Shine

(1Pe 2:9 KJV)  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

(Proverbs 7 also read)

The news is not good.  The patient is dying.  Or should I say the patients?  I refer to our country and the church.  I am blessed to live in an area where we are still relatively free and I have found a church that still believes the Bible is the word of God and music old enough to be bound in a book is worth singing.  I am not sure that most people can say the same.

So maybe we need a reminder.  We have been called to be salt and light.  We are to be witnesses.  We are to share the hope that is in us.  Or as it says here we are a royal priesthood.  

So?  Without getting too syrupy I want to remind you that you are special.  God has touched your life and given you news that can change someone life.  You may not be called to share it in the next ten minutes.  You may not even realize that you have passed hope on.  Accept that you are to share the light. 

Primitives

(Act 27:37 KJV)  And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls.

(Proverbs 6 also read)

I know I have read this before but it stood out to me today.  Maybe it is because I recently ventured back on an airplane and remember the crowds waiting to board.  I am not sure how many but I think it was significantly short of 276.  We tend to forget that people in history were not as stupid or helpless as we might think.  This ship had no real navigation and no power but the wind and maybe a few oars.  They had not refrigeration or air conditioning.  In spite of all that they crowded hundreds of people on these ships and sailed across the known world.

They had much to learn but they knew the basics.  Think about that the next time someone tries to tell you that they were all superstitious fools because they believed the things God was telling them.

So?  They knew the earth was round.  They had calculated its circumference.  They also had a fear of God which gave them access to wisdom.  That is something that is missing today. 

Let’s Hear It for the Kidneys

(Psa 7:9 KJV)  Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.

(Proverbs 5 also read)

The NASB has an ending that is different.

(Psa 7:9 NAS77) O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds.

“Reins” (3629)?  “Hearts” (3629)?  What?  A little bit of enlightenment is thrown in by the NASB marginal reading that says, “Literally kidneys”.  If the Hebrew is “kidneys” why not translate it kidneys?  I imagine the answer would be that they did not want children and teenagers giggling at the reading of Psalms.  I understand their motive but I resent their condescending attitude.  

The NASB is probably more modern in its understanding which actually gives the KJV a great advantage.  When you read “reins” you start scratching your head and wondering what they are talking about.  If your vocabulary is broad enough you recognize that reins are what you control horses with if you are driving a stage coach.  That should startle you enough that you start to think about what God is trying to say.

Maybe “the reins of the heart” would be even better.  The word is referring to the innermost part of your personhood, that which guides you priorities and decisions.  Since moderns tend to think of the heart in terms of emotion the old English gets us deeper.

So?  One reason I don’t worry about the perseverance of the saints for my life is that I know God looks deep down in my heart and sees what reins me in.  He does not look at my long record of failure as much as my constant desire to do His will.  I can live with that. 

Automatic Transmission Not Automatic Steering

(Pro 4:12 KJV)  When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.

As I continue to cycle through Proverbs I do things to try to get a different perspective.  One is to begin reading in different verses.  Today I began in this verse and circled around.  It was a good trip.  My first reading had the encouraging news that I would not be tripped up in life.  On the way through the chapter I was informed that it was not an automatic trip.

Before and after there are expectations for the life of holiness.  They involve all the aspects of growing in grace.  We are to listen and pay attention to what we are taught.  We are to be careful where we step.  We are to be involved in this trip.  This is not the glorious ride promised by the prophets of self-driving cars but the assurance of engineers who know they have built well and provided all the controls we need for a safe trip.

So?  We trust and have confidence.  The foundation of that is in God but God never tells us to turn off our brains or abandon our morals.  Both matter.  January is a good time to start applying that. 

The Premise of Blessings

(Pro 3:16 KJV)  Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.

I struggle with the basic premise of this verse:  God rewards those who listen and respond.  One wing of this struggle is my repeated question of “Why Me?”  As I have shared before, I am not wondering why I suffer and struggle.  Just the opposite.  I marvel at how blessed my life is.  I then look at how much others are dealing with and how unworthy I am and wonder if I deserve the blessings in some form.

We can never be worthy.  We cannot earn the blessings of God.  Those are mantras we hear all the time but as I read Proverbs and Psalms I keep seeing a different assumption and that is the principle that God rewards the righteous.

So?  Humility is called for.  At the same time we are to be grateful for the blessings of God and continue to seek upright lives.  Does God reward faithfulness?  I would say yes.  I would also say I have not been righteous enough to deserve the blessings I receive.  In either case, thank you, Lord. 

Emmanuel Still

(Act 9:17 KJV)  And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.

(Proverbs 2 also read)

At what point did Saul the persecutor of the church become Paul the Apostle?  Was it when he was struck down?  Was it when Jesus first spoke to him?  Was it sometime as he lay without sight and not eating?  I am not sure we will really know.  Keep in mind that even after he had a change of heart and began preaching Jesus he still had years of instruction before him.  He had to learn the basics.  He had to go back and reevaluate all of the theology he thought he knew and restudy the scriptures.  He had to learn the obedience of listening.

He had a long road before him but he had to take it a day at a time.

Like us.  I don’t know where you are in your walk with the Lord.  I am sometimes not sure where I am.  It is so easy to get concerned about what the future holds.  Sometimes that future is a life time.  At the other extreme it might involve what the pastor has to say this morning.  We need to thrive where we are.  Remember one of the names given to Jesus, first by Isaiah and later by Gabriel, Emmanuel.  God is with us.

So?  Rejoice.  It is early in the year.  It is early in the rest of your life.  God is with us, even after Christmas. 

On to Jerusalem

(Act 21:4 KJV)  And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem.
 
(Proverbs 1 also read)

This brings up an interesting and important point in our spiritual walks.  In this verse it seems that someone was speaking through the Holy Spirit and has a message for Paul.  Normally that would have some legs on it but Paul ignored it.  A few verses later we have a similar situation.  Paul keeps heading for Jerusalem.  He had a previous word from the Lord.

(Act 19:21 KJV)  After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.

The question we need to face in our lives is when to listen to others claiming a message from God and when to listen to our own hearts and minds.  

Sometimes the choice is clear.  If someone tells me that God told them I was supposed to leave my wife and run off with the head of Women’s Ministries, I would not need to do much besides laugh.  That is a direct disagreement with scripture and God would never tell them something like that.

It is not always easy.  In Paul’s case there was no scripture to give direction.  He had to decide.

So?  I would suggest that we work on recognizing the voice the the Holy Spirit in our own hearts and minds.  While advice and counsel is important we ultimately are responsible for our own spiritual lives.  God may want us to go to Jerusalem, to take the path of suffering and persecution.  No one else can make that decision for us.  That might be a good place to start the new year.