Under Gods command

Under Gods Command

Proverbs 25:18- Like a club or a sword or a sharp arrow is the man who gives false testimony against his neighbor. 

Lying (false testimony) about someone is as vicious as an act of physical violence.  Its effects can be as permanent as those of a stab wound.   The next time you are tempted to pass on a bit of gossip, imagine yourself stabbing the victim of your remarks with a sword.  This image may shock you into silence.

Do you smash, slash, or pierce others? Do you crush them? Cut and wound them? Pierce them deeply? If you ever exaggerate, lie, or remain silent to put a person in a bad light, you are guilty. You are like a maul – a large and heavy hammer. You are like a sword. You are like a sharp arrow. You hurt others painfully. Destroy these weapons today!

Noble and righteous men always tell the truth, especially when a reputation or life is at stake. When they are witnesses in any matter, they are careful to say all they should, as accurately as they can recall it. They do not remain silent, when their word would shed light on a situation. This matter is important enough to God that the ninth commandment reads, “Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour” (Ex 20:16).

This is no light matter. When God writes a nation’s laws, perjury in court will get you the same punishment as the crime being tried, even if it is death (Deut 19:16-21). Such a wise law would help witnesses tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth! Memories would improve and consciences would be much more active. God hates all lying, but especially when another party is at risk (6:16-19; 19:5,9; Ex 23:1-9; Lev 5:1; 19:11-18).

You can smash a person’s hopes, reputation, or life, if you testify falsely against him or do not tell the whole truth. You can cut him deeply, as with a sword, if you fail to deliver him from trouble, when you know the truth about a matter. And you can fatally wound him from a distance, if you were a witness to some event, but you withhold the truth from those adjudicating the crime. A false witness is a hateful and terrible enemy to men.

You would never lie in court? Good. Would you tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth, without exaggeration or bias, about everything you know? Good. Remember that stretching the facts or remaining silent when you know more is also being a false witness.

What is your reputation? Is it always and only to tell the truth about others? Are you known for never backbiting, never slandering, never talebearing, and never whispering? Do you always put the actions of others in the best light possible? If not, start today!

Please remember that these emails are going to over 100 people.  I used BCC to keep your email address private.  I just want to share my own personal walk with you, and yes, please hold me accountable for my actions.   I love you all and there is nothing that you can do about it. 

Under Gods Command

Proverbs 24:17-18 Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when he stumbles, do not let your heart rejoice, or the LORD will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from him.    

Here is a hard test of character. Here is strong evidence if you are a child of God. Here is a real measure of godliness and wisdom. Here is a challenge for your faith, whether you want one or not. Think now. Are you happy when bad things happen to your enemies?

God commands you to love your personal enemies, and it is one of the chief measures of a true Christian. Such love includes being grieved when your enemy falls or stumbles in life.  To gloat over other’s misfortune is to make you the avenger and to put yourself in the place of God, who alone is the real judge of all the earth.  If you are glad or rejoice when he is hit by adversity, you have sinned.This proverb, the Lord God offers a simple rule for spiritual victory in your life. Read on.

The proverb is not complete by itself, for the next verse explains the consequences of rejoicing at his troubles, “Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him” (Pr 24:18). God may switch from your side to your enemy’s side, if He detects you gloating about pain or trouble in your enemy’s life.

If you are happy when bad things happen to your enemy, the Lord will see your selfish and vengeful glee; He will be angry at your wicked attitude; and He will lift His punishment of your enemy (Pr 24:18). You will have stooped lower than your enemy, all the way to murderous thoughts of the heart! A holy and righteous God cannot stand by.

Revenge is sin; vengeance is God’s (Rom 12:17-21). But the proverb is not that simple! The Preacher will not let you escape just because you have not actively sought to injure an enemy.

Do you rejoice – in your thoughts – when your enemy falls? Are you glad – in your secret heart – when your enemy stumbles? Do you feel a sense of vindication and pleasure at hearing of his or her misfortune? Ah, dear reader, the glorious light of God’s word shines deep – all the way to your inner feelings.

There is a right way to exact holy revenge or retribution on your enemy. Are you ready for the secret of inspired wisdom? Treat your enemy with love and kindness,

What if your Father had not loved you through Jesus Christ, even while you were His enemy (Rom 5:6-10)? What if He had restrained His love only to those that loved Him? You would be lost. Can you follow His example a little? A lot? Lord, help.

Jesus Christ showed kindness to His personal enemies and had human compassion on them regarding the destruction of Jerusalem and its children (Luke 19:41-44). He also displayed a merciful spirit by praying for His Father to forgive the soldiers gambling for his garments at the foot of the cross (Luke 23:34).

The noble deacon Stephen, with stones thudding off his body, and the Lord Jesus in His sight, prayed God to forgive the Jews for stoning him to death (Acts 7:55-60). Here was a deacon full of the Holy Ghost and living like it under the most severe test possible. These are your holy examples: think, pray, speak, and act like them today.

Under Gods Command

Proverbs 23:12

Apply your heart to instruction and your ears to words of knowledge. 

The people most likely to gain knowledge are those who are willing to listen.  It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to pay attention to what others have to say.  People who are eager to listen continue to learn and grow throughout their lives.  If we refuse to become set in our ways, we can always expand the limits of our knowledge.

Under Gods Command

Proverbs 17:27 Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue. 

Improve your image and reputation instantly! Anyone can do it, even a fool! Cut your words in half, and others will consider you a wise and knowledgeable person. What a proverb! Here is profound advice to immediately enhance what others think about you.

Hasty speech, unstudied speech, or much speech marks a fool. Closing your mouth and reducing your words will cause others to assume you are a wise and understanding person, even if you are a fool. God and King Solomon, both truly wise, guarantee it.

Speech reveals character (Pr 15:2; 29:11; Eccl 5:3; 10:12-14). Careful, deliberate, profitable, and proper speech marks a wise man. Hasty, impulsive, vain words mark a foolish and wicked man. A fool seldom says anything profitable or suitable (Eccl 10:3); but reducing his words will make others think him careful and deliberate!

It is wisdom to see and hear well, but to say little. You learn by listening, not by talking. You should not talk until necessary or profitable. Other men will presume your silence to indicate your careful observation and deep consideration of the topic and a deep search for the right thoughts and words before speaking! Has wisdom ever been so cheap?

The tongue is dangerous and easily hurts others (Pr 10:19; 18:21; Jas 3:2-12), so wise men limit words to avoid sin (Pr 17:27; Job 13:5), and they study before speaking (Pr 15:28). It is better to be swift at hearing than at speaking (Jas 1:19-20). God gave you two ears but only one mouth. Cutting your words in half will then match your anatomy.

Ah, but the fire to speak burns in some men (Ps 39:1-3). They cannot quench this fire; they cannot reduce the heat; they cannot rule the impulse; they must talk, now! What a curse to have an unruly mouth and tell everyone within hearing distance that you are a fool. Close your mouth, and even though you truly are one, none but you will know it!

This proverb does not apply to all men, as some do not speak enough. Wise men learn the balance, not too much to be foolish, enough to be a tree of life (Pr 10:21; 12:18; 15:4,23). It is this careful application of absolute Bible statements that results in truth and wisdom. If we press this rule on quiet men that seldom speak, they would never say anything.

If this rule is true for men, it is truer for women, whose adorning feature is a meek and quiet spirit (I Pet 3:3-4). A talkative woman should cut her words in half to make sure she is not despised as the odious and clamorous woman (Pr 9:13; 11:16; 27:15; 30:23). With these two inspired reasons to speak less, such a woman will cut her words to a quarter.

President Abraham Lincoln, long after King Solomon wrote his proverbs, confirmed this rule of wisdom and public decorum by his well-known words from a different angle, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt.”

If you do not have anything necessary, profitable, or good to say, why talk? Others do not need noise to be happy or content. Silence is golden. Making conversation to fill a void is disturbing the peace and foolish talking, for which you will be judged (Eph 5:3-5). You are the fulfillment of crackling thorns that Solomon so despised (Eccl 7:4-6).

What a proverb! What practical advice from God and Solomon! Most people do not appreciate the incredible value of the Bible, for they have not read it, or they have not had teachers that read it. Thank God for inspiring a book that covers everything from creation to the effect of speech on reputation to the final judgment and everything in between.

The Lord Jesus Christ warned that you will give an account for every idle word in the Day of Judgment (Matt 12:36). So provide wisely for your future at His judgment seat and protect your present reputation by holding your peace and shutting your lips. Here is a double blessing, at least. Please God and men by reducing your words.

Though men may think you wise for your reduced speech, the living Word of God is not deceived at all. All things are naked and opened before His eyes; He discerns the very thoughts and intents of your heart (Heb 4:12-14). So it is better to forsake your foolishness altogether and seek true wisdom in your heart. You cannot mislead Him.

Under Gods Command

Proverbs 16:3 –Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. 

There are different ways to fail to commit whatever we do to the LORD.

• Some people commit their work only superficially.  They say the project is being done for the LORD, but in reality they are doing it for themselves.
• Others give God temporary control of their interest, only to take control back the moment things stop going the way they expect.
•  Still others commit a task fully to the LORD, but put forth no effort themselves, and then they wonder why they do not succeed.

We must maintain a delicate balance: trusting God as if everything depended on him, while working as if everything depended on us.  Think of a specific effort in which you are involved right now.  Have you committed it to the LORD?