Death Wish?

“But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” (Pr 8:36 AV)

The ‘person’ who is speaking here is wisdom.  Chapter eight of the book of Proverbs personifies wisdom.  When ‘me’ speaks, it is wisdom.  This statement is a rather blunt one.  The finality of the statement and the absolute nature of it is what impresses this writer.  There really is no middle ground here.  Those that hate wisdom love death.  Not merely flirt with death.  Not casually pass by death.  Not tempt death.  Rather, those sin against wisdom love death.  This is pretty blunt.  Wisdom is saying that if we sin against wisdom, we love the consequences of those choices, which is death.

The reader may be feeling this statement is a bit over the top.  I mean, who really enjoys the result of foolishness?  Who in their right mind would enjoy the consequences of their choices?  The fact of the matter is, if we despised the consequences of our choices, then we wouldn’t make those choices.  Here is the pattern.  We fail in our wisdom and initially despise the consequences.  Then we become callous to our consequences.  We end up glorying in our consequences.  We love death.  The reader, again, might be thinking, “Come on, I don’t love death.  I want to live as long as I can.”  But our actions say otherwise.  For instance, my doctor has convinced me that I need to live a better life style if I am going to enjoy the remainder of the years I have left.  The problem is, when the realities of life abound, it is not always easy to do so.  For instance, when traveling, it is very difficult to exercise and eat right.  A quick trip through the drive through so that a hearty road warrior can continue on his quest is the preferred choice.  We even enjoy the taste of all that junk.  What’s worse is we enjoy what it is doing to our short-term health ignoring that it is slowly killing us.  We love death.  We love the process of getting there.

Paul told us in Romans chapter six we don’t have to live in bondage to sin.  We are as free as we want to be.  If we are continuously living the fool, we are saying we love death.  Our generation is the generation infatuated with death.  Suicide is at an all time high.  Death is romanticized more so in this generation than in any other.  Our choice, or lack of wisdom thereof, clearly prove we have an attraction to self-destruction.  Wisdom may have been rather blunt.  But she is correct.  It may take a strong statement like the one above to finally change the person that we are.  We cannot sit here and say that we do not love death if we continue to make unwise choices that say otherwise.  Wisdom is not lying here.  Wisdom knows all.  She knows the nature that is in man and the love we have for pleasure no matter what the consequences.  Wisdom only has our best interests at heart.  If we do not head her, we might as well go shopping for a coffin!

A Plea for Prayer

“O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!” (Job 16:21 AV)

Job’s utterance here goes to the true need of his heart.  This statement may have been meant as a bit snarky, but there is more truth and pleading here then there is sarcasm.  His three friends are relentless.  They think they mean well.  But in the depths of their hearts, they are trying to puff up their own feigned wisdom and spirituality at the expense of Job.  They will not quit until Job remains unresolved.  The statement above is simple enough to understand.  Job wishes his three friends would take their opinions and concerns to God on behalf of Job with as much fervency as they are with Job.  He wishes their empathy and concern for Job would be excised rather unto prayer.  By using the word ‘neighbor’, Job is suggesting these three men are his friends and it is that bond of relationship that should drive them to the throne of God rather than drive them to attack him.  It is in another vein we wish to consider this. It is not in the criticism this statement may be suggesting, but rather, what I believe is Job’s plea for prayer from those who claim to be his friends.

Prayer goes a long way.  It has many effects.  Prayer does indeed change things.  But more than an opinion or counsel, prayer shows those in need of it there is empathy, concern, and love shown towards them.  This is what Job needed most.  Only God knew the answer to ‘why’ and pontificating about it was useless.  What these men needed to do was to come to Job and pray with him.  They didn’t need to find the solution to, or cause of, his situation.  Job needed prayer!  It was the one thing they didn’t give him.  My heart is moved this morning at the need of prayer.  We simply do not pray for and with one another enough.  We don’t!  We wage our private wars without the power of prayer.  Not just our prayer.  But the prayer we can enjoy with others.  These prayers are the compliment to the word of God and faith.  We can know scripture by heart.  We can believe it with all our heart.  Unless the heart is engaged by prayer, then we are trying to set up a tripod without one leg.

There really are no words to expound any more on what Job is deeply desiring here.  There are many hurting brothers and sisters in Christ who need the companionship of a praying friend.  The need an ear.  They need a shoulder.  What they really need is a knee.  A bended knee that will join them and plead with God for and with them.  What they need is not an arm around the shoulder as a voice says things they already know, or, things that are not even relevant.  What they need is an arm around the shoulder as they join hearts to assault the throne of God.  Pride is the enemy.  Either we are too proud to ask for prayer, or, too proud to offer it.  Job wasn’t too proud to ask for it.  He was demanding it!  We all need prayer.  We all need a variety of prayer partners.  Otherwise, we are sinking ships, just like Job, without any comfort or hope among God’s people.

Right Words Work Wonders

“How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove?” (Job 6:25 AV)

Job here is not averse to good advice.  Quite the contrary.  He welcomes it.  This is the point of the statement above.  His three friends are throwing everything at the wall to see what will stick.  Unfortunately, they are accusing Job when there is none to make and the haven’t a clue as to what the LORD is doing though all this.  The are arguing with Job in matters in which they would have no knowledge.  How are they supposed to know Job’s life so intimately as to discern his sin, or even worse, that which he is about to do?  The first part of Job’s statement is what we want to consider this morning.  Right words are forcible.  The word ‘…forcible…’ here means to make sick.  We can see by the end of the verse Job is referring to reproof.  In other words, Job is stating that right words would end in reproof but arguing would not.  He is proving his point to his three friends their words were not right words by the absence of reproof.

We can also surmise by the tone of this statement Job is asking for right words.  If someone could explain what it was that Job did or should be doing, it appears Job is willing to entertain it and comply.  Job is not being argumentative here.  He is asking for right words so that he can learn that which he needs to learn.  Consider this; the emphatic nature of the statement above regarding the nature of right words.  The right statement, conversation, or even words can bring about a world of change.  The wrong words have the exact opposite effect.  The right words will minister to the hearer.  The hearer should be willing to hear those right words even if they temporarily make him ‘sick’.  Right words will change the course of a person’s life.  Right words are not mere words.  It is how a truth is expressed and the heart behind them.  It is not blunt and unvarnished truth.  It is truth spoken is such a way as to bring much needed change to the life of an individual.  If we want to know the nature of our words, then looking at the change that was wrought is an indication.

If we are the one needing change, we should seek right words.  We should welcome right words.  Even if they sting, they will bring forth fruit to the glory of the Father.  These right words are forcible.  They are sharp.  They temporarily wound but are tempered with compassion and understanding.  They may be hard to hear.  But they are needed.  These right words will change our lives.  Sometimes, forever.  Like my doctor who keeps pointing to my belly as a major issue.  He asked me the other day how much weight I wanted to lose.  I said enough weight so that he stops pointing to my belly.  These were right words.  His rebuke was much needed.  If I don’t make lifestyle changes, my health will continue to deteriorate into a quality of life that will become a nightmare.  Right words.  Hard words, but right words.

Parental Prayer Persists

“And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.” (Job 1:5 AV)

What a testimony for a father towards his children.  The context is their riotous living.  But it doesn’t always have to be for the sin of our children.  It could be for any cause.  Job is making intercession for his children before the fact.  Not after the fact.  He is seeking God’s mercy for his children and he is doing so continually.  One wonders if we as parents do the same.  Do we continuously pray for our children whether they have a discernible issue or not?  Do we pray for them continually?  Do we pray the LORD would guide and protect them?  Do we pray the LORD would bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the LORD?  Do we pray they would walk with God with their whole heart, mind, body, and soul?  Do we pray the LORD that He would keep the adversary far away?  Do we pray for their encouragement, their service, their personal study and walk with God?  Do we pray for their physical needs?  Their spiritual needs?  There is so much to pray for, yet how much time do we take to pray?

What set Job apart from all others was his integrity and his concern for all others. This started at home.  He knew his children would need the grace of God in their lives.  He knew they would go through similar circumstances he experienced when he was their age.  He knew no one could navigate the trials of life without the intercession of others.  Particularly those closest to them.  We often criticize those families who will defend one another blindly and fervently.  They cannot see the faults of those closest to them.  They intercede even if their family member is at fault.  This is not wise.  Often, someone closest to us does not experience correction as he or she needs because we are too quick to defend them.  This is different.  Job is not defending his children.  He is interceding for God’s mercy.  He is asking the LORD would forgive them for any sin, even if is merely that of the heart, that God’s grace might shine upon them.  And, he did this continually.

In our devotional life, do we list specific things for which our children suffer need, and continuously pray for them?  Do we know them well enough to know what their concerns or anxieties are?  Do we take them before the LORD?  Do we rise in the morning and fall asleep at night praying for God’s hand upon our children?  Do we see them as targets of the adversary which need empathy and intercession that they might go one with life living for the glory of God?  Do we pray for their future as well as their present?  Do we ask the LORD to give us wisdom in how to more effectively pray for them?  DO WE REALLY BELIEVE OUR PRAYERS WILL MATTER IN THE LIVES OF OUR CHILDREN?  Or, are our prayer seen only effective for those whom we are unbiased?  Do we seek the comfort of the Holy Spirit in knowing the Father has heard us concerning our children?  Do we pray continually?  Do we wonder how their lives will turn out?  Do we ask the LORD to give us wisdom as they seek wisdom from us?  Do we acknowledge we may not know all they need to know as pray the LORD to send counselors that could advise them more effectively?  Do we pray for them continually?  This is the testimony of Job towards his family?  How is ours?

Solid Feet

“Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.” (Pr 3:25-26 AV)

There are two ideas as to what this desolation of the wicked might be.  The first is the desolation which the wicked bring upon the righteous.  The second would be desolation brought upon the wicked.  The first would conflict with the promise to the righteous.  Desolation, would by nature, move the foot of the righteous.  However, if the desolation is upon the wicked, the promise makes complete sense.  We also know desolations do come upon the righteous either because of God’s chastening hand, or persecution brought by the wicked.  So, the promise of God would be mute if desolations do move the foot.  I believe the desolations spoken of here are the desolations brought on the wicked of which the righteous are observers.  This would stand the test of biblical examples.  Egypt suffered greatly but God protected Israel.  Assyria, Babylon, and the Medes and Persians all suffered and their kingdom died off.  But Israel remains.  Rome, once the greatest empire on earth, was conquered and died off.  Yet, Israel remains. 

God is bound to judge the wicked.  His holiness demands it.  The people of God will be judged as well.  But for a different reason.  Our sin was judged on Mount Calvary.  Our judgment will be for the purpose of exposing our service, or lack thereof, towards the LORD.  When the LORD does judge those around us, it can be very scary.  It could be judgment by natural forces.  It could be judgment by enemy attacks.  It could be judgment by financial collapse.  It could be judgment by internal unrest.  Whatever the judgment, separation is the key to the promise.  If we are separated from the wicked, in as much as we can be, then the judgment will not come upon the righteous.  Take Israel while in Egypt as an example.  They remained in the ghettos all the while Egypt was being judged.  The plagues had no effect on them.  This is the promise if God understood by Abraham as he argued for Lot’s safety.  The LORD will not judge the righteous with the wicked.

This brings to mind the coming judgment upon the earth.  The rapture of the church will remove us from the wrath of God to come.  In more particular application, as righteous as our nation might be when compared to others, we still have major issues that must be judged.  The tolerance and promotion of same gender relationships along with the murder of millions of innocent human beings while in the sanctity of their mother’s womb demands the judgment of God.  It will come.  We cannot promise for certain no harm will come to God’s people.  Surely Israel felt some effect of the plagues upon Egypt.  But the bulk of the wrath of God was not upon them.  Which brings us to the most important point of all.  If you are reading this and you have never accepted Christ as your Savior, I would implore you to do so, now.  The promise above is only for those who have repented of their sin, calling out to Christ and Christ alone, to save them.  If that has never happened for you, then the Bible states the wrath of God abides upon you.  The only way to escape the wrath of God is to trust Jesus as the One who took upon Himself the wrath of God for you so that you don’t have to experience it.  Won’t you do that now?

Her substitution Led to Our Substitution

“And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” (Ge 4:25 AV)

Because of Cain’s anger and consequent murder of his brother Abel, the LORD gave to Adam and Eve another son.  His name would be Seth.  The LORD would give plenty of other sons and daughters to this first couple.  Yet, Even found it appropriate to name this new son, Seth.  Seth means substitute.  In the mind of Eve, Seth was a substitute for her second son, Abel.  In this name, we find a prophetical type.  It would be through the line of Seth from which Jesus Christ would come.  Jesus Christ, who is the substitute for all mankind came from a line named for the purpose of that calling.  That is, to be a substitute.

Almost exclusively, these devotions are of practical nature that discusses every day living.  Rarely do we delve into basic, but wondrous, doctrines such as the substitutionary death of Christ for those who would accept His gift of salvation.  Our concentration has been of a more nuts and bolts of the Christian walk.  Saying that way makes these doctrines seem insignificant.  The reality is, they are the most significant of all.  If it were not for the substitutionary death of Christ on the Calvary’s cross, our devotions would have not point.  Therefore, it is good to reflect on these basic doctrines from time to time to remember the foundation upon which we walk and have our being.  The fact Jesus Christ determined before creation to take our place at the hand of the wrath of His own Father is something of which we will never truly understand but can deeply appreciate.  Eve may have meant Seth was a substitute for the company and joy Abel would have brought.  But Seth was far more than that.  He was the substitutionary line from which our Substitute would come.  Because of sin, a substitute had to be given.  Because of our choice to become victim of our flesh and mind, we died a spiritual death.  Just like Abel could not be his own substitute, we need a substitute because we are dead in our sin and trespasses.  This substitute is Jesus.  He hung on a cross where I deserved to hang.  He suffered the wrath of His own Father and our Creator that we might not have to suffer that wrath.  He did this out of His own free will and love for the souls of men.

To take the time and reflect solely on our salvation is an exercise that should be a regular one.  Not the mere fact we are saved.  Rather, what it took to make that happen and exactly what it really means.  Not the mere fact we have a home in heaven, but the deeper truth of God’s grace that forgave all sin in Christ; past, present, and future.  Not merely the blessing it will be to see all whom we love and have accepted Christ as well, but the fact Jesus Christ, God Himself, limited Himself in the form of a man and experienced all the pain we feel that He might be a High Priest who understands our condition.  Not merely that we are eternally secure, but that Jesus Christ was our substitute satisfying all the requirements of a holy God that we might have our account settled and done.  What a thing upon which to meditate.  He is our substitute.  It is finished.  God is pleased.  God’s justice is satisfied.

All For Our Pleasure

“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.” (Ge 1:31 AV)

The Spirit reminded me of a truth that we tend to forget.  Perhaps we never mused on this quite the same.  We know from the book of Isaiah that God created the earth for man to dwell upon.  He created all that we see for His glory, first.  But He also created that we might enjoy the handiwork of His hands.  We are part of His creation, sure.  But we, unlike all other creatures, have the capacity for enjoyment.  We can look at a sunset and respond in an emotional and spiritual way.  When the LORD says all that He created is very good, it is our extreme pleasure to enjoy what He calls very good.

My father did many things right.  One of those things was to give us a deep appreciation for nature without worshipping it.  Raised in the boy scouts and innumerable family camping trips, we learned a lot about God’s creation.  Countless trips to nature-oriented places like state parks or childhood fishing trips sure gave us a different view of creation than most.  Each place the LORD has planted us contains the wonder of His creation.  There are several places which are my favorite.  Niagara Falls is one.  Watkins Glenn is another.  Secluded beaches on lake Michigan another.  There are the vast marshes of central Wisconsin.  There are the rolling hills of western Kentucky.  Seeing the morning fog in my last home of Kentucky was so relaxing.  Sitting on our front porch overlooking a pasture was one of life’s greatest privileges.  The mountains of northeastern New York are life long memories.  The Gulf of Mexico was another place of fond memories.

Then there is the zoo.  To see all those creatures with features only an omniscient God could imagine is a wonder to behold.  How the legs of a giraffe don’t snap under the weight is beyond me.  My favorite is the small mammal exhibit.  These small creatures fascinate me.  Their boundless energy and ability to remain organized and focused is astounding.  All these places and things the LORD has created for our enjoyment.  Next time I sit with my feet in lake Michigan, I will try to remember the LORD created that vast body of water that I might have the privilege of sitting in my canopy chair, listening to chamber music, and feeling the cool clean water lap over my toes.  The next time I sit in a tree stand and witness the wonders of the animal kingdom in their own habitat, I will try to remember the LORD created those things for my enjoyment.  Over the next few months, there will be blustery, snowy, and cold days.  As I sit in the warmth of my recliner and gaze at the bright sunshine as the wind whips the snow off a neighbor’s roof, I will remember the LORD created these things for my enjoyment.  How truly blessed we are!