Words That Stick To Your Ribs

“ … and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.”  (Proverbs 16:6)
 

I got off work one day and decided to visit a friend at his office before going home.  As I walked in, he looked at me intently and asked “Did you live in the fear of God today?”

Don’t you hate conversations that start out that way?  I mean like the conversation is not going to get better for you at this point, it is only going to get progressively worse!      I know...right?

I very wisely said nothing for a few minutes.  I thought about the question and about my activities and responses of the day.  I finally said, “Based upon some of my responses today, I would have to say no.”

My friend, who is still watching me, then says, “Proverbs 16:6 says the fear of the Lord will keep you from evil.”

Isn’t it funny how a simple conversation can stick with you over the years?  This was a profound truth for my life.  The Amplified Bible puts it like this:

“and by the reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord men depart from and avoid evil.”

Living in the fear of God will help us get out of and even avoid becoming entangled in sin.  If we find ourselves responding in an ungodly manner, or drawn into a sin, then we can know that we are not living in the fear of God.  Living in the fear of God has to do with our view of God Himself and our relation to Him.  It has to do with obedience out of love, humility, submission, and believing that God’s way is always the best way.

I am not talking about the terror of the Lord.  That has to do with judgment.  I am talking about the fear of the Lord which has to do with love, respect, and the recognition of true wisdom.

When we truly believe that God wants what is best for us, then we will realize that His Word is what is really best for us also.

The Ultimate Rescuer

“who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father“  (Gal 1:4, NIV) (emphasis mine)

I love the theme of rescue woven into scripture. When I came into God’s family, it wasn’t some polite little ceremony. I had been taken captive by the devil to do his bidding. I was a wretched mess and I had to be rescued.  Jesus came riding in on a white stallion! His eyes were blazing like fire and on His head were many crowns! He was dressed in a blood dipped robe and a sharp sword came out of His mouth! There were thunderings and lightnings, demons were shouting and screaming and there was blood everywhere! Then there was sudden silence as the Blood covered me. I was no longer sitting in the cave of sulphur and fire, but had in an instant been snatched from its miry clay, and set upon a Rock.

There is a passage in the Old Testament Book of Exodus that I really like.  It is found in Chapter 3, verses 7-8 as follows:

The LORD said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from … “  (Emphasis mine)

In these scriptures the Lord is saying:

Ÿ  I see

 

Ÿ  I hear

 

Ÿ  I care

Ÿ  I rescue

How I needed to hear that message! To know that God could see me, and hear me, and He cared about me and was ABLE and WILLING to do something about my predicament. And how many there are today who desperately need to hear it also. My friends, our God is a warrior, He is strong and mighty, and able to rescue to the end those who are called according to His purpose. Let us not hold back in sharing the gospel freedom. As we have opportunity to share, let's do so for it is the power of God unto salvation.  Our God is the ultimate RESCUER!

 

If today you find yourself bound by something, call upon our God. He sees what you are going through, He hears your cries, He cares about what is happening to you, and He has come to rescue you from ___________.

(You fill in the blank.)

It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The time

There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death. (Prov 14:12, NASB)

 

Don’t you sometimes wish there were “do overs” in life. There are more than a few things in my life that I wish I had the opportunity to not do. How many of life’s ouchies are followed by the words “it seemed like a good idea at the time”?

I came across the following quote at some point in time:

“If the whole human race lay in one grave, the epitaph on its headstone might well be: "It seemed a good idea at the time." (Dame Rebecca West, Irish-born author and journalist, 1892-1983)

Wow, is that true or what! There are so many things in life that seem ok to us, that would seemingly cause no real harm, yet God says that our unguided ideas are going to get us in trouble.

We find it easy to admit that children need guidance to keep them from trouble, but we would like to think that as adults we are intelligent enough and have enough common sense and wisdom to make right decisions based upon what we believe to be right and wrong.

God says that human wisdom is faulty. It is distorted by our natural perception, which is not based upon God’s perception. We need someone wiser than us, who knows the end form the beginning, to guide us. I lived a lot of my life without God’s guidance, doing what seemed right to me...I was wrong. Our basic nature is self seeking and denies God His rightful place. We can make our plans, scheme, connive, and do everything we think is right and still die separated from God.

The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, the recognizing and giving to God His rightful place. We must realize that our human wisdom is faulty and we need the mind of Christ to guide us. True life is only found through Jesus Christ. Every way that seems right to man will lead only to death. There is only one way and that is God’s way.

I have now lived a lot of my life with God’s guidance, choosing His way over my way. That has worked a LOT better…

Regarding Animal Life

“A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal … “  (Proverbs 12:10a, NASB)

I have never had anyone come up to me and say “Wow, I just read Proverbs 12:10 and it has really changed my life.” As a matter of fact I've never even heard anyone mention Proverbs 12:10.

Of course, it could be a pretty easy verse to get around. It would be easy to think this only applies to those who have a lot of contact with animals in their daily lives, like ranchers, sheepherders, horse breeders, farmers, kennels and such. But then again, this verse, does say animal and not animals. It’s kind of like it is saying that every single animal is important to God, not just the different species of animals. That kind of makes it a single animal.

And it says a righteous man has regard, and not righteous men have regard. That kind of narrows it down again from the whole race of men to a single man. We could even simmer this verse down to a specific man and a specific animal - if we wanted to.

And which of us does not think poorly of the person who has starving animals, or the one who abuses animals. It is easy to make this verse apply in these situations..

But what if we make it even more personal, what if we apply it to ourselves personally? And what if the animal is our family pet, or our son’s pet or our daughter’s pet? Oh, I’m sure we don’t “abuse” the pet, or “starve” the pet. Maybe we just don’t really care for dogs or cats. Maybe we are just not a dog person or a cat person, or an animal lover for that matter. But a righteous man still cares about the welfare of his animal.

It comes down to an attitude. What is our mind set towards the family pet? How do we regard it? If we have a correct mindset we will realize that even the family pet falls under our stewardship. A righteous person has regard for the life of his animal. The Message Bible says:

“Good people are good to their animals.”

I Don’t Look Good Naked Anymore

Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.   (2 Cor 4:16, NKJV)

My brother sent me a song via email the other day. It was called “I Don’t Look Good Naked Anymore.” I listened to it a couple times and emailed it to a few friends, and pondered it a bit. 

I can still remember the first time I got out of a shower and didn’t recognize the back I saw in the mirror. It was not skinny like the one I was used to, it even had a couple rolls of fat on it. I couldn’t hardly believe it was mine.

Then came the times folks would take pictures and I would catch a camera’s eye view of myself.  Wow, my body was starting to go...and grow.  This song really catches all of that.

If there is something we can know for sure, our bodies are in the process of dying.  Some folks spend a lot of money trying to stay looking young, fit and trim and, let’s face it, we would all like to look good.

Now, just as sure as our bodies (outer man) are dying, our inner man is being renewed day by day.  Every day out inner man is filled with life, rejuvenated, and made vibrant.  As we seek God and live for Him, He endows our inner man with His life giving spirit. Now, there is only so much we can do about the ageing process of our outer man, but we can joyously submit ourselves to the life giving power of God on a regular basis and join with Him in the renewing process of our inner man.

And while I enjoyed the song “I Don’t Look Good Naked Anymore”, I am not all hung up about how it is going with my body. I would like to take the song a bit farther though, because not only do I not look good naked anymore, I never really did...that’s what clothes are for.

Levels of Obedience

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence … “  (Php 2:12, NIV)

Obedience is a heart issue. When I was a child, I obeyed my earthly father out of fear and concern of what would happen to me if I didn’t. As I got older, I realized obedience was for my own good. As I continued to mature, obeying was more a matter of not wanting to disappoint my parents. This is still not the level of obedience God has called us to.

God calls us to a higher level of obedience, a mature obedience. When I first came to Christ, I obeyed out of fear and concern of what would happen to me if I didn’t. As I got older, I realized obedience was for my own good. As I continued to mature, obeying was more a matter of not wanting to disappoint God. Eventually I came to a place where because of my love for God, I didn’t want to do anything to offend Him or hinder my relationship with Him. 

When I was a child and my father was around I would be obedient to his requirements.  f he went somewhere, maybe I would be obedient and maybe I wouldn’t. In our verse today, Paul is calling the believers to a higher level of obedience. He says “as you have been obedient in my presence, now be obedient in my absence.”

“Respond in my absence, just as you would if I was there among you.” The obedience Paul is talking about is the kind that is a “working out” of what God has “put in”. There are things that accompany salvation, and these things are to be evidenced in our lives. Not because Paul is there, or a preacher, or Sunday school teacher, or school teacher, or a policeman, or fireman, or Mom, or Dad, but because there has been a change wrought in our heart and we want to do what is right. And we want to do it not because of fear of punishment, but because of love, appreciation, and awe.

You see, God is doing something inside of us. He is giving us the desire to act in accordance with His Word. And as if that wasn’t enough, He is also giving us the ability to do the things He wants us to!  Php 2:12-13 from the NIV Bible says:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Revelation, Boundaries & Restraint II

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.  (Proverbs 29:18, KJV)

Long before having a vision for your life, ministry, church, business, etc was vogue in Christian and secular circles, God had already talked about it in His Word.  First let’s look at Proverbs 29:18 in a couple different versions.  

The NIV Bible says: “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.” 

 The NAS Bible says: “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained, But happy is he who keeps the law. “

 The word, vision, or revelation, might be better understood as divine communication. It is a vision, a revelation, a divine communication that comes to us from God. It is a revelatory communication from God in which He reveals Himself and/or His divine purposes.

 The Bible says that without this people are unrestrained. They have no boundaries, no parameters, nothing to regulate or measure their lives by. They have no lines to live between and no rule book to live by as we saw in Part I of Vision, Revelation, & Boundaries. Their lives have no boundaries, restraints, convictions, consideration, or guidance.  The end result is confusion, turmoil, and destruction.

On the other hand people who do have divine communication (vision)  from God and follow it, are obedient to the revelation (vision), have lives that are filled with blessings.  They will be happy, contented, fruitful, and have meaningful lives.  The Word is clear, it is not enough to know the vision, we must be obedient to it. As Paul said in Acts 23:19, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision".

In the context of the verse we have been looking at the vision is the Law God gave to Moses.  In the context of our time it would be the Old and New Testaments.  In the context of a personal vision for our lives, it would be God revealing something specific He wants us to do.  That specific thing will always be in agreement with the greater context of God’s revealed will in His Word.

 

The NLT Bible says “When people do not accept divine guidance, they run wild. But whoever obeys the law is happy.

If we don't stay within our realm of authority & conduct ourselves in accordance with governing stipulations we will end up outside of safe boundaries.