Knowing God - The Lord Leads In A Straight Path

Psalm 5:8

Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face.

The Lord Leads In A Straight Path

                                    

The Lord is a righteous God who leads us with righteousness.  This means that we can look to Him and ask Him what the right thing to do is in a situation and trust that doing it will lead us in His will.  He is able to make our way straight.  He can deliver us from the twists and turns we experience when we make decisions based on fears or feelings.  The twisty road that leaves us a bit disoriented with motion sickness doesn’t have to be our path.  When we seek the Lord and His righteousness in a matter He will make our way straight and protect us from the traps of the enemy.  Lead us, O Lord, in Your righteousness today.

Proverbs - From a Mother to Her Son

Proverbs 31:1-2

The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him.

What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what, the son of my vows?

                                                   

This section of scripture is written by the Holy Spirit from a mother to a son.  We will see the advice she gives to her son and we will be challenged in what to encourage our sons to do and not to do.  She will deal with women, wine and wisdom.  Ladies, speak to your sons often in regard to the dangers of alcohol, women and wisdom.  This is a chapter young men should know well for it was originally written to them.  Of course, as we read it and value this counsel, our lives can pattern these virtues for our sons to see in action.  Be open to giving your sons advice.  They will remember this and live what you speak. This will forever be imprinted upon the fabric of their being.

The Lord Destroys

Psalm 5:6

Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing:

the LORD will abhor the bloody and deceitful man.

The Lord Destroys and Abhors

The Lord will deal with those who deceive and lie.  He will bring their plans to nothing.  Anything a liar thinks he has gotten due to his deception will be destroyed by the Lord.  The Lord hates it when someone is willing to kill and deceive to accomplish their own goals.  He is against these people and will show Himself opposed and involved in their lives to reveal His hatred for what they are doing.  If we want our lives built in a way that will not be dealt with in a destructive way by the Lord, we ought never to use deceit or lies in our dealings.  Unless the Lord builds the house, we will labor only to wait for destruction.

                                             

Proverbs - Butter and Blood

Proverbs 30:33

Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath bringeth forth strife.

Here we learn that if we keep getting angry and provoking someone else we can expect division to come into that relationship.  Just like milk being churned, or a nose being twisted, there is an inevitable outcome to both of these examples.  Churning requires effort and motion.  A twisted nose requires strength and constraint.  When we are forcing our anger on a situation we are taking hold of something and turning it into a direction that will result in strife.  Leave off anger before it gets to this point.  Avoid the butter and avoid the blood.

Knowing God - The Lord Hates Those Who Practice Sin

Psalm 5:5

The foolish shall not stand in thy sight:

 thou hatest all workers of iniquity.

The Lord Hates Those Who Work Iniquity

The Lord has tolerance for many things but when we are foolish women who work sin, He is repulsed and clearly rejects this type of living.  The Lord has emotions as we see throughout the scriptures:

Deut 9:20 “And the LORD was very angry with Aaron”

Zeph 3:17 “ The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy;”

Gen 6:6 “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”

The Lord hates all the workers of iniquity.  Yes, he loves them in the light that He died for the very sin they commit and offers forgiveness and cleansing but He has a righteous hatred for the ongoing working of iniquity and all the havoc and pain sin produces in people’s lives.  Our God is a holy God and he hated sin so much that He gave His only begotten Son upon whom He laid the iniquity of us all.  He dealt with this hatred with punishment that befell Jesus Christ.  How thankful we ought to be and align ourselves with Him in our hatred of sin and not respect or give honor to those who work iniquity.

Proverbs - Don't Lift Yourself Up

Proverbs 30:32

If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.

When we lift ourselves up we have done foolishly.  Lifting ourselves up is like boasting of a gift or trying to gain reputation in the eyes of others.  If we think evil, we must allow ourselves to consider this something to be dealt with.  Thoughts give birth to action.  Both of these are to be dealt with by putting our hand upon our mouth.  What does this mean?  It means that we should consider both something horrible and something we don’t want to be a part of our lives.  We don’t continue in it and we stop, in mid-sentence or thought, if we have to.  If we do either one of these things, we should be markedly surprised and cease from either as quickly as possible.

Knowing God - He is NOT Pleased with Wickedness

Psalm 5:4

For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness:

 neither shall evil dwell with thee.

The Lord is Not Pleased With Wickedness

The Lord does not think things that are wicked are pleasant.  We do not please the Lord when we are involved in anything He says is wicked.  As women we have some great explanations in the book of proverbs about what a wicked woman is like.  She is immodest, loud, stubborn, doesn’t like to stay at home, flattering, manipulative, among others.  This sounds like the most respected person on E! News, doesn’t it?  Our God is not pleased with wickedness and evil does not dwell with Him.  Lord, help us discern wickedness and not have any pleasure in it either.