SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 4/2/2013
11:08 AM
My Worship Time Focus: A
Compassionate God
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Studies in
Proverbs
Message of the
verses: We have been looking at the
subject of “This God is Our God,” in the last two Spiritual Diaries. It was in the endnote from an earlier SD that
Dr. Wiersbe had quoted A. W. Tozer’s book “The Knowledge of the Holy,” a book
about the attributes of God that he also mentioned another book dealing with
the same subject by Richard L. Strauss, who is the son of Dr. Lehman Strauss
who was a wonderful man of God. The book
Dr. Wiersbe spoke of is called “The Joy of Knowing God,” and this book also is
about the attributes of God. Since we
are looking at who God is in this final chapter from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary
on the book of Proverbs I thought that I would give a quote from Richard
Strauss’s book: “Getting to know God
better could be the single most important issue in the Christian’s life.” I think that this statement is an accurate
statement and it is my desire to know the God of the Word, along with knowing
the Word of God, for by knowing the Word of God I will get to know God better
and better. A person can only know God
from how He reveals Himself in His Word and that in and of itself is a
difficult thing to do. From my study in
another book that A. W. Tozer wrote he states that God is immeasurable, that is
no one can measure who God is totally, for if we could then He would not be
God. Today we will be looking at God as
being compassionate.
A Compassionate God
I suppose that I knew that God was compassionate
since I became a child of His in Jan. of 1974, but in my study of Mark I read
the following verse “Mr. 8:2 "I
feel compassion for the people because they have remained with Me now three
days and have nothing to eat,” and it was as if a light went on showing the
compassion of God.
One of the ways that God shows His compassion is found in
the Law where it speaks of how Israel should care for the poor, widows, and
orphans. Proverbs 14:31 says the
following “He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker, But he who is gracious
to the needy honors Him.” Proverbs 17:5
says “He who mocks the poor taunts his Maker; He who rejoices at calamity will
not go unpunished.” Pr. 22:2 states “The
rich and the poor have a common bond, The LORD is the maker of them all.” When Jesus came to earth we can see how He
cared for the poor and the outcasts and God desires His people to do the same. “For
you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for
your sake He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich (2
Cor. 8:9).”
Pr. 22:22-23 says “22 ¶
Do not rob the poor because he is poor, Nor oppress the afflicted at the
gate; 23 For the LORD will plead their
cause, And plunder the soul of those who plunder them.” We see the words “The gate” in verse 22, and
the gate was Israel’s equivalent of our modern courtroom, because it was there
that the elders meet. Probably the poor
did not have the money to pay for a lawyer, but God would come to their
defense. Dr. Wiersbe writes the
following in an endnote: “The word
translated ‘redeemer’ in Proverbs 23:11 is goel
and refers to the kinsman-redeemer, such as Boaz in the book of Ruth. For the law governing the redemption of
property, see Leviticus 25:47-55. The goel had to be a close relative who was
willing to pay and able to pay. He is a
picture of Jesus Christ, who in His incarnation took upon Himself flesh and
blood (Heb. 2:14) that He might redeem us from our spiritual bankruptcy and
sin. See my book Be Committed for an exposition of Ruth and an explanation of the
law of the kinsman-redeemer.” I studied “Be
Committed” a few years ago and Lord willing, I will post my Spiritual Diaries
from that book in the future on the blog sight.
Proverbs 21:13 tells us that those who shut their eyes to
the poor will someday cry and not be heard:
“He who shuts his ear to the cry of the poor Will also cry himself and
not be answered.” On the other hand
Proverbs 28:27 says “He who gives to the poor will never want, But he who shuts
his eyes will have many curses.”
Pr. 19:17 says “He who has pity on the poor lends to the
LORD, And He will pay back what he has given.”
This shows us that when we give to the poor we are actually giving to
the Lord. The Lord will put it on
account and will pay us dividends “15 You yourselves also know, Philippians, that
at the first preaching of the gospel, after I left Macedonia, no church shared
with me in the matter of giving and receiving but you alone; 16 for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more
than once for my needs. 17 Not that I seek the gift itself,
but I seek for the profit which increases to your account (Phil.
4:15-17).” Matthew 25:40 “"The King
will answer and say to them, ’Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it
to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” The following are some verses that Dr.
Wiersbe says also applies to the way we treat our enemies. Pr. 20:22 “Do not say, "I will repay
evil"; Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.” Pr. 25:21-22 “21 ¶ If your enemy is hungry, give him food to
eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; 22 For you will heap burning coals on his head,
And the LORD will reward you.” 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, be
at peace with all men. 19 Never take
your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is
written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. 20 "BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM,
AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING
COALS ON HIS HEAD." 21 Do not be
overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:18-21).”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “God is a shield to those who trust
Him (PR. 30:5) and a strong tower for those who run to Him for help
((18:10). ‘The name of the Lord’ in
verse 10 signifies all the glorious attributes of the Lord. (“The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The
righteous runs into it and is safe.)”
Because of who He is and what He is, those who trust Him don’t have to
worry—because He is always their refuge and strength (Ps. 46:1).”
In our study of Proverbs we have looked at Proverbs 3:5-6
many different times, in fact one of the chapters in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary
is dedicated to those two verses. As we
look at these two verses we can see that one of God’s compassionate ministries
comes from them, and that is the ministry of divine guidance. Dr. Wiersbe writes “As I said earlier in this
book, God expects us to assess a situation and get all the facts we can, but we
must never lean on our own understanding.
We must humble ourselves before Him and seek His direction in all
things, and we must be sure that our motives are right.”
Because we are human we may make a mistake and begin to
move in the wrong direction, what then? “In
his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps (Pr. 16:9).” Next Pr. 19:21 “Many are the plans in a man’s
heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” Then Pr. 16:33 “The lot is cast into the lap,
But its every decision is from the LORD.”
The key is that we must have a desire to learn and obey the plans of the
Lord and then if we make a mistake He will guide us. There are times when we want something so
badly that we try in our own minds to believe that it is the Lord’s will, but in
the end we find out that it was not the Lord’s will for us, we are doing just
like James says “5 But if any of you
lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without
reproach, and it will be given to him. 6
But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is
like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will
receive anything from the Lord, 8 being
a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (James 1:5-9).”
I want to finish this SD with a couple of quotes from Dr.
Wiersbe and a quote from the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard who said “Life
can only be understood backward, but it must be lived forward.” To this quote Dr. Wiersbe writes “One day we
shall look back and say with David, ‘Surely [only] goodness and mercy [have
followed] me all the days of my life’ (Ps. 23:6).” Now we will look at the end note for this
last quote “Most scholars believe that Psalm 23 was a product of David’s latter
years and not the poem of a young shepherd.
It’s possible that it grew out of the insurrection caused by his wicked
son Absalom (2Sam. 15-19). David had
experienced many difficulties in his long life, yet he saw only God’s goodness
and mercy.”
We can take encouragement from the Word of God that He
will guide our steps if we fear the Lord and desire to follow His plan for our
lives: “Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way he
should choose (Ps. 25:12).” We can see
from Acts 16:6-10 that the great apostle Paul was not always sure of the next
step, but we know that the Lord would guide him.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The following is
from “The Joy of Knowing God” and at the end of the first chapter the author
has the following “Action to Take:” “Determine
first that you will ask God daily to show you something about Himself, and
secondly that you will read some portion of Scripture daily, looking for some
truth about Him. Begin right now.”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to know God better.
Memory verses for the
week: Psalm 32:7-9
7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah. 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the
way that which you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Do not be as the horse or the mule which
have no understanding, whose trappings include bit and bridle to hole them in
check, otherwise they will not come near you.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
Question: “In Jerusalem”
Today’s Bible
Question: “In Pharaoh’s dream did the fat
cattle eat up the lean cattle?”
Answer in tomorrow’s SD.
4/2/2013 12:55 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment