SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
1/6/2013 8:33 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-1 Wisdom Directs our Path
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 to obey,
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 there 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. No 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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