Knowledge and Understanding

4.h. Commitment, covenant, oath “to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age”

Nehemiah 10:28 “The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes. We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.

Deuteronomy 29:12-14    so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the LORD your God, which the LORD your God is making with you today,  that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.  It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant,

Psalms 119:106    I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.

2 Kings 23:3  And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

John 15:14    You are my friends if you do what I command you.

Titus 2:11-14   For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,  training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,  waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

It was common for people to enter into a covenant before God by an oath that was recorded. They also included a curse to be carried out against themselves should they abandon, disregard, forsake, or pay no attention to the oath. In this covenant oath, the people committed to walk in God’s Law and observe all of the commandments, rules, and statues. How many times does one generation make a covenant and another fall away? How many times does a parent make a covenant and their children fall away? What causes a person to come to a place of making a covenant? What happens in a person’s life that causes them, or allows them to disregard an oath/covenant with Jesus Christ? What is it that makes walking away from or giving no thought to the covenant bond with Jesus Christ? What happens in a person’s life that allows them to become lukewarm in their covenant walk with Jesus Christ? How does this all happen? How does the flame go out?

We could all give lists that would include, busyness, job and family responsibilities, church leader and member hypocrisy, health or financial or relational trials/troubles, and cultural and societal influences. These are not the root cause of the walking/sliding/turning away. The root cause is in our heart, mind, and soul. This is where commitment is made, followed, respected, held on to, submitted to, and cemented into every aspect of our life. It is a light that gives us a clear view of the decisions we are facing. It is a light that clarifies the path we should take. It is the light that exposes the wrong thoughts, actions, and words. God’s word is a bright light that illuminates Jesus Christ the light of the world.

When our heart, mind, and soul are given to something else we lose the influence of the light of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in our life. The light goes out and in this darkness, the covenant bond with Jesus Christ is slowly put aside and soon forgotten. In this darkness, new priorities arise that disregard the covenant bond with Jesus Christ. In this darkness, we confuse worldly with Godly, good and bad, right and wrong, truth and false, humility and pride, generosity and greed, forgiveness and resentment, humbleness and jealousy, and obedience and complacency. None of us are immune to these attacks from the influences of our sinful nature. This is the battle between the light of the world and the darkness of sin. Sometimes it is a battle we do not even know we are in because we confuse the darkness with light. It is a battle we can never win on our own. It is a battle within our heart, mind, and soul, that is won in and through Jesus Christ.

We will do well to take serious the faith oath covenant we made by faith in and through belief in, reliance on, and clinging to Jesus Christ. It is not too late. There is still hope to come back into the light of Jesus Christ. Confess, repent, and run to Him with a heart, mind, and soul commitment. Stay in His word. Desire and seek to be led by it. Continually hold fast to it and begin anew a life long journey of humble service, honoring, glorifying, following, and obeying Jesus Christ.

3.r. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

Ezra 8:15 I gathered them to the river that runs to Ahava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there none of the sons of Levi. Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, leading men, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight, and sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place Casiphia, telling them what to say to Iddo and his brothers and the temple servants at the place Casiphia, namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God. And by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18; also Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah of the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20; besides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all mentioned by name.

Proverbs 2:6     For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

Proverbs 20:5    The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.

Daniel 2:21    He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;

2 Timothy 2:7    Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.

“Who were men of insight”. There are times I seem to have an understanding and other times it seems like there is nothing but air between my ears. Something changed in our world over the last 25 years. “Google it.” For most of this culture, the thought of going to the library and looking something up has never been a thought. This culture has what seems to be the worlds biggest library right in the palm of their hand. We can speak into our smartphone and in less than 2 seconds have a response to our inquiry. We weed through these results and scan them for information that seems to meet our expectation. The problem with the ease of this is that the search is so easy that we do not have the want to retain knowledge, understanding, and wisdom. Everything seems to go into short term memory because anytime I need to know something I can do a search and have the information that seems right within the time it would take me to grab my keys to go to the library. I don’t need to do all of the research that once upon a time was required. I can just read up on all of that from others and for the most part, never have to form my own thoughts. Herein is the problem; When this approach is taken toward the Word of God.

We don’t have to “Know” God’s word as intended but rather can just look up keywords and have His promises pop up in front of our eyes. We latch onto these for the cure of our heart, mind, and soul. We can look up; afraid, lonely, greed, pride, grace, forgiveness, love, joy, peace, refuge, power, strength, security, hope, faith, to mention a few. We find a verse or a few verses that we can claim and it eases our mind. What gets lost in this type of “one and done” lookup is the presence of God in our lives. What gets lost is a continual growth and maturity that comes from seeking and desiring to know and understand God through intentionally spending time in His word, meditating on it, and allowing Holy Spirit to transform our thoughts through diligent study. Don’t get me wrong. There are times to use “lookup searches.” While we are spending time in study is a good time to gain understanding through seeing more examples of the verse that strikes a raw nerve in our heart.

We must guard our heart and mind from being tempted from the neglect of “the Wholeness” of God’s Word. We must spend time in it with a longing to know God deeper and how to humbly serve, honor, follow, trust, and obey Him if we want to become “men of insight” who rightly divide the “Word of Truth”.

Fill your heart, mind and soul

“and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

Psalms 25:12 Who is the man who fears the LORD? Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. His soul shall abide in well-being, and his offspring shall inherit the land The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. My eyes are ever toward the LORD, for he will pluck my feet out of the net.

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 2:5 then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

Proverbs 15:33 The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

Proverbs 16:6 By steadfast love and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Isaiah 50:10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant? Let him who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.

Acts 10:22 And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man,

Acts 13:26 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

Psalms 31:19 Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!

Proverbs 1:33 but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.

Matthew 11:28-29 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Psalms 32:8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Psalms 37:23 The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way;

John 3:20-21 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

John 8:31-32 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commandments. “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” Are peoples lives, who have respect and reverence for God, different than those who do not? What would be seen in the lives of people who respect and have reverence (fear) of God? Would they read God’s word more? Would they give thanks more? Would they be more forgiving? Would they pray more? Are they more gentle and kind? Are they encouraging? Do they give more? Do they help more? Do they speak words of hope, love, grace and mercy? Do they have more inner peace? Are they more humble? Do they acknowledge God and His leading in their life? Do they reach out to the unsaved? Do they talk of what God is doing in their immediate lives? There is not a day when reading God’s word I do not see something new. Sometimes it teaches me more about who God is, or His promises, or convicts me of an area of my life that needs to change. Without His word I think our soul easily drifts and falls away from being able to hear His quiet voice speaking to our heart. Think about oxygen and the importance of it on every breath. If it were given to your lungs at the same frequency of being in God’s word would your life be hanging on by a thread or would you be declared dead? God’s word feeds our soul and in it we find know and understanding of God, peace, hope, help, strength, love, mercy, grace, faith….

Trusting

“You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.”

“You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.”

Psalms 16:1
Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.

Proverbs 2:6
For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints.

Jeremiah 17:7-8
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.”

2 Corinthians 1:9
Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

2 Timothy 1:12
But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day what has been entrusted to me.

Psalms 31:23
Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.

Hebrews 6:10
For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do

What does it mean to trust in God? For salvation it means that you have and understanding of your sin and the separation it has between you and God. You understand that there is nothing you can do to wash away this sin on your own. Your heart and mind have been revealed the saving grace work of Christ on the cross and God’s knocking on your heart to “Trust” in the work of His son on the cross. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only son so that all who believe in Him would not perish but would have everlasting life.” This “Trust/Belief” is the beginning – being reborn – being made a new creation where your old ways of life are passed and all things are new. The point of salvation is the beginning but there is so much more to how we apply trust into our lives. Trusting in God’s sovereignty and control over all things. Trusting that God’s plan and purpose for your life is perfect. Trusting that nothing can happen to you apart from it being in God’s plan for your life. “All things work together for good to them who are called by His name” Trusting in His strength – not giving up – but fully trusting/resting in God’s hands. Trusting in being able to hear that quiet small voice directing you. Trusting He will guide you. Trusting He will protect you. Trusting He will put people in your life for the purpose of them to encourage you and you them. Trusting is something we can all continue to grow in, and this growth comes from spending time in His word with a desire to know and serve Him more and more each day.

Return

“Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the Lord your God”

Hosea 2:20
I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.
“And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord,
I will answer the heavens,
and they shall answer the earth,
and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel,
and I will sow her for myself in the land.
And I will have mercy on No Mercy,
and I will say to Not My People, You are my people’;
and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’”

Jeremiah 3:13
Only acknowledge your guilt,
that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree,
and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.
Return, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
and I will bring you to Zion.
“‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord”

A voice on the bare heights is heard,
the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons
because they have perverted their way;
they have forgotten the Lord their God.
“Return, O faithless sons;
I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.

Zechariah 8:16
These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”

Yesterday we saw from scripture that in times of prosperity the chance is great for moral decline. God is faithful even when we are not. He is true even when we are not. God is present even when we do not acknowledge Him. Look how God pleads with man in the verses from today: , – “Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God” – “Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness”, – “And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding”. Moral decline happens when men and women do not acknowledge God or seek knowledge and understanding of Him, and no longer listen to or for His voice, they do not speak truth to one another. In the end they have forgotten His word and have no moral compass other than what seems right in their own eyes. Stay in His word, desire Him, listen to Him, and obey His leading. To speak truth to one another you must know what truth is.

Commit to walk with God

“You are standing today all of you before the Lord your God”

Nehemiah 10:28
“The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord and his rules and his statutes.

Nehemiah 9:2
And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers

Psalms 119:105
Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.
I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to keep your righteous rules

Deuteronomy 29:10
“You are standing today all of you before the Lord your God”

Do we ever see ourselves standing before a living, active, Holy God? Would this change how we view our thoughts, actions, and lives? Would it change our hearts desire? There are times when I am so thankful for God and His leading my life. Yet if I am honest there are times when I am not even looking or thankful. It is easy, when times are without much burden in my life, to look at life without need of God. Yet this is the time of most need for Him to be more present and dwelling in our heart. This is the time when we are so easily taking paths away from Him rather than growing closer. Choose to stand close every day, Choose to place a desire in your heart and mind to know more of Him during time of blessing. Commit to humbly stand before Him, to serve Him, to worship Him, to bow before Him, to thank Him, to…….