SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 1/6/2013
8:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Wisdom Directs our Path PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Proverbs
3:1-12
Message of the
verses: Chapter three has two of my favorite
verses in, verses 5-6 and they are the key verses in this chapter that we will
begin to look at this morning.
In His opening comments on Proverbs chapter three Dr.
Wiersbe writes “God keeps His promises when we obey His precepts, because our
obedience prepares us to receive and enjoy what He has planned for us.”
Conditions to meet
(vv. 1-12): “1 ¶ My son, do not forget my teaching, But let
your heart keep my commandments; 2 For
length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you. 3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind
them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor and good repute In the
sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the
LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will
make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and
turn away from evil. 8 It will be
healing to your body And refreshment to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD from your wealth And from the
first of all your produce; 10 So your
barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine.
11 My son, do not reject the discipline
of the LORD Or loathe His reproof, 12
For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son
in whom he delights.”
In verses one through four we receive the first condition
to meet in order to follow the promises of having the Lord direct your
life. The condition is that we are to
stay in the Word of God so that we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of
our Lord, that we may understand what His Word says to us as we study and
memorize and meditate upon His Word.
Proverbs 3:3 and also 1:9 speak of the Word as something we are to bind
around our necks, something that is beautiful giving us a desire to do
this. “9 ¶ For this reason also, since the day we heard
of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled
with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10 so that you will walk in a manner
worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good
work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11
strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the
attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously.” (Col. 1:9-10) These
verses in Colossians show us that the will of God is revealed to us in His
Word.
Secondly we must
obey God’s will after we have learned it and this is seen in verses 5-8. Dr. Wiersbe writes of this promise found
here, “that promises is predicated on our obedience to the Lord. We must trust
Him with our hearts and obey Him with all our ways. That means total commitment to Him (Romans
12:1-2). The word translated ‘trust’ in
verse 5 means ‘to lie helpless, facedown.’
It pictures a servant waiting for the master’s command in readiness
toobey, or a defeated soldier yielding himself to the conquering general.
“The danger, or course, is that we learn on our own
understanding and thereby miss God’s will. This warning doesn’t suggest that
God’s children turn off their brains and ignore their intelligence and common
sense. It simply cautions us not to
depend on our own wisdom and experiences or the wisdom and experience of
others.”
In verses nine and ten we are instructed to share God’s blessing
which is the third condition if we want God to direct our path. Dr. Wiersbe points out a very important point
when he states that there is no such thing as spiritual and material in the
life of the believer, for everything belongs to the Lord. Sometimes as believers we think that our
tithes and offerings are payments for the Lord’s blessings, and this is not the
case for they are evidences of our faith and obedience to the Lord, after all
everything belongs to the Lord and we surely cannot take it with us when we
pass on. Jesus says in Matthew 6:21 “Where
your treasure is ther your heart will be also.”
The last condition in verses 11-12 is to submit to God’s
chastening. Hebrews 12:10 states “For
they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines
us for our good, so that we may share His holiness.” The they in this verse is speaking of our
parents. God disciplines us like a
parent does to their children not as a judge punishes us for a crime. Dr. Wiersbe writes “He chastens because we
have rebelled and need to repent; other times He chastens to keep us from
sinning and to prepare us for His special blessing. Now matter how much the experience hurts us,
it will never harm us, because God always chastens in love (Deut. 8:2-5).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Proverbs 3:5-6
has taken on a whole new meaning for me as I studied this whole section of
Scripture and looked at the four conditions that need to be met if I want God
to direct my path.
My Steps of Faith for Today: With the help of the Lord I want to met the
four conditions that are described in this section of Scripture.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 121:1-4
1 I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where
shall my help come? 2 My help comes from
the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. 3
He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, He who keeps Israel Will
neither slumber nor sleep.
1/6/2013 9:32 AM
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