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Proverb A DAy

Staggering into the Gaping Jaws of Sexual Destruction - Proverbs 5:6

1/10/2013

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Proverbs 5:6  She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it.

Here is another in a list of warnings given to the man who would think of committing adultery. It is part of the description of the adulteress. Before I go into this particular verse I do want to make a comment or two for the ladies. This passage does describe for us the woman who either leaves her husband to have sex with another man - or a single woman who enters into relationships with married men and thus is committing adultery with him. I do not in any way want you ladies to think that any man is receiving a pass here. This passage is dealing with this issue from the perspective of a warning to sons. Fascinating that this warning comes most likely from David to Solomon - two guys who learned much from the wrong side of this issue. David's warnings to his son Solomon were for the most part unheeded in the end - and Solomon's sin was the undoing of Israel. So you can see that the cost of mistakes in this area are great. Fortunately for us - the grace of God and His forgiveness are greater. Nevertheless - a whole host of problems come when a young man is foolish enough to be ensnared by the adulteress. Oh, and ladies . . . the greatest snare for him is not the woman herself - but his own lusts that wage war in his soul. His greatest battle is with godly self-control, obedience to the Scriptures, and not living out of his flesh as a source.  But, with all this said, it is a wise father who speaks to his son about these issues - even if it is from hard lessons learned.

The adulteress, like anyone who is willingly cooperating with sin, is not watching for eternal things. The passage states in the Hebrew that she is not watching the path of life. The actual Hebrew word here is "palas" and it means to ponder or to calculate the weight of something. One of the ways this word is used is to weigh out a path and see what it will bring to us in the end. The adulteress is not thinking about eternity - about the judgment of God at the end of life when according to the Bible, all men and women will have to give an account of their choices and actions. The word "ponder" here does not mean just a casual thought - but to stop and think seriously about something. She is not thinking about where her actions are taking her. This is kind of a "duh" statement considering we just read a verse earlier that her feet are swiftly moving towards death and her very steps (indicating a direction taken) are taking hold of the place of the dead. Think about this for a moment. Does anyone who is entering into sexual immorality seriously stop and think about the diseases they are opening up to in their lives? Does anyone entering into adultery seriously stop and consider the havoc coming in their marriage - in their family - in their children's lives? There is not a lot of pondering going on here. Honestly, what IS going on is actions based on lust and desire. Sexual immorality usually involves shutting the "ponderer" down and living by the impulses of our flesh instead.  It involves shutting down our brain and our spirit - and thinking with our loins instead.

The adulteress also is unstable. The word for unstable here means to stagger and walk crooked. It has the idea of someone who is swaying in and out of a path. Rather than ponder and consider the path of life - she is wandering and staggering off the road. Jeremiah 14:10 uses this same imagery to indicate that there are those who love their wandering. God told Jeremiah, "Thus says the LORD to this people, 'Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account."' This is the same sentiment we sing about in the hymn, "Come Thou Fount" when we say, "prone to wander, Lord I feel it; prone to leave the Lord I love." 

This speaks of a "willful" wandering. The adulteress though, is wandering not toward sin with the assurance of God's gracious discipline. She is willfully wandering toward a yawning abyss without seeing its gaping jaws. Her ways are unstable - wandering - staggering toward destruction - but she does not know it. So although she promises so much through her offer of pleasure, albeit illicit. She does not know even herself where it is eventually leading.  For the man foolish enough to be attracted to her wiles and follow her into sin - he simply is walking hand in hand with her to that yawning abyss with its gaping jaws - so step in and be devoured.

Pretty scary description here isn't it? That's the point that David is trying to drive home to young Solomon his son. Remember, David wound up killing Uriah as well as several other soldiers by proxy - had his daughter raped by one of her half brothers - had that son killed by another son (who used his proxy methods to accomplish the deed) - had 10 of his concubines raped in public by his son on a rooftop in front of the entire nation - and had that son die in an effort to usurp the kingdom along with all the soldiers who fell in that battle as well. Kinda cost David far more than he thought to have that one night of hidden passion? Maybe David wanted Solomon to ponder more than he did - to avoid a similar fate? Maybe whether from success or failure in our moral lives we should do the same with our sons and daughters as well?

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Agur, Ithiel, Ucal, and the Value of Life on Life Wisdom

1/6/2013

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Proverbs 30:1  The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle. The man declares to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

Here we have an interesting verse in Proverbs. It is generally accepted that this person named Agur was an actual man - and that his students, Ithiel and Ucal were also real as well. Thus this is probably part of the collection of wisdom that Solomon had. He was probably greatly impressed by this collection of wise sayings and incorporated it into his own collection as well. 

What do we know of these three men?  Well, beyond the meaning of their names and this particular collection of sayings - nothing. Yet God used them to offer to us an entire chapter of Agur's wise sayings. In fact, Agur is called, "the oracle," which means that Solomon considered him a prophet - or at least a man inspired by God to put these sayings from Him into a list of sorts. Let's take a closer look at their names and what they mean. 

Agur means collector or gatherer. This name probably designates that he was a collector of wise sayings - but the "son of Jakeh" refers to his father. Jakeh means to be on one's guard - and this particularly before God Himself. Thus the idea here is that of piety - guarding ourselves before God - and guarding others so that they walk in godliness. Thus, when we grasp Agur's full name - he would be considered to be the gatherer, the son of the man who guarded piety - who desired to walk in holiness and purity before God. If a name meant anything - and in Hebrew culture it did - then this was quite a man God used to collect these sayings from God and then declare them as an oracle from God Himself.

Not only did this man offer these wise sayings as much needed wisdom - he took the time to state them to others. Ithiel and Ucal were Agur's students. Ithiel means, "with me is God" while Ucal means "to eat or to devour." These are quite the names of his students. Evidently his students wanted the presence of God in their lives - and also had a hunger for the things of God. At least this is what their parents hoped and desired for them when they named their children. 

We come back to this verse - apart from trying to gain information from the names themselves and see a very important principle of discipleship here. At face value, we have a situation where a godly man - even a prophet or oracle of God is taking two others under his wing for the purpose of declaring to them the things God has made known to him. This is the heart of true discipleship. Life on life ministry is so important. It is not enough to just try to read the Bible - we so desperately need for godly men to pour their lives into younger men and pass wisdom to them. Jesus did it with 12 - Paul did it with Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Epaphroditus and others. If we are wise, we will do it too.

The other thing we learn is that this kind of discipleship only happens as godly men take the time to spend a life gathering wisdom from God for the purpose of living a godly, holy, God-glorifying life. That means a life devoted to reading, studying, and knowing the Word of God. This means other things that waste our time need to be set aside for the Word. In our day we have young men who are experts at video games - who spend countless hours playing them. They will not be wise. There are others who waste countless hours watching television - and in our current culture - who use Netflix to watch entire seasons of shows for days at a time. They too will not become wise. A choice has to be made to become an Agur, an Ithiel, or a Ucal. The choice has to do with time - with what is eternal - and with whether we desire to be worldly-wise - or Word-wise. 

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Why the Filled Go Away Hungry and the Famished are Full - Proverbs 27:7

10/3/2012

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A sated man loathes honey, But to a famished man any bitter thing is sweet. Proverbs 27:7

This proverb is about much more than just when a person likes and dislikes honey. It is about hunger - first physical hunger as the physical meaning suggests - but it is about much more than just physical hunger. It is about how we walk through life - about worldliness and about knowing and walking with God.

The physical picture painted for us is very clear. When a man is sated he loathes honey. To be sated means that you are stuffed. This is like when you have eaten too much at a meal and you are miserable. It wouldn't matter what someone offered you - you would not want any part of it. This is why the man loathes something as sweet and enjoyable as honey. He is too stuffed with food to enjoy anything. The opposite is also true though. A famished man considers any bitter thing sweet. The famished man is truly hungry. He has not eaten all day long - and as a result he is ready to eat anything. Even something which others might consider bitter is sweet to him. He will take it up and eat it grateful for anything to help him with his hunger.

Beyond the physical picture shown to us are great spiritual truths for us to glean. A man sated with the world will look at the Word of God and loathe it. He is filled up with the daintes of the world and as a result has little or no spiritual hunger. 1 John tells us that everything in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life comes not from the Father, but from the world. When we fill our hearts and souls with whatever our eyes desire, whatever our flesh demands, and with a heaping helping of boasting in this life - we will not have any desire for the Word, which is sweeter than the honey or the honey comb. The glories of God and what He has in store for us seem like nothing when we are glutted with worldliness and selfish pursuits. This is why it is so hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. He is so filled with what "this world" has to offer - that often he has no room left for the things of God. We need to see the danger of feasting on the world, the flesh, and the fast food of the devil. When we do - we will despise and loathe the things of our Lord.

Then there is the famished man. The man who knows that the things of this world and this life are temporary. They are fleeting pleasures - what the Bible calls lying desires. They lie to us because they constantly promise fulfillment - but in the end they do not satisfy. They don't provide contentment - they do just the opposite. They eye is never filled with seeing - the flesh is never satisfied with food - and when we set our sights on wealth and riches, they take flight and soar to the heavens, always just a little beyond our ever grasping hands. Knowing these things - he seeks God for his "daily" bread - and asks not for riches. He knows that often the man with them forgets his God. Thus he wants something more. He has heard of this One Whose Spirit within is like a spring that rises up to heaven and salvation itself. He has heard of One Whose bread of life actually fills. He seeks the One Who offers rivers of living water - not a river outside of himself - but one that God puts within that overflows out of him to bless others. He is a famished man when it comes to worldliness and sin. He is a famished man when it comes to the religion of the eyes and flesh. He knows that boasting in this life provides him nothing in the end. Therefore he hungers and thirsts after God. He has heard from One that blessed is he that hungers and thirsts for righteousness, for he will be satisfied.

This hunger makes it to where any bitter thing is sweet to him. Where the worldling is constantly receiving but is never satisfied, this one receives everything from the hand of God - good and bad - and it all works together for good in his heart and life. Whereas the worldling ever complains that it is just not enough - the spiritually hungry one has eaten of contentment itself in the presence of God. Having his spirit filled to overflowing - he knows that all that God allows in his life (whether sweet or bitter) is working on his behalf. He even knows that the light and momentary discomforts, disappointments, disconcerting events - are working toward an eternal weight of glory that cannot be ascertained. God is at work in this famished man's heart - thus any way that God's providence and sovereignty designs his circumstances are going to be satisfying for eternity.

When you look at this proverb - and the truth that it represents - you come away with the paradox of God's work in this world. The filled go away hungry - while the hungry are deeply satisfied. The difference between seeking this world - and the world to come - is the difference between knowing contentment and fulfillment in hunger - or just walking through life empty even though you are sated with the world and all it offers. Truly, blessed are the poor and destitute in spirit - for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  

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Get Your Hand Out of the Mashed Potatoes!  Proverbs 26:15

9/25/2012

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The sluggard buries his hand in the dish; he is weary of bringing it to his mouth again. Proverbs 26:15

We again come to our four day trek through the characteristics (and lack of any character at all) of the sluggard. Today we look at how he is given not just to laziness - but also to the sin of gluttony. Let's take a look at him again today and see what we can learn.

The picture we have here is pretty descriptive. We see the sluggard reclining at the table with his hand left sitting in a dish of food before him. He is so lazy and overfed that he either cannot pull his hand from the dish of food - or - doesn't want to. Here is a lethal combination of both gluttony and laziness. The grotesque picture of a grown man who is so sated with food that he cannot even muster the strength to pull his hand out of a dish or bowl of rice or noodles. He just leaves it there soaking in what he was eating just moments ago. Yet this is what gluttony does to a society - it makes it lazy and unmotivated.

I spent a little time reading on the internet about obesity and inactivity. It is both fascinating and alarming to read what is happening in our nation. One study done by the Get America Fit Foundation showed that since 1991 the problem of obesity has grown from about 10% of the population to 20-25% of the population by the year 2003. What is fascinating is that the rates of those in a completely sedentary lifestyle have risen to similar rates. Along with these two numbers rising - the number of very dangerous diseases that are killing larger numbers of people have risen sharply as well. A lifestyle given to gluttony (which we've renamed obesity) and laziness is dangerous for us. It is at epidemic rates throughout our nation. I know it will probably be offensive to many (and I am presently overweight) but we are fast becoming a nation of people who are like this sluggard in the proverbs.

I am not advocating that we all become health and fitness freaks - who spend every moment of our day obsessing over our weight and our looks - but - we need to be wise and grasp the spiritual implications of being a people who are losing the battle as a society to gluttony and laziness. This problem is a spiritual one - not just a disease - or some kind of gene we've inherited from our parents. Wise men and women will realize this and will take the necessary steps to dealing with what is essentially a sin problem. It would be so helpful to our society to once again that words like sluggard and glutton are still applicable and helpful to us becoming a better individual - and a better culture.
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Wasting Our Time Searching for What Cannot be Found - Proverbs 25:27

9/18/2012

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 It is not good to eat much honey, Nor is it glory to search out one's own glory.
Proverbs 25:27

Humans are a proud lot. Therefore it is not a profitable thing to "search out one's own glory." Such a pursuit will only result in excessive pride and arrogance. Since God resists the proud, it is unwise to embrace something that God hates. Today's proverb gives us some very wise counsel on this subject. Let's take a closer look at it - and - at some examples we can learn from so that we don't fall into this sin.

Eating too much honey can make you very sick. Honey is great for you - but in excess it can cause bloating, stomach cramps, and diarrhea. This is an interesting truth - because if you applied it to what Solomon is saying to us we learn the following. Too much thought about your own glory will cause you to bloat spiritually - and can make you sick in your spirit.

We are warned that it is not glory to search out one's own glory. What does this mean, "to search out one's own glory?" When we speak of glory - we are talking about seeing ourselves as glorious - or our own works as worthy of glory. The truth is that we don't deserve ANY glory whatsoever. Scripture tells us that our condition is not glorious. "All have sinned and fallen short of true glory - the glory of God." (from Romans 3:23) The absolute truth is this - God alone deserves glory. Any glory we ever receive - is only reflective of the glory that God deserves for Who He is and what He has done.

Searching out "one's own glory" is synonymous with being prideful. Paul said in Galatians 6:4, "But may it never be that I would glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." There is no reason to glory in anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ. Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:31 that we are to eat, drink, and do all that we do to the glory of God. Therefore to glory in searching out our own glory is not just unwise - it is the ultimate foolish pursuit. We will get sick to our spirits - we will find a bloated ego - and we will disgust God, Who alone deserves glory.

Glorying in searching out one's own glory is about as profitable to us as having a unicorn round up. Unicorns don't exist, therefore such a search is fruitless and stupid. But then again so is searching for how much we shold be glorified. Our time would be better spent glorifying the only One who deserves to be glorified - our Lord Jesus Christ! May our days be spent therefore searching out new ways to bring glory to Him and to His wonderful name.  

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Good Things Gone Wild - Proverbs 25:16

8/28/2012

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Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, That you not have it in excess and vomit it.   Proverbs 25:16
 
Overindulgence is something to be avoided in life.  Here we have an admonition to be careful when we find honey.  This most likely refers to wild honey that is found in the forest areas around Israel.  It would be much like the honey that Jonathan found after the battle with the Philistines in the forest.  The counsel is to eat only what you need of this honey.  The problem comes when our desire for something sweet and tasty goes beyond our stomach's ability to handle it.  Then we will have a reaction from being too full - and we will vomit due to having an excess.  But this proverb goes beyond a dietary warning and restriction.  It refers to the problem we all have with excess in any area of life.
 
Having good things is profitable to us.  It is when we allow these good things to go beyond where they should that good things become a problem - and possibly even an addiction.  Moderation is wise in just about every area of life.  To moderate ourselves makes us take time to consider what we really need.  Yet, because of the fall of man into sin, we are no longer wired for moderation.  We are wired for the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life.  That kind of wiring can get us in serious trouble.  When we overindulge our desires - we can build that desire into something that we no longer control.  Our desires control us.  We see this in every kind of addiction.  The addict can no longer control their desires.  Their desires control them - and dominates them to the point of being able to command them what they WILL do.  This leads to an "out of control" lifestyle - which becomes horribly destructive to the one caught in it.  
 
The wisdom of God is to live life in moderation - especially when it comes to anything that flies in the "lust" zones of our lives.  What is good can become what is overdone.  When it reaches these levels it then can become that which makes us sick - sick in body, but also sick in our minds and our spirits as well.  Knowing this the wise man approaches all things with a desire that they remain under the control of the Holy Spirit and the guidance of Scripture.  This is how he avoids trouble that comes from fallen desires gone wild.
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Always Wanting but Never Working - Proverbs 21:25-26

7/24/2012

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The desire of the sluggard puts him to death, For his hands refuse to work; All day long he is craving, While the righteous gives and does not hold back. Proverbs 21:25-26

The wrong kind of desire in our lives can kill us according to this proverb. It is the desire of the sluggard that puts him to death. That seems strange because my first take on this would be that it is the lack of desire that would be his demise.

The word for desire here is the Hebrew word "ta-awah" and it means to crave greedily. It indicates something that is attractive to the eyes - and therefore is desirable to the person who sees it. In the second verse of our proverb we are told that all day long the sluggard is craving. The literal here is that he is "desiring desire." So what is going on here that is so dangerous for the sluggard? The second word used for "craving" here means to be coveting - to strongly desire something that someone else has. Thus, we see from both verses that the sluggard is filled with a desire and a covetous craving for things.

What kills the sluggard is that he is content with desiring and craving. He has plenty of desires, he just does not do anything to actually fulfill them. Consumed with desire, lust, and greed - he "craves" himself to death. Let's look at this a little closer.

We read first in verse 25 that the sluggard refuses to work. This one is a dreamer - but not a worker. In fact he refuses to work or give hismelf to the kind of labor that would eventually cause him to prosper and succeed. When he "refuses to work" there is a rebellioin present in his refusal. This word was used of Pharaoh's rebelliousness toward God in refusing to let Israel go. Thus this is an outright rejection of work. And as he refuses to work - he begins coveting what others have who do work. His desires continue to grow - even while he does nothing to solve his situation. In the end his own desires are his demise. He is consumed with longing and with desire for things - but will never attain them. He sits in his chair longing - ever longing - but never doing. Thus he dies of intense desire and want - but will never lift a finger to get the things he desires.

We are told at the end of this proverb that the righteous has a fundamentally different way of living than the sluggard. The righteous gives and does not hold back his generosity. He is not one ever filled with longing - but with a desire to bless others. The wicked, slothful man holds back his desire to give - because he wants all he has for himself. The strange thing is he has nothing because he won't work for it. The righteous works hard for what he has - and yet does not allow desire to kill him. He is looking for ways to give to others - to bless others - and to invest in others. He will not only know physical life - but he will also know spiritual life too. He will be a life-giving rather than just a stuff-wanting force on earth. He will not hold back his desire to bless others - and will be overjoyed and fulfilled again and again as he does. 

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Wise Preparation for Now and For Eternity - Proverbs 21:20

7/14/2012

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There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise, But a foolish man swallows it up.   Proverbs 21:20
 
The wise man takes what God has given him and uses it wisely.  He spends some and uses it for himself, his family, and his friends.  He also saves some and puts it away for future use as well as for lean times.  Today let's take a look at the acts of the wise man who saves for his future and the foolish man who simply swallows everything God grants to him.
 
We are told that precious treasure and oil are in the house of the wise man.  Whether he received these things from the practices of industry and frugality - or whether he received them as an inheritance from godly, thoughtful parents - the wise man knows how to save.  Precious treasure is an interesting word as it has two connotations.  The first is from how the word is used to refer to things like gold, silver, and other commodities.  He saves money, food, and other valuable things so that he will have access to them in the future.  Why does he do this?  Because a wise man knows that since the world in which we live is fallen and affected by sin - there will be times of shortage and leanness.  Throughout all human history there have been both abundance and famine in our world.  Joseph knew such things from God Himself when he interpreted the dreams of Pharaoh.  He did not waste time in the purcuit of gluttony and over-indulgence.  Joseph was a wise man and saved and stored much so that when the famine came he would be ready.  His foresight and obedience to God saved all of Egypt, saved his own family, and made Egypt rich beyond their imaginations.  
 
There is a second way this word "treasure" is used.  The word can also mean "temple treasures."  These spoke of treasures that were given so as to build up and maintain the worship of God in the temple.  In the dwelling of the wise there is provision stored up not only for physical welfare - but for the spiritual welfare of the home as well.  There is little more foolish among mankind than to think this world is all that there is.  They live ignorant of God and ignorant of their responsiblity to Him.  The wise man stores up for both the physical and the spiritual.  There is in his house a physical inheritance - but also a spiritual one as well.  He lives godly and rears his children to love and honor God.  He makes sure that the Word dwells richly within their hearts - desiring for them to walk with God and know Him intimately.  
 
Not only is there treasure within this house of the wise, there is also oil.  When speaking of oil - this could speak of the olive oil that was used in almost every aspect of a Jewish family.  They needed this for food preparation - for spiritual worship for annointing oil - and for medical reasons like softening wounds and helping them heal.  There was also the idea of savings - because some oils were very expensive.  Mary offered a container of very expensive oil as she annointed Jesus with it in preparation for His crucifixion and burial.  This alabaster vial was worth a whole year's wages.  When one of the prpohetic students of Elisha died, his widow was in debt and in danger of haring her chidlren sold into debt slavery.  Elisha answered this by having her collect numerous vials which later were supernaturally filled with oil.  This she sold, paid her debt, and even had plenty to kep her and her children alive and well.  This kind of oil would signify that a family was preparint for their future - for the needs of their children and grandchildren.  On a spiritual note - oil was a picture of the Holy Spirit - so one could even consider this the way that a family cherished the work of the Spirit in their lives and encouraged it in themselves and in their children.
 
The foolish ones don't save any of these things - either physical or spiritual.  Theirs is a consumer mentality.  They swallow up whatever they receive with no thought of the future.  They live by their lusts and desires - and therefore do not even consider anyone except themselves.  The end of such a life is that they are broke, both physically and spiritually.  The saddest example of this is the prodigal son.  He took a large inheritance and wasted it on the party life.  In the end he was broke.  His so-called friends abandoned him and left him to fend for himself.  This was only after he abandoned any kind of spiritual preparation for the future by rejecting his father and his father's God.  He was left with nothing - except the grace his faher would give him in the end.  
 
If we are wise we will realize we live in a fallen world.  This will necessitate preparation for our future - both physically and spiritually.  We will face famines physically that will require that lay up wise stores for that day in order for us and for our families to survive.  But there is also a need to prepare spiritually - for there will also be a day when we will face being ready for the judgment of God.  Oh to be wise and understanding so that our preparations will have our homes and lives filled with treasures both temporal and eternal so that we will be well provided for when the day comes that we need them.  May God, in His grace, work in and deliver us from a life lived for self and for the moment.  May we be ready for anything - famine in life - and fatal spiritual thinking in eternity.    
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Appetites: Both Physical and Spiritual - Proverbs 13:25

12/19/2011

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The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite, But the stomach of the wicked is in need.   Proverbs 13:25

This is an interesting proverb dealing with God's provision for the righteous.  It involves both a promise for the righteous in regard to having enough food in addition to another apsect dealing with how the rightseous have an appetite that can be satisfied.  The second has more to do with the heart than it does with food.

When we look at this from the viewpoint of food and the filling of a man's stomach we see that God promises that we will have enough to satisfy our appetite.  In a psalm David said that he was young and now he is old, yet he has never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread.  God has blessed me with the honor of knowing a couple from Latvia who actually walked from Latvia to Eastern Europe during WWII.  They did this while war was raging between the Germans and the Russians.  They actually were trapped in the middle of a battlefield for a couple of weeks.  During this time they had no food whatsoever.  Yet for two solid weeks God would have various members of the family find hot baked bread in the middle of a battlefield.  This was enough to satisfy their appetite each day.  Truly God will provide for the righteous. 

The stomach of the wicked is in need though.  This is often the case in lands where God is rejected and false gods are worshipped instead.  In India there is plenty of food for the entire population, but many are hungry because they will not eat cows for fear that it is a relative who was reincarnated.  Some even refuse to kill rats that ravage their wheat and corn supplies for fear that they will have bad karma from killing a person reincarnated.  Thus even though they have plenty of food each harvest, many stomachs are in need.  A false view of God leads to religious views that harm a society. 

There is another view of this proverb though that I also want to address.  This is the fact of our inner appetites.  Ecclesiastes says that God has placed eternity in our hearts.  That is why there is an insatiable appetite within mankind for something to fill an inner need.  Some spend their whole lives searchin in vain for this inner satisfaction because they seek it apart from Jesus Christ.  It is only in Him that this void can be filled.  So we see that this proverb is true once again - that the righteous (those who came to be righteous through what Jesus Christ did on the cross and by His resurrection) are filled and satisfied.  The wicked - continue to want and need and feel like something is missing.  My hope for each of you is that you will find your "eternal void" within filled by turning to Jesus Christ to find the salvation and the righteousness that will allow you to be satisifed and filled.
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    Proverb a Day

    Each day, we'll take a look at a verse from the chapter of Proverbs for the day.  Our hope is to gain wisdom each day - and from that wisdom - to have understanding to make godly decisions in the throes of everyday life.

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Wednesdays: 6:30pm - Adult Bible Study, Youth Worship and Bible Study, & Children ministry 

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Jonesboro, AR  72401


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