Knowing God - He Will Deliver Us

Isa 38:6

And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria: and I will defend this city.

The Lord is speaking to King Hezekiah in this verse.  We learn that the Lord delivers us from things/people/situations that are coming against us.  The battle belongs to the Lord.  He is strategic, mighty and powerful in delivering His people from those situations that are seeking to come in, torment and take control of our lives.  He also says that He will defend this city.  That means that not only will he deliver us from any current threat or occupation, but He will defend us when it happens again.  Sometimes we come to the wrong conclusion that we have to deliver or defend ourselves.  He is our deliverer.  He is our defense.  Get your eyes on Him and follow His leading.  We are led in triumph in Christ.  We are led.  We are not doing the leading!  Let Him lead.  You, follow!  Don’t be deceived into a false expectation that you are required to fight this battle in your own strength.  Willingly admit your fears and failures.  Come to Him and thank Him for being your deliverer and defense.

Proverbs - We Must Gain Wisdom

Proverbs 10:1

           The proverbs of Solomon.

A wise son maketh a glad father:

but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother.

                    Given the fact that the Lord gave Solomon a “... a wise and an understanding heart;...”.(I King 3:12) we can conclude from this verse that King David would have been a glad father.  Solomon did not receive this wisdom until after David died.  We don’t know if he had regrets about certain choices and heaviness from foolishness in his youth.  Absalom was a foolish son and truly Solomon must have heard of the heartbreak his father had gone through with Absalom. The psalmist prayed, “Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness' sake, O LORD. (Ps 25:7) Even if we in our youthfulness brought some heartache to our parents, the Lord is in the business of giving wisdom and we can even now walk according this wisdom and bring joy to our parents.

                    If wisdom makes a glad father and foolishness makes a mother so heavy in heart, then we must take the commission of training our children away from foolishness and into wisdom very seriously.  Do they know about bed times, use of their tongues, financial wisdom, work ethic, entertainment choices, how to submit to authority, how to deliver messages faithfully, etc..?  Have you gone through the Proverbs yourself to gain the wisdom to deliver this to them?  If we leave children to their own, surely as mothers our hearts will be heavy.  Let us ask the Lord today to give us insight and instruction to teach our children in wisdom.

Knowing God - He Looks on us with Grace

Gen 6:8

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

                                                                    

God saw the wickedness throughout His creation and He expressed a great regret for even making man.  The Lord was grieved and the Lord wanted to destroy all flesh with the earth.  Yet, we see a few verses later that there was a man who found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Our God does not generalize when dealing with man.  He sees the overall state of a society but the Lord sees the individual as well.  Our individual walks with the Lord are noticed and considered.  Our God sees everything.  He sees all that goes on in the streets, in the homes and in the hearts of mankind.  We can be like Noah and find grace in the Lord’s eyes.  The grace we have now been given is found in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Because He came, died and rose, those who are in Christ have found the favor and acceptance of a holy God who sees the wickedness surrounding us and yet Christ’s righteousness upon us.  Those of us who have put on the Lord Jesus, given up on this world’s ways and placed our complete trust in Him, enjoy the favor/grace of God even if our eyes often read the stories of wickedness and grief.   Dear one, know that your life is seen and you will not be lumped together in judgment when the favor of God is upon you in Christ.  As you see wickedness, rest in the fact that, if you are in Christ, you have found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

Proverbs - It Isn't What is Seems

Proverbs 9:14-18

For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,

           To call passengers who go right on their ways:

Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither:

and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

          Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

           But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

Our fallen nature as women involves pulling others into the deceptions we succumb to.  Eve didn’t just eat of the forbidden fruit but “... she... gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” Gen 3:6 This foolish woman sits and calls to people who pass by to pull them in to her clamorous lifestyle.  We must be warned and take heed that when we are anxious, murmuring or loud, that we don’t pull in our children, husbands or roommates in to the state of mind in which we are operating. 

                    The enemy of our souls is similar to this foolish woman.  Satan sits ready to call to us who are on our ways and goes after us even when we have understanding on a matter.  He will contradict what wisdom is saying and will call what is evil - pleasant and sweet.  He tries to pull is in a secretive, stolen direction.  He paints a picture of excitement and tantalizes us with the forbidden.  We must look beyond the temptation and its pleasures to the end of the road - the consequences of agreeing with our adversary.  Sure, sin is fun.  It wouldn’t be a temptation if it weren’t tempting!  But, let us be warned that, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Prov 16:25

Knowing God- He is NOT Finished with You

Gen 3:23-24

 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.

The Lord took man out of a wonderful place and put him in a place where he once was.  Man violated the boundaries of the garden and now he was not to dwell there any longer.  The Lord still loved him.  The Lord still had a plan for Adam’s life.  The Lord still had rich, fertile soil for Adam to enjoy and tend.  Our God is our father and if we are really His children we will be disciplined and given certain consequences and privileges in order to cause us to grow up in all things.  Sometimes we may experience this attribute of our Father in heaven.  He may make us leave something that we have handled in a way that was reckless and rebellious.  This means that He loves us and is not finished with us.  Accept the consequence, let the discipline work out the rebellion or doubt that may have led to the sinful choices.  It will bring forth fruit that is full of peace and righteousness.  Cooperate with His consequences and till the ground He has you in now.  Our God is a God who has every right to send us away from certain settings and place us in others.  He is God and He loves us.  Have you ever lost a relationship due to sexual sin?  Have you lost a job due to some sort of laziness or irresponsible behavior?  Have you ever lost a friendship due to lack of love or faithfulness?  What relationships are you in now?  Till them.  What jobs do you have at this time?  Work unto Him.  Who is in your life now?  Invest in them.  The Lord desires lasting fruit wherever He may place you.  He is not finished with you yet.

Proverbs - Foolish Women Tend to Be Loud

Proverbs 9:13

          A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.

           

                    Clamorous.  What a word.  We would never want to be described as clamorous.  Some translations use the word ‘loud’.  This word means to murmur, make noise, to be troubled or to be in a commotion.  When we lack wisdom and just take life for what we see without His insight, we most likely will make a lot of noise. 

                   In the book of James we read; “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.” (James 3:13) Wisdom from the Lord is associated with meekness - the quality of not having to draw attention to self and yield to that which is good.  If we find ourselves talking a lot about a situation we may find that we haven’t the wisdom yet on the matter.  Let us pull away from the clamor and quiet our hearts before the Lord seeking Him to guide and counsel us with wisdom that comes from above.

Knowing God - He Wants Us to Handle Him

Luke 24:38-39

And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? ……..handle me,….”

                                                                    

I am continually amazed at how many questions the Lord asks in the scriptures.  He is God.  He can make commands and statements that are authoritative and final.  Instead, He often asks His creation questions.  Here He is asking His followers why they are troubled and why they have certain thoughts in their hearts.  He has risen from the dead and His followers are not sure how to process His presence and the fact of His resurrection.  Jesus tells them to ‘handle me’.  This word ‘handle’ means to manipulate or to verify by contact.  When we are troubled or we have doubts and thoughts in our hearts, we would do well to do what the Lord told His early followers.  We need to verify the Lord’s presence in our lives by verifying with contact – handling Him.  Opening our eyes to His obvious dealings with us, praising Him with our lips, acknowledging His ever present help with us and taking in His promises and presence in His written Word will help us make contact with Him.  We mustn’t just look on Him as if He were some vague spirit in our midst.  He tells us to handle Him.  He tells us to really connect with Him in a personal up close kind of way.  Oh Lord, show each of us how to ‘handle you’ that our troubles and thoughts would encounter the reality of you.