of who we believe we are in our eyes.
What areas of life do we need to “make adjustments” to live this out today?
But even in times of hopelessness,
can we adjust our way of thinking an believing we are each Blessedly Assured:
El Roi, “the God who sees,” is 100% watching over us, 100% seeing us, 100% protecting, 100% providing for us all in our darkest hour of need (Psalm 23)?
It is too deep in our human nature, our bleakest moments we too feel all alone.
What is my natural response?
What is your natural response?
What is our natural response?
With a bit of tweaking (attitude adjustment) by the Lord our Savior,
By God’s matchless grace, faithful mercy. one and done forgiveness and love,
What might our “God-Adjusted” responses become?
Job 19:23-27Amplified Bible
Job Says, “My Redeemer Lives”
23 “Oh, that the words I now speak were written! Oh, that they were recorded in a scroll! 24 “That with an iron stylus and [molten] lead They were engraved in the rock forever! 25 “For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives, And at the last He will take His stand upon the earth. 26 “Even after my [mortal] skin is destroyed [by death], Yet from my [immortal] flesh I will see God, 27 Whom I, even I, will see for myself, And my eyes will see Him and not another! My heart faints within me.
El Roi, “the God who sees,” has never lost sight of us, promises to care for us.
Surely, the Goodness and Mercy of God do follow us all the days of our lives!
What greater, more blessed assurance can we “adjust” ourselves to believing?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 16 The Message
16 1-2 Keep me safe, O God, I’ve run for dear life to you. I say to God, “Be my Lord!” Without you, nothing makes sense.
3 And these God-chosen lives all around— what splendid friends they make!
4 Don’t just go shopping for a god. Gods are not for sale. I swear I’ll never treat god-names like brand-names.
5-6 My choice is you, God, first and only. And now I find I’m your choice! You set me up with a house and yard. And then you made me your heir!
7-8 The wise counsel God gives when I’m awake is confirmed by my sleeping heart. Day and night I’ll stick with God; I’ve got a good thing going and I’m not letting go.
9-10 I’m happy from the inside out, and from the outside in, I’m firmly formed. You canceled my ticket to hell— that’s not my destination!
11 Now you’ve got my feet on the life path, all radiant from the shining of your face. Ever since you took my hand, I’m on the right way.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
10 For the one who has once entered His rest has also rested from [the weariness and pain of] his [human] labors, just as God rested from [those labors uniquely] His own. 11 Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest [of God, to know, experience it for ourselves], so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience [as those who died in the wilderness]. 12 For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged [a]sword, penetrating as far as the division of the [b]soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.13 And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, and revealed to the eyes of Him with whom we have to give account.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
The 19th-century English preacher Charles Haddon Spurgeon once said the Reformation began when Martin Luther found an old discarded Bible in his monastery.
As he postured himself, he began to read it, subtly God’s Word grew like a seed in his heart and his soul, and the result was a world-transforming movement.
But this gentle image of a seed is not the way the incomparable power of God’s Word is described in Hebrews 4:12, one of the key verses in the foundational idea of sola Scriptura, or “Scripture alone.”
Here God’s Word is described as a sharp, powerful, and precise blade, dividing the whole complete truth from all of the rebellious lies we harbor in our hearts.
Only Scripture has this power—not the traditions of any church, nor the acutely accurate insights of any leader.
As Luther said, “A simple layman armed with Scripture is greater than the mightiest pope without it.”
Indeed, in speaking about the Reformation that he initiated, Luther said, “I did nothing. The Word did everything.”
God’s Word, the Bible, has a precision and a power we will find nowhere else.
Will you let it be active in you?
Read it with an open heart?
Let it form the words that come from your mouth?
Let it shape the actions you take?
Adjusting (without our permission and utterly against our wills) our attitudes?
Eventually arriving at the God anointed place where only by knowing and living in and through God’s Word can we please him and serve him in our daily lives?
Is there enough moral courage to let the Word of God take command of our life?
What Does it take to be Courageous?
Isaiah 45:5-7Amplified Bible
5 “I am the Lord, and there is no one else; There is no God except Me. I will embrace and arm you, though you have not known Me, 6 That people may know from the rising to the setting of the sun [the world over] That there is no one except Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, 7 The One forming light and creating darkness, Causing peace and creating disaster; I am the Lord who does all these things.
Courage back-builds as we spend time soaked in the Truth of God’s Word.
Understanding who God is and who we are as His children allows us to realize our need for Him.
When we don’t know what’s going to happen, God is already there.
He is all-knowing, everywhere, all of the time.
There is no other God, …..
Isaiah repeated three times in today’s key verses.
Any time a word or phrase is repeated in Scripture, we can assume it’s of heightened importance.
There is no other God.
He alone is mighty to save.
He gives us what we need to live the lives He’s put us on earth to live, before we even know who He is.
We have a never-ending supply of courage available to us, through Christ Jesus.
His Holy Spirit lives in us, activating a supernatural bravery in each of us who dare to publicly proclaim Him our Lord and our Savior.
The One True God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
There is no other – period!
There can never be another – period!
There will never be another – period!
Our only living hope is in living for Him.
Our only living hope comes from living from Him,
…. as does the courage and bravery we need to wait patiently on Him.
How does the Word of God define Courage?
Joshua 1:5-9Amplified Bible
5 No man will [be able to] stand before you [to oppose you] as long as you live. Just as I was [present] with Moses, so will I be with you; I will not fail you or abandon you. 6 Be strong and confident and courageous, for you will give this people as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers (ancestors) to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do [everything] in accordance with the entire law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may prosper and be successful wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall read [and meditate on] it day and night, so that you may be careful to do [everything] in accordance with all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will be [a]successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Courage is born from confidence in our Creator.
Courage shows up 124 times in the Amplified translation of the Bible.
The dictionary definition of courage is “the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.”
We aren’t promised an easy life following Christ Jesus, but we are guaranteed all we need is the courage drawn from living into, out from, the unchangeable moral, ethical truths in, and throughout the length and breadth of the Word of God to move forward boldly to accomplish what the Lord has set us here to do.
Halley’s Bible Handbook Notes explains “God’s superiority over idols is proven by His ability to foretell the future.
Says Isaiah, our God, whom we worship in our Hebrew nation, not only can do what human beings do, He can do some things that they cannot do: He can foretell things to come.”
Psalm 27:14 says,
“Wait patiently for the LORD. Be brave and courageous. Yes, with patiently for the LORD.”
Courage can be stillness, seeking the Lord and waiting patiently for His direction and wisdom.
Instead of rushing to the aid of others to download a situation in exchange for opinions, we wait on the Lord.
Instead of allowing our reactions to go unfiltered, we wait on the Lord’s direction.
It sometimes takes more courage to be still and silent.
Jesus often retreated to pray to the Lord, and returned strengthened.
Isaiah wrote:
“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand” (Isaiah 41:10).
God is doing all of the work!
He is with us, and He is God!
He strengthens us and helps us. He holds us up in His victorious right hand. Christ Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, victorious over death.
He willingly sacrificed His life for us on the cross, rose three days later, and then ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand of His Father.
It’s His sacrifice and His victory we draw strength from!
Moses told God’s people, and Joshua, before they entered the promised land:
“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD you God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
God is doing all of the work!
He is with us, and He is God!
He strengthens us and helps us. He holds us up in His victorious right hand.
Christ Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father, victorious over death.
He willingly sacrificed His life for us on the cross, rose three days later, and then ascended into heaven to be seated at the right hand of His Father.
It’s His sacrifice and His victory we draw strength from!
Moses told God’s people, and Joshua, before they entered the promised land:
“So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the LORD you God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
Quickest Way From Timidity to Courage to Attitude Adjustment
Hebrews 4:12Amplified Bible
12 For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged [a]sword, penetrating as far as the division of the [b]soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Have you ever found yourself in need of an attitude adjustment?
If so, be encouraged, as you’ve reached the most critical step in receiving one by acknowledging and recognizing, confessing and believing you are in need of it.
Realizing and recognizing there are wrong attitudes in your heart and mind is the breakthrough moment to a new attitude.
So many of us walk around, living day-to-day with no idea we might need some adjustments.
For sure, God is quick to recognize wrong attitudes in us, even if we think we’re covering them up with our words.
“These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me” (Matthew 15:8).
Although wrong attitudes are often easy for us to see in others, for some reason, they are usually very difficult to see in ourselves.
Because it is sometimes almost impossible to see wrong attitudes within us, what is the quickest way to an attitude adjustment?
As Hebrews 4:12 explains, when we commit to reading God’s Word, it has the power to cut through our soul and spirit and to judge our heart’s attitudes.
Nothing else in the world has the ability to do so like the living Word of God.
God’s Word Actively Exposes and Corrects Wrong Attitudes
God’s Word is so vital to our daily lives and the quickest way to recognize and reveal hidden mindsets, especially helpful in addressing and adjusting wrong and sinful attitudes.
Because it is alive and active, it doesn’t ever grow outdated or irrelevant to correct current incorrect thoughts and ways of thinking.
Before wrong attitudes can enter our hearts, God’s Word has the power to stop them before we accept them into our thinking.
As2 Timothy 3:16 explains, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness”
Three Ways God’s Word Adjusts Attitudes
As well, Proverbs 6:21,22 describes three ways it has the ability to help us live daily with the right attitude when we take the time to make it the top priority in our lives by reading, studying, and applying it to our lives.
”Bind them always on your heart; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.”
1. God’s Word guides our attitudes.
His Living Word will not ask our permission to take the lead in our lives to help us guide our thoughts, Words, and actions each and every day to be aligned with His ways over worldly wisdom and philosophies.
As 2 Corinthians 10:5 explains, with God’s Living and Active Word,
“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
2. God’s Word protects our attitudes as we sleep.
Have you ever woken up in a bad mood, feeling disgruntled, upset, negative, and on edge, not knowing why?
Well, that isn’t just by accident.
The enemy of our souls works through the night to influence our thoughts and attitudes.
But as Christians, we don’t have to wake up with wrong thinking and mindsets because God says His words will protect and watch over us when we’re sleeping, guarding our hearts and minds against the onslaught of the enemy’s attacks.
His Word works as a shield against the enemy’s midnight assaults.
As Proverbs 30:5 assures, “Every word of God is flawless; He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him.”
3. God’s Word speaks to our attitudes during the day.
When we’re awake, God will personally speak to us through His Word.
Because it is alive and active, when we take the time to read it, study it and too, know it, God will speak to us through it at times when we need to hear His voice.
Although some think and believe God’s Word only speaks to us in a general way, truth and Holy Spirit reality reveals He speaks through it to our hearts, to our souls and minds in very personal deep, life-changing, transformational ways.
Intersecting Faith and Life:
How is your attitude today?
How is your attitude right exactly in this exacting moment?
Did you wake up in a bad mood?
Wake up on the Wrong side of the bed or the leftover grounds Coffee Pot?
Too many twists and turns and not enough “straight roads ahead?”
Everybody and their grandmother honking their horns behind a stalled car?
Most of us often don’t recognize wrong attitudes within ourselves, or even worse, until somebody else notices us, repeatedly, annoyingly starts tapping on our shoulder, or nudges their elbows in our ribcage and we justify having them.
If you and I are not sure how you and I are doing today, Pray to God to expose any wrong attitudes in your heart and correct wrong thinking with His Word.
A Hand holding a wrench to adjust the brain in an opened human head. adjusting, fixing or changing, or creating a new ,better way of thinking.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Lord, today, in this moment I must confess that sometimes I choose to focus on the contraries and negatives, instead of focusing on what you’ve called me to focus on. Help me take the words of Philippians 4:8 to heart. Help me to find those Words of Scripture which in every moment of every day, will help me to narrow my focus onto whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely and admirable, so that my attitude may adjusted, fine tuned to reflect and honor you. As I practice shifting my perspective, keep my heart from growing cold or bitter. Teach me to remember that I am not a slave to my negative emotions. Because of your Holy Spirit, I can tell those emotions to be removed and turn my eyes to the things of you, instead. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
2 My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, 2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; 3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, 4 if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Wisdom, Knowledge and Happiness
As a boy, Charles Dickens knew poverty from bitter experience.
He never forgot what he had learned.
Many of his novels deal with the huge gap between wealth and poverty.
Perhaps the most unforgettable is A Christmas Carol.
Its main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, is a “grasping, clutching, covetous old sinner” who can squeeze blood out of a stone.
Bob Cratchit, his underpaid bookkeeper, shivers in his unheated corner of the office.
But Bob has learned to be content in his situation.
At the meager Cratchit-family Christmas dinner, Bob proposes a toast: “Merry Christmas to Mr. Scrooge, the founder of the feast!”
Mrs. Cratchit objects with the scornful words about Scrooge, but Bob, in all humility replies mildly, “My dear, it’s Christmas … and for the children!”
For all his poverty, Cratchit has wisdom and happiness.
But Scrooge, for all his wealth, has a bleak and miserable “business sense” life.
Here is something of the complexity and mystery about wealth and poverty.
Most people think and deeply believe that wealth brings happiness.
But that is not always so.
Happiness and contentment can exist in the midst of scarcity.
What’s more, the rich can be righteous, and they can be a blessing to the poor.
And just the opposite is equally true, the righteous poor can be a humble and humbled and humbling blessing to the rich – all one needs is a bit more wisdom.
Knowledge of God, Understanding of God through study of His Word, Faith in God, Wisdom from God and living by his love are the keys to finding happiness.
The “Keys” to “Finding” Happiness
Have you ever had someone try to sell you something? What’s the typical pattern a salesperson uses? First, they tell you all the amazing benefits of their service or product. “Our miracle product…
…will lower cholesterol…” …will help you burn fat and lose weight…” …will keep your information safe and secure…” …will give you better gas mileage…” …will make you happy and content…”
And then once you’re convinced they show you the price tag…
“For only four payments of $999.99…” “If you only eat Subway for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day…” “If you sign up for our monthly never-ending subscription-based service…” “Your monthly car payment can be as low as…” “If you sign your life and soul over we will…”
The typical pattern is—here’s the benefits and then here’s how you get them.
Today, I want to reverse that pattern.
First, I want to tell you how to get wisdom, then I want to tell you its benefits.
This is the pattern our passage takes and I like it because when I finally tell you the benefits of wisdom you’ll be able to weigh in your own mind if it’s worth it.
So first…
How to get Wisdom
Wisdom is “skill for living”, but living God’s way instead of our own way.
Once again the father-figure in Proverbs is teaching his son (who we can all put ourselves in the place of) how to get wisdom.
He tells him four ways to get wisdom (not four different ways).
You should do them all if you want to get wisdom.
Proverbs 2:1-5New International Version
Moral Benefits of Wisdom
2 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.
The first way to get wisdom we find in verse one.
1. BELIEF IN GOD’S WORD (VERSE 1)
The father-figure says, “My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you…”
The author Solomon is talking about a father’s words found in the book of Proverbs, but he’s also talking about God’s whole Word, the Hebrew Scriptures.
The word for commands (mitzvah) can also mean the laws God gave his people Israel (Genesis 26:5; Exodus 26:28).
So it’s like Solomon or the father-figure is saying, “My son, if you want wisdom, believe in God’s Word.”
Each one of us comes to a turning point in our lives where we have to decide the final rule for our lives.
Is it going to be God’s unchanging perfect words and commands that although they are hard we know they are good, true, and best?
Or are we going to choose our own feelings and intuitions and desires and what the world says is best?
God’s Word offers us a firm-foundation for our lives, a foundation that won’t let us down.
But if we choose anything else we’re choosing something that might say one thing today and a different thing tomorrow.
Eggs are good for you. Eggs are bad for you.
Drink coffee. Coffee is bad for you.
Drink more milk. Drink soy milk. Drink almond milk.
Turn right when we should have turned left or stayed straight and narrow.
Stay with Gasoline Vehicles or “Go Green” with Hybrids and Electric cars.
This career path or that career path
How about with what we understand to be the “serious things” of our lives?
Changing and Shifting winds, sands, and crashing waves “defining” what our “correct” Morals and Ethics are “supposed to be” according to the wisest of the most educated, connected, influential, powerful, wealthy “people” on internet.
How many issues can you think or heard of where 10-20 years ago everyone said one things was seriously averse, now today people say just the opposite?
That is generational shifting sands, that’s stormy waters (James 1:5-8).
How about those who “stay the course on the narrow road” and stay steadfast:
“I only want to build my life on the rock of God’s Word that never changes!”
Resolving the Ceaseless Conflict between belief and unbelief in Christ the Lord.
Does knowledge and understanding the Word of God for His Children and the outpouring of the anointing oils its blessed wisdom still have any relevance?
First, we get wisdom by believing in God’s Word.
2. MEMORIZATION OF GOD’S WORD (VERSE 1)
We’re still in verse one. What does it mean to “store up” something?
Did any of you prepare for the Y2K bug?
So kids, a long time ago everyone was worried that when the clocks on our computers turned from December 31st 1999 to January 1st 2000 there was going to be a computer meltdown that would cause world food shortages and financial errors—basically, the apocalypse to end all apocalypses.
So prepare people stored up canned food, powdered food, dried food, and water and drinks that would not go bad.
Our single person household bought whole shelves of Kool-Aid powdered drink.
So by golly if the world failed I am still going to have a storehouse of Kool-Aid.
And when Y2K came and no one but Blockbuster video had problems I still had my Kool-Aid powdered drink, for a while it tasted good, then I got tired of it all.
Wisdom ended up throwing most of it out, to this day wisdom will not drink it.
I “stored up” for the long term to avert disaster.
But so much of what I had stored up for the long term spoiled, went to waste.
Likewise, God calls us to “store up” his Word within us to avert disaster in our lives.
How do we do that?
By memorizing themes and passages weaved in and throughout the Bible.
I want to encourage everyone to “store up” God’s Word in our own hearts because God uses it to strengthen us, give us hope, and teach us how to live.
Outline, underline, color mark foundational verses from the bible – what text speaks to your heart and to your soul and to your life at the moment you read it.
Put it on your mirror or fold it over in your Bible, somewhere you will see it and memorize it.
Read, study, pray and memorize other verses too, one’s that will remind you of the never ending relevance, significance of hope and God’s love and promises.
Second, we get wisdom by memorizing God’s Word.
3. ACCEPTANCE OF GOD’S WORD (VERSE 2)
Proverbs 2:2 says to turn our ears to wisdom and apply our hearts to understanding.
Do you ever get in a disagreement and the person you are fighting with says, “You’re not listening to me!”
Sometimes that’s true.
One person is not paying attention because they’re too busy talking or thinking.
But usually that means “You’re not agreeing with me.”
Proverbs 2:2 is saying to get wisdom we need to hear it with our ears and accept it with our hearts and agree to it with our lives.
We need to open ourselves up and let God’s Words and ways sink deep into who we are.
In Hebrew culture the heart was the core of a person, their true identity.
We do not want God’s Word to go in one ear and out the other, but go in through the ear, through the mind, and down deep into our heart.
When I prepare devotionals that’s one of the things I think about.
I want God’s Word to affect me first but then I want it to affect you all too.
We don’t want to just sit here and hear without listing or agreeing.
The absolute significance of God’s Word and truth is too eternally important.
Third, we get wisdom by accepting God’s Word.
4. ASK GOD FOR IT THROUGH PRAYER (VERSES 3 AND 4)
This is perhaps the simplest way to get wisdom, ask God for it.
Verse 3tells us to “call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding” (NIV).
If you and I want wisdom, pray that God will give us some.
Sometimes prayer is the only step we take.
We ask God for wisdom but we don’t try to memorize and understand his Word.
Prayer goes hand and hand with God’s Word.
It’s like peanut butter and jelly or eggs and bacon or it is like fish and chips.
God’s Word and prayer together make a delicious wisdom platter.
If you and I want wisdom, we have to ask God for it. (1 Kings 3:5-15)
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. (NIV)
One of the points Spurgeon makes is that wisdom isn’t just knowing how to “be wise ‘enough’ to make the ‘right decisions’,” but wisdom is a character quality molded, shaped, then reshaped by “interpreting” our experiences.
When you and I pray for wisdom it’s not only that we would make the right choice (it is that) but it’s also praying that God would make us into the kind of people who would make the right choice.
It’s praying God would mold, shape, develop and transform our moral and our ethical character so we choose to do we do it with integrity and discernment.
So how do we get wisdom?
First, by believing in God’s Word.
Second, by studying and memorizing God’s Word.
Third, by accepting God’s Word,
and fourth, by asking God for wisdom through prayer.
Now I’ve told you how to get wisdom, but what are the benefits of wisdom?
What makes it worth doing all those things?
What makes it worth signing up for and sitting inside a classroom for?
The Benefits and Value of Wisdom
The point of these things is not just to do them for the sake of doing them, but for the sake of something greater.
Did you ever watch those old Mastercard commercials?
A man and woman walk into a gas station.
As the gas station attendant rings up their purchases he says:
chips: $3 frozen beverage: $2 gas: $31 starting a new life together: priceless…
But then the woman shakes her head “no” so the gas station attendant tries again.
rekindling a fire that never went out? (she shakes her head again) satisfying a much-needed slushy fix?… Priceless.
So what’s the priceless things we are seeking by pursuing wisdom?
God himself.
Proverbs 2:5-6New International Version
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.
Verse 5 says if we seek wisdom, “then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.”
The fear of the Lord is believing that God’s “threats are real and his promises are true”.
Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the grave shows us that God’s threats are real—that if we don’t deal with our sins he will put us to death—but his promises are real—that if we put our faith and trust in him he will forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
It’s as we come to understand who God is through Christ Jesus that we begin to actually know God.
Do you want to know about God or know God?
You might know a lot of things about your favorite celebrity or professional sports athlete, you might know what movies they’re in or their batting average, but that doesn’t mean you know them.
There’s a simple test for if you know them.
Do they know you?
If I were to walk up to Tom Cruise or Tom Brady and if I were to name drop your name what would they say?
“Oh yeah. I know him!” Or more likely … “I am sorry, Who?”
Come with me one step further.
If I were to walk up to God and to name drop your name what would he say?
“Oh yes, I know him/her. I love him/her very much … Or “I am sorry, Who?”
We seek wisdom because we’re seeking God.
We want to know him.
But the next verse tells us this is only possible by God’s grace.
Proverbs 2:6 For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (NIV)
We can only know God if we want to acknowledge God, to know us.
We can only acquire wisdom if God wants to give it to us.
It’s both an “as we seek” and an “as he gives” kind of exchange.
We seek to obey and know God and God gives us a relationship with him.
Or put it in the reverse.
God gives us a relationship with him and so we obey and know God.
What’s the priceless benefit of wisdom? Knowing God himself.
The benefits just keep growing out of this.
If you know God you are part of the family and God protects you.
Proverbs 2:7-8New International Version
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.
Benefit and Value of God’s Protection (Verses 7-19)
Proverbs 2:7-19 New International Version
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.[a] 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.
God’s wisdom grants us protection from potential disasters.
I don’t mean natural disasters but rather God’s wisdom protect us from ourselves, from bad things we might do.
God’s wisdom protects us from:
Committing injustice (v9-11) – Sinning against others by treating them unfairly. If God gives us his wisdom we will want to treat others with fairness and equity even at cost to ourselves.
Wicked men (or women) who love sin (v12-15) – “those who take advantage of others for their own gain.” As God grants us wisdom and character like His we won’t be drawn to them but will learn how to recognize them for who they are.
Unfaithful women (or men) who break their marriage promise (v16-19) – Verse 16 says that “Wisdom will save you […] from the wayward woman with her seductive words.” (NIV) Sometimes beauty might cause a break in marriage vows but often it is words, words of affirmation and acceptance. It’s a listening ear. Emotional adultery comes before acting it out. God gives us wisdom so we know how to stay away from relationships that lead to this kind of disaster.
But there’s one more benefit to wisdom.
A FOREVER HOME WITH GOD (VERSES 20 to 22)
Proverbs 2:20-22New International Version
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.
Proverbs 2:21 says, “For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it;” (NIV)
It’s an interesting way to close this passage in Proverbs because it’s a reminder to the Israelite people that they get to stay in the promised land if they obey God and keep his commandments (Exodus 20:1-17).
But where’s the promise for us?
The benefits of wisdom are knowing God, protection from mistakes in this life, and an eternal home with God in the life to come.
Hebrews says that the heroes of our faith “were longing for a better country—a heavenly one” (Hebrews 11:16).
If that’s you, if you are the one longing for a better home, then pursue wisdom.
Seek God by believing his Word, memorizing it, accepting it, and prayer.
John 14:5-14New International Version
Jesus the Way to the Father
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[a] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Wisdom is a gift, but it’s a gift we help work for.
Knowing God is a gift!
Spending eternity with him is a gift!
His protection is a gift!
But they are gifts we have to choose to seek by choosing to seek His wisdom.
John 14:1-3New International Version
Jesus Comforts His Disciples
14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
Let our hearts not be troubled.
Believe in God!
Believe in His Resurrected Son, Jesus!
Believe in God’s Holy Spirit!
Let our Hearts Seek His wisdom and we WILL find our forever home with God!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Holy God, Word made flesh, let us come to this word open to being surprised. Silence our agendas; banish our assumptions; cast out our casual detachment. Confound our expectations; clear the cobwebs from our ears; penetrate the corners of our hearts with this word. We know that you can, we pray that you will, and we wait with great anticipation. Amen.
Empty us, Great God, of all that prevents us from hearing what you want us to hear. Empty us of our preconceptions, our preoccupations and our prejudices. Empty us that we might be filled with your Spirit and your Word. Empty us that we might be filled for ministry and mission. In Christ’s name we pray, Amen.
Calm us now, O Lord, into a quietness that heals and listens. Open wounded hearts to the balm of your Word. Speak to us in clear tones so that we might feel our spirits leap for joy and skip with a living hope as your resurrection witnesses. Amen.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
2 1-5 Good friend, take to heart what I’m telling you; collect my counsels and guard them with your life. Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life of Understanding. That’s right—if you make Insight your priority, and won’t take no for an answer, Searching for it like a prospector panning for gold, like an adventurer on a treasure hunt, Believe me, before you know it Fear-of-God will be yours; you’ll have come upon the Knowledge of God.
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
On a brochure I saw in the Narthex of a new church I read these words in red:
“If I am really a Christian … then why isn’t Jesus Christ more real in my life?”
It made for rather interesting reading considering the church was a new plant and had only opened its doors to the community a scant ninety days before.
It was actually quite thought provoking – even more so than I first expected.
If you have ever wondered about that, “why isn’t Jesus more real to me,” you should know that you are not the first and you will not be the last one either.
Even writers of the Bible, especially the psalmists, wrestled with this question.
Even the Book of Proverbs offers its readers many intriguing statements which even today have turned into contemporary Parent to Children admonishments.
1. Many hands make light work
When many people work together to accomplish a difficult task, it doesn’t seem so difficult. That is the general meaning of this proverb. In other words, if many people work together, the work is easier and is usually completed more quickly.
2. Honesty is the best policy
It is best to always be honest and tell the truth, even when telling the truth hurts you. By doing so, humbling self will win the trust and respect of others.
3. Don’t judge abook by its cover
Don’t be too quick to form an opinion or make a judgment about someone or something based on its outward appearance – you could embarrass yourself.
4. Where there’s a will, there’s always a way
If your desire to accomplish something is strong enough, you will find a way to do it.
5. Actions speak louder than words
A person’s true character can be seen by what he does, not by what he says. A person can talk as much as he wants, but he may not actually do anything to back up his words. All the bluster and bravado of leadership loses its luster if the one doing all of the bragging inevitably does nothing, retreats from their words.
6. Always put your best foot forward
The meaning of this proverb is that you should always try your best to make a good first impression on others; reveal and show your best traits and qualities.
7. Do not be wise in thine own eyes
The meaning of this proverb is very clear: the consistent witness of Scripture is that Jehovah God and God alone is the One, only true source of wisdom and life.
If we are faith-filled and faithful in following Him, He will “abundantly” bless us; if not, in our own self righteousness, we risk significant peril and judgment.
One of the most dangerous traps we can fall prey to is justifying ourselves based on our own self reported, ideals, definitions and understandings of judgment.
When we assume that we are more in the right than not and others are more in the wrong than not, including “God is more wrong,” it is a recipe for disaster.
When we automatically assume we are smarter than others, then find out we are not … much to our detriment and personal embarrassment – “eating crow.”
When we try to assume that our understanding of smart is the same as God’s and we come up square against the mirrors of our wildest display of ignorance.
The Book of Proverbs puts our perspective of our lives directly in God’s face, the end result is we invariably learn we are neither smarter nor wiser than anyone.
God desires we understand balancing our life, morals and ethics with His Ways.
We desire and boast of our own abilities, about how we ourselves balance our own lives with our own understanding of own morals and ethics absent God.
There are many reasons, of course, why people might sometimes feel that way.
I will let each reader draw from their own experiences for their own rationales.
Wisdom of Self Reliance versus Wisdom of Reliance on God and God alone?
One place to start in reflecting on this is to recognize that God highly desires and also highly values an ever growing spiritual depth, maturity in his people.
Not necessarily intellectual depth or all kinds of biblical knowledge —though these things are good—but connectional depth in relationship with God, as opposed to the shallowness, superficiality of human to human relationships.
“That we may know HIM more, that we may know OUR selves less.” (John 3:30)
Proverbs 2:1-5 talks about accepting and storing up and turning our ear and soul and applying our heart and calling out for insight and crying aloud for greater and greater understanding of God and looking and searching for God.
It uses action words like these; applying, calling, crying, looking, searching for, to describe what we should be actively engaging in our daily pursuit of wisdom.
Bottom line?
If we want to have it,
If we have to want it,
We have to be willing to engage in a process which involves actual action.
We have to be fully committed to the pursuit, wantonly going after wisdom.
It will take an enormous amount of work, and it will take your whole heart.
Most things, which nowadays, humanity is quite more reluctant to engage in.
But, without that, God, Jesus and Holy Spirit—and wisdom—won’t seem real.
With my eyes being widened from their slumber ….
With a constant sensation of a “tap tap tap” upon my shoulders ….
With someone or something putting their “elbows” into my side ….
With my interest being peaked ….
With my soul being quickened by something or someone ….
It makes me want to dig a little deeper, again.
It makes me want to listen more to what the Holy Spirit is trying to say to me.
“Where is Jehovah God nudging me towards … what future with what hope?”
What if we really listen and hear what God really says in Proverbs?
Proverbs 2:1-5 Amplified Bible
The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security
2 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 So that your ear is attentive to [skillful and godly] wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding [seeking it conscientiously and striving for it eagerly]; 3 Yes, if you cry out for insight, And lift up your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek skillful and godly wisdom as you would silver And search for her as you would hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] And discover the knowledge of God.
Have you ever thought about the difference between hearing and listening?
Did you know there was a real difference?
To “listen” means that we are paying attention to the sound, thoughtful and considerate attention to the sound.
To “hear” refers to perceiving something with our ears, kind of like seeing with our ears.
In the long and winding concourse of living and loving life today there are quite literally hundreds of diverse noises a day which are competing for our attention.
There are so many different noises and sounds that most of us do not pay very much attention to most of them – we shut them out as “background noises.”
The television can be on, the phone ringing, video games blasting, radios in our ears and everyone in my house talking at once and I can still tune most of it out.
It is not I am not hearing all the cacophony of noise, but I am not listening to it.
But all of that discipline of “tuning out,” and “not listening” carries a big risk.
What else am I “tuning out,” or “not hearing” or “listening to?”
Psalm 19:1-3 Amplified Bible
The Works and the Word of God.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
19 The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And the expanse [of heaven] is declaring the work of His hands. 2 Day after day pours forth speech, And night after night reveals knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there [spoken] words [from the stars]; Their voice is not heard.
My Mom used to tell me when everything seemed to be going backwards;
“Look unto the sun by day and the stars by night and know it will be alright!”
God gave us eyes to see the sunshine, beauty and grandeur of nature around us.
God gave us a curiosity that when we see the stars at night – we have to know just how many of them we can count – so we lie back on the ground and count.
God also gave each and everyone of us two ears to hear the beauty of sound and one mouth, He gave us the ability to listen so that the sound can be understood.
When both hearing and listening and minimal speaking working together in unison, we have a quiet, quieted, understanding of the purpose of the sound.
You can hear music and feel music but not actually listen to the words.
When both music and lyrics are understood, the beauty and meaning of the whole song is revealed to you.
You can hear the words of a person speaking to you, but if you truly listen to the person, you will better understand their heart, the meaning behind their words.
The same principle holds true with God’s Word.
We can hear the Word preached, taught and read.
We can read the Word ourselves and hear our own voices speak it.
But, when we really listen to God’s Word, then our understanding begins to change.
So many times, people leave church after having heard a sermon and not ever remember anything about it.
When we look up to the heavens, we may only hear the sound of the winds rushing through the trees, crickets or the frogs in the pond, birds in the air.
We cannot see the winds nor the crickets nor the frogs nor the birds in the air.
We know they are there because we can hear the sounds of the winds through the leaves, from rubbing of the crickets legs, frogs croaking and birds singing
When we are listening and giving consideration to what we are hearing, we will leave thinking about what we just heard.
The next step is to start talking back to God, asking Him to open up more of our hearts and souls to understanding what is being communicated from all sides.
Take time today, think about how much you hear versus how much you listen.
How much are you missing of what God has for you?
Is He talking to you but you are not paying attention?
Take your Bible, dust off its cover and read today’s text from Proverbs 2:1-5.
Instead of just reading the words and hearing them in our heads, pray the Holy Spirit will give us the power to listen, to understand the message God has for us.
When the Word of God truly becomes His voice in our life, then our hearing and our listening will open up our souls unto a new world of understanding for us.
Our lives are guaranteed to change.
But it all begins with God’s wisdom which comes from understanding the difference between hearing and listening—so, start listening to God today.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Jehovah God,Lord of wisdom, Author of my life, there are so any truths to sort out, so many ways of understanding what my eyes behold and what my ears hear, I cannot listen to it all for it is just too overwhelming. Being overwhelmed, I am sometimes finding understanding the wisdom of Bible to be difficult. I know you want me to apply your word to my life. I thank you for giving me your word so I can grow in my relationship with you. Help me to grasp what you want me to know as I read your revealed word. Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in your instructions. Be my teacher, so I can live and obey your word. Thank you for your wise advice. Amen.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
33-40 God, teach me lessons for living so I can stay the course. Give me insight so I can do what you tell me— my whole life one long, obedient response. Guide me down the road of your commandments; I love traveling this freeway! Give me an appetite for your words of wisdom, and not for piling up loot. Divert my eyes from toys and trinkets, invigorate me on the pilgrim way. Affirm your promises to me— promises made to all who fear you. Deflect the harsh words of my critics— but what you say is always so good. See how hungry I am for your counsel; preserve my life through your righteous ways!
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
At whatever level of education, there is something truly special about learning from a master teacher: a confident, renowned expert in his or her chosen field.
Many graduate students select their universities based on the opportunity to work with esteemed professors in their desired specialties.
But have you considered that as Christians, at whatever measure of faith we have the singularly unique opportunity and the privilege to learn “life” daily from our Master Teacher, as His Spirit works in our hearts through His word?
His experience of navigating life in all of its facets, is infinitely extensive.
His preparation for navigating life, more thorough than anyone can imagine.
His instruction is comprehensive, and He promises to do the teaching Himself, with His Holy Scriptures as our “textbook” guide.
And even better, He does so as a master instructor who is also a Father, taking a deeply personal, deeply intimate interest in the welfare of each of His children.
God’s instruction for life is vital.
It is vital for beginners in the Christian life.
We begin our journey of Christianity as infants on our knees, unaware of God’s ways, truths and dealings and consequently unaware of truths about ourselves.
But when we are born into life with God, Jesus and Holy Spirit, we become new creations in Him, we cease to take pride in our own opinions, live for ourselves, or to regard Christ from any worldly point of view (2 Corinthians 5:12-17).
Our anointing into His life, the outpouring of His oils upon who we are and who we will become begins, at first drop by ever precious drop, then like a wide river.
As we raise in our faith experiences, understanding truth, from knees to feet, we become ready to hear what God says instead of telling Him what we think.
By grace, we learn to see, learn to live life clearly, through God’s perspective.
God’s instruction is also vital for those who are confused or uncertain.
The Bible tells us we are wayward and foolish, ignorant and arrogant people.
When the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy, he sternly warned that among his congregations there would always be those “led astray by various passions, always learning and never quite able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 3:6-7).
Only through the continuous ministry the Holy Spirit is it possible for us to spiritually mature instead of drifting like children from one idea to another.
His instruction is also vital for the careless and the forgetful—and however long we may have been Christians, we get careless and are easily forgetful!
That’s why the Word of God for His Children tells, teaches us, again and again to remember. Paul urged Timothy to “remember Jesus Christ” (2 Timothy 2:8).
The man, Rabbi Jesus urged His disciples to “remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32), who looked and turned back.
The Teacher, in the wise and ancient words from Ecclesiastes calls out to us, “Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth” (Ecclesiastes 12:1).
Indeed, the ministry of teaching and preaching is essentially a ministry of reminders—and so are our own personal daily personal devotional times.
Charles Spurgeon once said,
“He who has made you his child, He will put you to school, and He will teach you until you shall know the Lord Jesus alone as the way, the truth, the life.”
When we ourselves, enter into our own private “prayer closets,” alone with our God, as we attentively sit at our desks, in “His Classroom,” as we read with Him or listen with Him, to Bible teaching, we are all participating in a divine, sacred time of invaluable dialogue and begin to experience deep-seated heart change.
Somewhere in our core, we know holy instruction is taking place—we are being instructed by the very one who inspired the book whose pages we are studying.
Reality; Living Life on our own terms, we are so helpless apart from the Lord.
Like the Psalmist in Psalm 119 Vs 33-40, it is so very important that we all learn to ask and depend upon God to teach us His decrees and then to follow them.
How can we come to an understanding of “living life” absent of God’s Word?
Again, we must ceaselessly ask Him to help us to understand and obey His law.
Sadly, I think many Christians are weak because they depend upon themselves; they believe they have the onerous ability in themselves to be obedient to God.
Reality is, we are each creatures of this world, creatures of sin, and as such are greatly influenced by those all around us to redefine what it means to do good.
However, only our master Teacher God, through the life, death, resurrection of His Son can show us the truth of His Word and then give us the ability to obey it.
Continually ask Him, plead with Him, to help you humble yourself before Him.
As a Christian, He is your only Lord and Savior, He alone can turn your eyes away from worthless things and preserve your life according to His Word.
What then are the results for the Christian who turns to God for help?
He gives us Kairos, the grace, to be obedient to Him and takes away disgrace.
Not the disgrace of the world, but disgrace before God which comes from deep within the deepest recesses of our disobedient hearts and unrepentant lives.
Then, like the Psalmist we will long for God’s precepts to turn the upside down to the right side up, we will find our lives preserved inside His righteousness.
Do you and I understand that?
Do you and I seriously desire or want to understand that?
Do we severely desire or want to come to even a minimal understanding?
On the surface …. probably …. even most definitely, more decisively NOT!
Deeper down though, where only God can reach us through His Word (Hebrews 4:12), though if we were to actually look eye to eye, face to face, at the deepest desires, needs, desperate wants of our souls, I am of the opinion, our soul wins!
I don’t always try to understand the Words of my Teacher as much as I ought to.
I wonder when I fail in learning His lessons, Why does He even bother with us?
But, praise God, He does –
John 3:16-18 The Message
16-18 “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.
He grants us the true joy in life which can only come from an obedient heart.
Pray, like the Psalmist in Psalm 119 Vs 33-40, God will give you understanding, teachable hearts, then direct you on the path of obedience to Him, to His laws.
This is what God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit enables all His servants to do.
What an opportunity, and privilege, it is to open His word, anticipate the work of His Spirit, and pray, “Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes”! (verse 33)
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Almighty God, in you are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Open our eyes that we may see the wonders of your Word; and give us grace that we may clearly understand and freely choose the way of your wisdom. God, source of all light and truth, by your Living and Active Word you give light and life to the soul. Pour out upon us the spirit of wisdom and understanding that our hearts and minds may be opened.Prepare our hearts, O God, to accept your Word. Silence in us any voices but your own, so we may hear your Word and also do it; through Christ our Lord. Amen
Adeste Fidelis! Venite Adoremus! Dominum.
Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
