Tag: Man’s Heart - God’s Word - Proverbs 29-30

Proverbs 30:1-3

The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle. The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal: Surely I am more stupid than any man, And I do not have the understanding of a man. Neither have I learned wisdom, Nor do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

Tag: Man’s Heart — God’s Word

Here are some awesome words that might puzzle those who are turning to Proverbs to find wisdom: Agur, the son of Jekeh, says he is "more stupid than any man" and that he does not "have the understanding of man." He goes on to say he has not "learned wisdom" or has not "the knowledge of the Holy One." These are some awesome words coming from an author, soon to be quoted in a book "full of wisdom" and written for those "seeking wisdom" (and the "answer of riddles” ... Proverbs 1). Why would Agur say such a thing? There is one thought that Agur is saying is that he is not writing his own words but rather is copying out proverbs from someone else. That very well could be true. But, I think an alternative interpretation is that Agur has come to the understanding that he is not a Godly man and is not "qulafied to write" such heavenly and awesome truths. And, maybe that is the best way to become a writer of wisdom literature: You know you can't and that you are stupid ... it is only through God's power and through the Holy Spirit's ministry that Agur can compose such truths. We all should come to this understanding before we attempt to minister to others through the Word. Only God can make the "stupid" wise. Only God can turn man's frivolous words into God's powerful message. If it were not for God's power we would only be empty tools. God has the ability to give us meaning and give us a sound message. We may not have knowledge of the Holy One, but God can provide it.

The word “stupid” in the above verse is the Hebrew word, “baar.”   It means to be “brutish.”   A “brute” is a savage, violent person.   What Agur is saying is that, without God’s Wisdom (which he is about to write) he is simply a violent man, lacking any sense.   The book of Proverbs was written to correct that state of a man.  It is awesome that God used a brute to write to other brutes to change all of our bruteness by God’s amazing Word, received by faith.   

Tag: God’s Word in our Heart - Wide Walk in our Life - Psalms 119

Psalms 119:41-45 

Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord,

your salvation according to your promise;

then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me,

for I trust in your word.

And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,

for my hope is in your rules.

I will keep your law continually,

forever and ever,

and I shall walk in a wide place,

for I have sought your precepts.

Tag:  God’s Word in the Heart - Wide Walk in Life!

Psalm 119 is a great song about God’s Word.  Every verse has a word that refers (in one term or another) to God’s Word.   In the above four verses God’s Word is referred to by:

1. Promises

2. Word

3. Rules

4. Law

5. Precepts

The purpose of these promises, word, rules, laws and precepts is stated, as well.  Their purpose is:

1. Provide salvation

2. Equip us against those who taunt us

3. Provide hope

4. Walk in a “wide” place 

Everything that happens to us in this life is tied to our taking God’s word into our hearts.  When we focus on God’s Word we can walk in wide places.  This meaning, verses tight places.   We can rest and be assured of easier walking when we digest God’s Word and remain faithful to His instruction and promises.  That does not mean the road will be easy or without difficulty (think about Job).  It does mean, no matter the road or difficulty, His promises are still true and that makes the road wide for us.   Our relationship with God’s Word is in direct proportion to how we walk in this life.  

Tag: How to Pray - 2 Chronicles 17-20

2 Chronicles 20:5-6

Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court, and he said, “O Lord, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can stand against You."

Tag: How to Pray

When King Jehoshaphat was confronted with an issue, he turns to God in prayer.   The prayer (and the way it is formatted) is a great example to us on how we should pray and how we should acknowledge God's work in our lives in the midst of a bad situation.  The first lesson is in the above passage:  He acknowledges God's sovereign rule over all of mankind and that power is in God's hands. Notice his words:

O Lord, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens?

The second lesson:  He acknowledges God's faithfulness in the past.  See 20:7

" Did You not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever?"

The third lesson:  Like the three Hebrews at the fiery furnace he is willing to stand even if it looks like, feels like, or evil is getting a momentary victory.   He is willing to accept God’s decision about his life whether it turns out good or bad.  See 20:9

" ‘Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and deliver us.’"

The fourth lesson:  He acknowledges his own weakness.  See 20:12

" O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are on You.”"

The fifth prayer lesson is in 20:13.  He inspired others to also pray and praise God despite the situation: 

" All Judah was standing before the Lord, with their infants, their wives and their children."

The last lesson is that he praised God for the answer even though the answer had not yet come:  See 20:18-19

" Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. The Levites, from the sons of the Kohathites and of the sons of the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel, with a very loud voice."

Prayer should follow these steps:

1. Acknowledge God’s Sovereign Rule

2. Acknowledge God’s Faithfulness in the past

3. Accept God’s decision no matter what

4. Acknowledge our weaknesses

5. Encourage the prayers of others in the need

6. Praise God for the answer - BEFORE it comes. 

Tag: The Fear of the Lord Should Bring Wisdom - Numbers 33-36

Numbers 33:40

And the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the Negeb in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the people of Israel.

Tag:  The Fear of the Lord Brings Wisdom

Note the following:

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Proverbs 3:7

Be not wise in your own eyes;

fear the Lord, and turn away from evil.

Proverbs 16:6

By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for,

and by the fear of the Lord one turns away from evil.

The book of Numbers closes with Moses doing a stop by stop summary of the 40 years of wilderness wandering.   Moses accounts for all the places the nation of Israel pitched their tents during that period of time.   In the above verse we read the impact that had on the Canaanite tribes, cities and peoples.   It says that the Canaanite “heard of he coming of the people of Israel.”   However, even though the Canaanite heard of the coming of God’s people, they did not respond appropriately.   The “hearing” should have been a chance for them to “fear the Lord” and to “turn from evil.”   But, they didn’t.   Instead (we will read the stories in the book of Joshua), they continued in evil.   The “hearing” did not turn to proper “fear” therefore there was no “fearing” that would turn them from their idolatrous ways.   It is one thing to “hear” about God - it is another to actually call on God out of awesome fear and reverence.   When we hear about God’s power it ought to turn us to Him in praise and adoration.  For the Canaanite it was just hearing and no turning to God.  They refused to take what they heard and make it change their life.  One person in Canaan did turn to God, however.  Note:

Joshua 2:1

And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.

Rehab, a prostitute, was a woman who heard and turned to God.  She protected the spies Joshua sent out and, eventually would even be listed in the chronology of Christ in Matthew.    People who hear about God need to call on God (Romans 10:14-16).  Otherwise, hearing is nothing more than noise.  

Tag: Maturity in the Word Avoids Apostasy - Hebrews 5-7

Hebrews 5:11-13

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.

Tag:  Maturity in the Word Avoids Apostasy

In the above passage the writer of Hebrews is about to give a warning to the readers of this book.  He is about to warn them about “apostasy” (the falling away from the faith).   The premise of this section of the book is that if we hold fast to God’s Word, it will produce fruit in our lives.  If we don’t hold fast to God’s word, we will not have fruit and risk “falling away from the faith” (giving up on Christ to find something else for our salvation).   

In these verses he uses the illustration of the teacher and the child-student.  He believers (we have no idea why he believes this) that the readers SHOULD, at this time, be mature in God’s Word.  He believes they should be, by this time, “teacher” status.  Again, we have no knowledge as to why he believes this.  We know so little about the background of this book.   However, the truth the writer states still stands.   When we are given truth we are responsible for that truth.  In this case, to grow and become mature.   

Yet, this group of believers has, for some reason, still remained in “infant” status.  They truth they have been given has not produced the maturity this writer thought they should have.   He is not chastening them for this. But, he is explaining that their growth in the “word of righteousness” is key to their growth.  It is important to see what he had just written to understand this.  Note a few verses just before this section:

Hebrews 5:8-9

Although he (Jesus) was a son, he learned “obedience” through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who “obey” him, (parentheses and quotation marks added for affect).  

In God’s Word, the word “obey” is a simile for “believe”.     When someone says they “believe” in Christ, it comes with an inherent “obey.”   Simply believing is not what the Scriptures talk about.  It is about believing to the state of obeying that the growth in Christ happens.   The “word of Righteousness” is about obeying what God says in His word.  When we do that we grow and become strong and produce fruit and have lives pleasing to Christ.   We don’t grow when we don’t consume God’s Word.   

This writer is warning the readers (and us) that the failure to believe and obey the “words of righteousness” will result in us staying in “infant” status and risk falling away in our faith.   We are to trust AND obey ... not just believe and hope.   

Tag: Prayer Should Rock the World - Acts 3-4

Acts 4:31

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Tag:  Prayer Should Rock the World

I am trying to think if I have ever prayed and had the world rock.  I can think of one time that this actually happened. Not physically, as in the above, but in the world I lived in regarding the community of believers I was with.   

When Peter prayed the world, literally, was rocked.  The moving of the Holy Spirit should change the world around us.   We are not to be passive believers.  We are moving with the POWER of the Holy Spirit in our lives, who is let loose through the act of prayer and the preaching of the “word of God.”   Prayer and the Word are a combination all believers should use as their capital currency.   

God has chosen to use praying men with God’s Word to change the world.   Prayer and Preaching has rocked the world for centuries.  Satan would love our churches to turn into social clubs that tickle the ears and titilates the feelings.   Instead, our churches should be a place of prayer, preaching of the word to prepare us for the confrontations to the world around us.   Prayer should rock the world.   

Tag: Mery is at the Heart of God’s Love - Jonah

Jonah 4:9-11

But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Tag: Mercy Is At the Heart of God’s Love

Like most Jewish people, Jonah did not believe that Gentiles (anyone who is not a Jew) was worthy of God’s love or grace.  The Jews thought they were “special” (chosen by God).   When he was sent to Nineveh to offer God’s grace, Jonah rejected that call and ran the other way.  Here is why he did so:

Jonah 4:2

And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

Jonah did not want the grace of God to be shared with a Gentile nation.   Yet, as we see in the top verse, God did.  God wanted to share His grace.   To demonstrate this to Jonah, God created a plant to keep Jonah cool from the summer heat.  God then destroyed the plant (God can do what He wills).   Yet, Jonah was upset.  God uses the plant to show Jonah his hypocrisy and evilness.  He was concerned about a plant but not the people of Nineveh.   

God is concerned about the lost and we should carry the same desire.   Here is what Peter said, centuries later:

2 Peter 3:9

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

Every believer should ask if we want out creature comforts over taking a risk to speak the gospel to an unsaved and evil world?