Trust in the Lord

For Friday, August 25, 2006
Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make straight your paths.

Here is the guide to life for the Christian. Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Trust God in all circumstances to know what he is doing, to keep his promises, to bring all things to a conclusion that serves our good and glorifies him. Trust his commandments; trust his written Word; trust his Redeemer Jesus Christ for your salvation. Trust the Holy Spirit to complete the "good work" begun in you of sanctification and keep you till the day of Christ's return.

Do not lean on your own understanding. Seek the wisdom of God laid out in his Word. Meditate on, study diligently the Scriptures will make you wise unto salvation.

In all your ways acknowledge him. Acknowledge God at work in your life, especially through the trials of life. Acknowledge in all your ways that they are to be the ways of the Lord, following along the path of righteousness. You live for God not for yourself. Every decision is to be made with the thought of serving him and glorifying him.

And he will make straight your paths. You cannot make your own paths straight. It is only be turning your life over to him, by daily turning it over to him, that you will keep along God's path. The path may be difficult at times to walk, but it will not lead you astray as the paths you create inevitably will.

Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ with all of your heart, and he will lead you along the path of righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit to your heavenly Father.

Love and Faithfulness

For Thursday, August 24, 2006
Proverbs 3:3-4

Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you;
bind them around your neck;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
So you will find favor and good success
in the sight of God and man.

These are new words in the Proverbs - steadfast love and faithfulness. Note the overall focus on steadiness. We are to have a love that is steadfast. This same term for love is repeated over and over again in the Psalms for the love of God. His love is a steadfast love based on his covenant promise which he will not break. Faithfulness - keeping one's promise to keep a relationship and commitment - is also used often for God. Indeed, God's steadfast love and faithfulness form the basis for hope and confidence for God's covenant people. They can count on God to come through with his promises even though they stumble and fail to keep their promises.

But this proverb is not teaching that it is okay to fail to keep steadfast love and faithfulness. It makes the point that as much as one is able to keep these attributes, then he can expect to find favor and good success in the sight of God and man. For people respect a person who keeps steady, especially who loves with a steady love; a person who can be counted on to keep his word and does not change with the direction of the wind.

Such attributes are to be bound around the neck and written in the heart. How do you do this? By meditation on God's Word that teaches what love is and to what we are to be faithful; by daily prayer for them; and by conscious obedience. Like any habit, it is repetition that ingrains an attribute in us. Practice love and faithfulness. Make such qualities priorities in your life. Just as you make time for what is truly important to you, so it is with these attributes. You will work at loving and being faithful if they matter to you. How important are they? Important enough that they identify God's relationship to us.

Remember and Keep

For Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Proverbs 3:1-2

My son, do not forget my teaching,
but let your heart keep my commandments,
for length of days and years of life
and peace they will add to you.

How to live longer and healthier is vitally important in our society, especially to those entering retirement years. When we reach middle-age we begin to measure our life-span. We are at the halfway mark to death if we remain healthy. Now is the time to watch what we eat. We make some lifestyle changes that lessen stress. We read the innumeral articles and books that teach diet, exercise, spirituality, relationships, and so on that will help us achieve a long, healthy life.

There is nothing new under the sun. Proverbs is the ancient book on how to live such a life. It's secret formula is somewhat different from the modern approaches, for its "secret formula" is to live a morally good life which is defined by righteousness which is defined by keeping the commandments of God as revealed in Scripture which are summed up as "the fear of the Lord."

Remember and keep. Many people forget the good principles and commandments taught them in their early years and so are led astray. Many remember these lessons but reject them in rebellion or like to think of themselves as outgrowing such childish beliefs. Remember and keep, or as James says, hear and do. If we are not doers of the word, we become forgetters of the word. We may remember what we are taught, but we forget the power and the blessing of obedience. Like a former athlete, we remember what we performed but we forget the feeling of the performance - we forget how healthy we felt.

Remember and keep. Remember the commands of your Lord and keep them. If you do, however long or healthy may be your days in this life, what awaits you is eternal life of everlasting peace. Remember and keep.

The Path of the Good

For Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Proverbs 2:20-22

20 So you will walk in the way of the good
and keep to the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright will inhabit the land,
and those with integrity will remain in it,
22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land,
and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

Do you want to walk in the way of the good and of the righteous? Then seek wisdom. That is the lesson of chapter 2. Christians seek "a word from the Lord." They want special guidance. They like being able to say, "The Lord told me to do such and such," or "The Lord revealed to me that I am going to..." If you truly want to walk in the way of the good, then focus on learning the way through God's revealed written Word. There you will find wisdom.

Even so, many study God's Word without growing in wisdom. That is because learning information and demonstrating proficiency in mastering that information is more important to them than growing in wisdom. If you want to walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous, then be attentive to the wisdom of God's Word.

What do you gain? The eternal inheritance of God's kingdom. The upright will inhabit the land of God's kingdom. He who is wise understands this. He who is wise looks to the heavenly city, not the earthly city, for his hope. He who is wise knows that the blessings and the curses of this life are a momentary joy or momentary sorrow compared to the "weight of glory" that is his in Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:17). That is why he is not racked with anxiety or with anger when confronted with the troubles of life. That is why he can walk along the path of the good. The wicked see only this life; their hope is only in what can be found in this life. And so when this life is ended for them, they are cut off from the eternal land of God's kingdom.

Do you seek the heavenly city, the eternal reward? Do you desire to walk along the path of the good? Then seek wisdom. Do not look for it in special revelation. Seek it in God's clearly revealed Word.