Right, left or straight at the crossroads?
How do we know which way to go when we come to a crossroad? Prov 14:12 is one of my favorite verses: There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. So what do we do when the way before us seems right? How do we decide which way to go?
In the Bible decisions were often made by casting lots. The High Priest carried the Urim and Thummin in a pocket on his breastplate, and when consulted one of the stones would glow to signify God’s presence. One stone represented “no” while the other represented “yes.” Casting of lots was not a game of chance, such as drawing straws or tossing a coin. Instead, it was the Israelites’ way of consulting God.
We no longer cast lots to determine God’s will upon our lives. Instead, we read our Bibles for direction, spend time in prayer, sometimes asking that God would close the doors He does not want us to go through but open others so that we can be in His will. The key here is being still long enough to hear God’s voice, and talking with Him often enough so that we will know God’s voice.
V27 tells is that the fear of the Lord is a fountain of life. Don’t you love that picture? Fear in this context does not mean we tremble before the Lord, and are afraid to enter His presence. On the contrary, fear means we are in awe of God, and are honored to be in His presence. And, the awe we feel before God becomes a fountain which spouts forth life. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me…Praise God from whom all blessings flow…Come thou fount of many blessings…
Grace, grace, God’s grace, grace that will pardon and cleanse within…
Over the past 15 days I have become entrenched in the Scriptures, and what a difference it has made in my outlook. Has my life changed? No. Have my circumstances changed? No. What has changed is my response to my circumstances. When I am in pain and just want to stay home I try to get up and get moving and most times find I feel better for it. I am learning to praise God in all things. There is a joy bubbling up from deep within that I want to share with others.
Today we look at Proverbs 13 and find so many nuggets of wisdom and strength. Again the chapter makes use of the comparison of good vs evil and the rewards/punishments that each choice brings. V2 says “from the fruit of their words good persons eat good things.” What a great word picture that is! Our words bear fruit. This is one thing I love about the Bible. It does not matter how many times we read it, we will always find something we have never seen before. It is this one characteristic that makes the Bible the LIVING word of God, the ability to bring new life to the words and new life to your heart.
Fruit has many facets–it is good to look at, it has a pleasant aroma, it is sweet, and it is good for you. Think of a fruit tree. The first thing you notice are the pretty flowers that bud in the springtime, and soon after the fruit begins to grow. When the season is right the fruit is picked and consumed. When we break down the verse in this manner, we see that our words have an effect long after they are spoken. If the words are good they bear fruit in their own season. This is yet another reminder that words, once spoken, take on a life of their own. May our word bear sweet smelling fruit and not be crowded out by the thorns of unbelief.
V6 says that righteousness guards the upright, but I have to admit that there have been times in my life where I felt the righteous were punished while the wicked prospered. We must remember that the word of God is eternal, and the things of this world are temporal. Justice is not always of this world, but it will always prevail in the world to come.
V8 says wealth is a ransom for a person’s life. Is God against the righteous having wealth? No. But wealth can create entanglements that prevent us from living godly lives and that keep us tethered to the things of this world. I think of “A Christmas Carol” and Bob Marley who came to visit his partner Scrooge. Marley was wrapped in chains which he dragged along the floor behind him, chains of his own making because he cared more for money than for people. Our treasure is, indeed, where our heart is. (Matt 6:21)
V12 has always been poignant to me–“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.” Hope is a wonderful thing. However, if hope gives way to despair we do become heartsick. We all know that not all of our desires will be fulfilled. Can I give you a hint as to actualizing your desires? Ps 37:4 says if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our heart. You might be saying that can’t be true–He has not given me the desires of my heart. If we delight ourselves in the Lord, and only the Lord, He will place the right desires in our heart, and they will be fulfilled.
V20 has good advice for companionship–“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools suffers harm.” Choose your friends well, for they can impact the choices you make. Make all of your choices godly choices, and you will reap the rewards.
Do you love knowledge?
As I stepped out onto the deck this morning and saw some young deer foraging through the trees, I was once again struck by the beauty of God’s creation. At times I am so in awe of this world we have been given that I, a writer, cannot find the words that adequately express my feelings.
Do you ever find that when you are in prayer the same thing happens? You know what you want to say but you just can’t find the words. At times like those I rely on the Holy Spirit to carry my prayer to God for even when we cannot find the words we are assured that God hears our heart. We can have the blessed assurance that God hears our prayers even when we cannot articulate them because Romans 8:26-27 tells us, In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27) And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Today we are reading and exploring Proverbs 12. Do you love knowledge? Then the Bible says you also love discipline. It is right there in verse 1. Whoa! Who loves discipline? Who loves being told they are wrong? Our problem could be in our perception of discipline. Discipline is good when a wrong attitude or action is corrected. If we can just remember God disciplines those He loves, and His discipline is never designed to tear us down, but instead to turn us toward Him.
There is much in Proverbs about wisdom vs. folly V15 says fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to advice. Have you ever tried to convince someone of the folly of their ways? When someone is engaged in destructive behavior, it is almost impossible to convince that person of his error. Proverbs 12 has much encouragement for us to speak with wisdom, speak in truth, and to consider our words before we speak at all. V25 says anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up. Let us be quick to offer a good word to someone today–we may never know the anxiety weighing upon his or her heart, but we can be assured a good word will bring healing.
Weights and balances
As I wade through Proverbs 11, I think back to a story my father told me many years ago. My father was an uneducated man, working in the cotton fields at the age of 7 or 8 when he should have been in school. But he was a good man. At one point, he worked at a grocery store. A woman came in and asked for some collard greens. She clearly was lacking in funds. Daddy put the greens on the scales and when weighing them gave her more than she had asked for but only charged for the amount she had requested. The woman, suspicious of his motives, went to the store manager and reported that Daddy had given her too many greens. The manager scolded Daddy in front of the woman, then took him off to the side and told him to weigh the greens again, but “the way he had been taught.” The way he had been taught was to place his thumb on the scale so that that the shopper would get less produce than they were paying for. I guess this story goes under the heading of “no good deed goes unpunished.”
Prov 11:1 says a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate scale is his delight. These proverbs continue in the vein of God loves good behavior, but abhors evil doing. Prov 11:5 says “the righteousness of the blameless keeps their ways straight, but the wicked fall by their own wickedness.” Why is this? Because, again, our righteousness does not spring from our own nature, and therefore it is God, not ourselves, who keeps our paths straight, but the wicked fall under their own weight because they are not depending on God.
God, deliver us from ever depending upon our own resources, and let us always depend only upon You.
There will always be good and evil–Choose good
Proverbs 10 begins by giving us a list of antithetical statements and that theme of do this and suffer wrath or do this and receive reward continues throughout the chapter. Giving us comparisons to choosing good vs. evil is a very effective method of teaching. We are told again about wisdom vs. folly, work vs. laziness and hatred vs. love. V12 is one of my favorites: Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
It is easy to see how hatred can stir up strife, but how in the world does love cover all offenses? 
Think for a moment of the cross of Jesus. Now think of sunlight shining upon that cross and the shadow painted on the earth by the passing sun. Now think about all of the sins of the world being on the ground beneath that cross and as the shadow lengthens they are covered by the love of Jesus. There is no good in hate and no matter what reason you think you have for holding hate in your heart toward anyone, it will not stand up in the light of the cross. If Jesus, while suffering upon the cross, could ask God to forgive both those who nailed Him to the cross as well as all of us who would at some point turn our backs upon Him, then can we not forgive any abuse we have received?
People wonder how and why Israel has remained a viable nation for 60 years when that small strip of land is in the middle of much more powerful nations who seek to kill her. Prov 10:29-30 says: the way of the Lord is a stronghold for the upright, but destruction for evildoers. The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not remain in the land. You might wonder how God can consider Israel upright when she has disappointed Him so often. I believe it is because our uprightness and our righteousness has never depended upon us, because, as Isaiah told us, our righteousness is as filthy rags. Our right standing with God comes only through our relationship with God. For Gentiles, it is our relationship with Jesus Christ. For Israel, it is the covenant relationship with God that still is valid after 5000 years, and will ultimately end with the Jewish nation looking upon the one whom they pierced and recognizing that Jesus is, indeed, the Messiah. (Zech 12:10)
There will always be good and there will always be evil–as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1:9 there is nothing new under the sun. Choose good, choose life, choose God.
Seeking Holiness 