Posts Tagged ‘man woman and child’

Proverbs 13:13 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: August 13, 2013 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Proverbs, Proverbs 13, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 13:13 He who scorns instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command is rewarded.

God created us, knows us, and loves us.  It only makes sense, then to listen to his instructions and do what he says.  The Bible is his unfailing word to us.  It is like an owner’s manual for a car.  If you obey God’s instructions, you will “run right” and find his kind of power to live.  If you ignore them, you will have breakdowns, accidents, and failures.

How great is the difference between being destroyed and being rewarded? How great is the difference when it is God that does both the destroying and rewarding? The difference is enormous. But the conditions for being rewarded are clear and easy. Thank you, Lord.

This proverb is similar and typical of many other proverbs by Solomon. He constantly reminded his son and you of the blessing for obeying God’s word and the punishment for not obeying it. If you despise the Bible, you will be destroyed. If you respect and keep what the Bible says, you will be blessed. This is a fundamental axiom for your life.

The God of heaven is holy and jealous (Josh 24:19). He will not forgive or overlook those who despise or reject His word. Since He is the Creator of all things, including every man, woman, and child, He expects their total submission and obedience to Him. His first commandment justly demands your absolute and total love for Him (Deut 6:4-5).

About 1650 years after creation, or about 4400 years ago, God drowned and suffocated the earth with a flood of water (Gen 7:4,23). What brought His great destruction on the earth and the human family? They had despised His word and corrupted His way on the earth (Gen 6:5-7,11-12). He sent Noah to preach and warn them, but they rebelled against the commandments of their Creator, so He destroyed them (I Pet 3:18-20; II Pet 2:5).

God sent another preacher to Pharaoh, King of Egypt, about 3500 years ago. The Hebrews, worshippers of the living and true God, were slave laborers for Pharaoh. Moses brought God’s request for Pharaoh to let His people go to Canaan. When Pharaoh despised the word, God ravaged the land with ten plagues and destroyed his army and him in the Red Sea (Ex 5:2; 12:29-36; 14:28). The lesson of the proverb should be clear.

King Ahab despised the word of the Lord, so God destroyed him in battle with a chance arrow (I Kgs 22:1-40). King Uzziah despised God’s word that only the priests were to serve in the temple, so God destroyed him with leprosy (II Chron 26:16-23). King Jehoiakim thought he could burn the word of God and get rid of its warnings, so God destroyed him and his family and gave him the burial of an ass (Jer 36:1-32; 22:18-19).

But the proverb also promises reward to those who fear God’s commandments. This fear is not servile terror, but rather eager reverence to know and do His will (Ps 1:1-2; 112:1; 119:47-48; Is 6:8; Acts 9:1-6). Though the LORD God is very great, He will bless and reward those who humbly tremble before His word (Is 66:1-2; Acts 17:11; Heb 11:6).

Fearing God and keeping His commandments is the whole duty of man (Eccl 12:13-14). But there is also great reward in keeping them (Ps 1:1-6; 19:11; 37:4; 84:11; 112:1-3), which God’s saints have experienced in all circumstances, such as Abram in Canaan (Gen 13:1-6), Isaac in Canaan (Gen 26:12-14), Joseph in Egypt (Gen 39:1-23), Ruth in Bethlehem (Ruth 2:3), Rehoboam in Jerusalem (II Chr 12:12), Manasseh in Babylon, (II Chr 33:12-13), Esther in Shushan (Es 2:17), and Daniel in Babylon (Dan 1:1-21).

What have you done with the preachers God has sent you? Paul warned against despising prophesying, or preaching (I Thess 5:20). And he foretold irremediable judgment on those who despise or neglect it (Heb 2:1-4; 10:26-31; 12:25). It is your solemn duty and great reward to fear and love the word of the Lord. The lesson of the proverb is clear!

Proverbs 20:27 Wisdom for the Soul

Posted: January 20, 2012 in Acceptance, Bible Study, Encourgement, Inspiration, Personal Growth, Spiritual Training, trust in the Lord with all your heart, Uncategorized, Under Gods Command
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Under Gods Command

Proverbs 20:27 The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being.

Man is not an animal, and he is not like any animal. Jehovah of the Bible, Creator of heaven and earth, put something in man that makes him very different. God gave man a conscience, and this conscience is a law, teacher, and judge for each man, woman, and child. This candle of God inside you examines and tries your thoughts, words, and deeds.

The word conscience has two parts: con (with) + science (knowledge) = knowing with and within yourself about yourself. This invisible spirit inside you has a sense of right and wrong, and it will approve right things and condemn wrong things you do. It will also reflect on what others do and make judgments as to whether they were right or wrong.

Consider how you can have a thought within yourself and yet analyze and judge that thought as well! A man can truly only know himself by his conscience; he cannot know another man by it (1 Cor 2:11). Sometimes your spirit is full of joy, and sometimes it is full of bitterness, and no other person can fully feel or know either emotion (14:10).

Your conscience can convict you that what you or others have thought, said, or done is wrong (Rom 2:15). This internal sense of guilt can be very strong, and it can control or influence what you do or not do. The accusers of the woman taken in adultery left her alone, when their consciences were confronted about the justice of their actions (Jn 8:9).

How did you get a conscience? The LORD gave it to you, so it is called the candle of the LORD. It is a light from God to help you make decisions. It also proves your sinfulness, for you have sinned against your conscience many times. Even if God has not condemned a thing, it is sin for you, if your conscience condemned it (Rom 14:22-23): Jas 4:17).

Great men and women have great consciences, and they follow them. A great conscience is one that is well taught and very active in assessing all parts of life, and great men listen to it and obey it. Such persons are very sensitive to doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong. They are very opinionated against evil. God gave you a conscience to be a daily companion to keep you doing right things and avoiding wrong things. Exalt it! Use it!

You must teach your conscience the truth and wisdom of God, and you must obey it when it tells you to do certain things and when it says other things are wrong. God gave you a candle to help make you great, but the sinful world around you seeks to quench your conscience so you will approve all they want to do! You must not allow worldly lifestyles, communicated by various media, corrupt or numb your conscience!

Your conscience can and must be taught. The more you learn, the better your conscience will serve you. If you acquire God’s wisdom by these proverbs and the rest of scripture, your conscience will help you more (! Cor 8:1-7). You can even keep your conscience ignorant to stop it from condemning you in matters of liberty (1 Cor 10:25-27).

Some societies have had women live bare-breasted. The consciences of their women are formed to see no harm in it at all. They are amused and offended by any objection to it. Only careful teaching can put shame in their consciences about the practice. Now, think carefully about what your children see at home, on the television, or at school!

Your conscience must be taught. In order for you to please God, you need a conscience that knows the will of God and will seek to enforce it in your life. This conscience that loves truth and wisdom only exists in born again children of God, and yet it needs the instruction of God’s word to form its opinions properly on most every subject (Heb 5:14).

Your conscience must be obeyed. If you ignore it, then it becomes calloused, cauterized, and less sensitive to things, leaving you vulnerable to most any temptation (1 Tim 4:2: Eph 4:19). If you reject God and His word, He can and will blind your conscience, leaving you without the candle of the LORD to direct you (Rom 1:21-28: II Cor 4:2-4).

Do you prize your conscience from God? Self-examination, a duty of true Christians, is done partly through the conscience (Ps 26:2: 139:23-24). It could have saved the Corinthians from trouble (1 Cor 11:28-31). Do you meditate with your own heart at night (Ps 4:4; 16:7)? Do you let the preaching of God’s word convict you (Ps 73:17,21)? The confidence of a pure conscience is an exceedingly wonderful and powerful thing (Pro 28:1).
Your conscience should always consider others (1 Cor 10:28-33). Paul lived virtuously to avoid offence in his conscience toward God or men (Acts 24:16)Acts 24:16). Such conscientiousness toward God will help you fulfill the first commandment to love God, and toward others it will help you keep the second commandment of loving your neighbor as yourself.

Your goal is to grow in favor with God and men (3:1-4; Luke 2:52). Your goal is to be perfect. Your conscience can help you achieve these goals by accusing you for wrongdoing and excusing right choices. Paul kept a good conscience at all times (II Cor 1:12: Heb 13:18), and he required it of Timothy and deacons.

Reader, your conscience should approve or accuse you right now. If you have been living a godly and righteous life, your conscience should approve you as having been faithful to this proverb. If you have been living a foolish or worldly life, your conscience should accuse you of wrongdoing. What will you do with the candle of the LORD?