Tag: proverb

52.p. Wilderness – 16.v. “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart”

 

Deu 28:21  The LORD will make the pestilence stick to you until he has consumed you off the land that you are entering to take possession of it. The LORD will strike you with wasting disease and with fever, inflammation and fiery heat, and with drought and with blight and with mildew. They shall pursue you until you perish. And the heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth under you shall be iron. The LORD will make the rain of your land powder. From heaven dust shall come down on you until you are destroyed. “The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. And your dead body shall be food for all birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth, and there shall be no one to frighten them away.  The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, and with tumors and scabs and itch, of which you cannot be healed. The LORD will strike you with madness and blindness and confusion of mind, and you shall grope at noonday, as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. And you shall be only oppressed and robbed continually, and there shall be no one to help you.

Deu 28:34  so that you are driven mad by the sights that your eyes see.

Deu 28:37  And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away.

Deu 28:45  “All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.

Deu 28:47  Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,

Deu 28:58-59  “If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God, then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.

Deu 28:61  Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.

 Deu 28:63  And as the LORD took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you.

Deu 28:66-67  Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life. In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.

The same variety of expression is used in these terrible curses, as in the preceding blessings, to intimate every kind of prosperity or adversity, personal, relative, and public.

If we do not keep God’s commandments, we not only come short of the blessing promised, but we lay ourselves under the curse, which includes all misery, as the blessing all happiness. Observe the justice of this curse. It is not a curse causeless, or for some light cause. The extent and power of this curse. Wherever the sinner goes, the curse of God follows; wherever he is, it rests upon him. Whatever he has is under a curse. All his enjoyments are made bitter; he cannot take any true comfort in them, for the wrath of God mixes itself with them. Many judgments are here stated, which would be the fruits of the curse, and with which God would punish the people of the Jews, for their apostacy and disobedience. We may observe the fulfilling of these threatenings in their present state. To complete their misery, it is threatened that by these troubles they should be bereaved of all comfort and hope, and left to utter despair. Those who walk by sight, and not by faith, are in danger of losing reason itself, when every thing about them looks frightful. (Henry)

Oh that our hearts and minds would grasp the holy blessings of God in light of the wrathful curses. Sin has a way of blinding us to only see blessings from God. Sin blinds us to the holiness of God. Neglect of His Word deafens our ears to the Holy Spirit’s conviction of sin. 

May the Word of God open your hearts and minds to His holiness and give you a deep desire to honor and glorify Him more and more each day.  We do not honor and glorify Jesus christ for the blessings we receive, but for who God is.

9.y. “And tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure.”

Amos 6:1  “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes! Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory, O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence? “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils,

Isaiah 56:12    “Come,” they say, “let me get wine; let us fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure.”

  Ezekiel 12:22  “Son of man, what is this proverb that you have about the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days grow long, and every vision comes to nothing’?

1 Thessalonians 5:3   While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

2 Peter 3:4  They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.”

Before Covid 19 how many would have been saying “and tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure.” Do you ever stop to think about all of those who have rejected God’s call to repentance?  I sometimes wonder what it is that keeps them from seeing and hearing what the Word of God calls out.  “COME UNTO ME ALL WHO ARE HEAVEY WITH BURDENS AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST”, “FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE”, “I WILL RETURN AGAIN”, “WHERE I AM YOU SHALL BE ALSO”…. these Words of God call out great promises of salvation, redemption, hope, peace, rest, and eternity.  Likewise, there are plenty of scripture that have great promises of wrath, anger, and judgment.  It is one or the other.  There is no middle ground.  Belief in Jesus Christ, repenting of sin, trusting in, clinging to, and relying on Jesus Christ, growing in understanding, knowledge, and wisdom through God’s Word, and seeking and desiring to humbly serve honor, and obey Him is the choice of those who will be in eternity with Him.  Others will not.  Because of their rejection of Jesus Christ, they will spend eternity in torment forever and ever.  Know that we will be held accountable for how we live and just like in times of Amos, people would not believe judgment was at their doorstep.

5.k. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you

Job 12:12  Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.

Job 8:8   “For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out.

Job 32:7   I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.’

1 Kings 12:6-8   Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”  And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”  But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.

Hebrews 5:12   For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food,

Pro 1:2  To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight,  to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance,  to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

There is worldly wisdom that comes to most.  It comes with time and age. It is cultivated through experience and observing good and bad, right and wrong, worldly and godly, smart and foolish, and justice and injustice.  This wisdom can teach a man how to walk a worldly path and avoid troubles that have come to others.  This wisdom can make one appear to have the secrets of knowledge and understanding.  However, in the end, this wisdom only has the ability to help in worldly things.   It is missing wisdom that comes from a surrender of self to Jesus Christ.  Without this godly wisdom, we will miss grace, mercy, love,  forgiveness, salvation, redemption, and eternity in heaven.  Godly wisdom is a gift to those who desire and seek after things of God.  This desire and seeking drive us to His Word, to our knees or to our hands lifted high in praise and worship of Jesus Christ.  It is in this reverence we touch the surface of godly wisdom and it is in this that we will grow and mature.  Choose today to start fresh and committed to seeking and growing in Godly wisdom.

3.w. Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant

Nehemiah 1:4  As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

Leviticus 26:33     And I will scatter you among the nations, and I will unsheathe the sword after you, and your land shall be a desolation, and your cities shall be a waste.

Deuteronomy 4:27    And the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD will drive you.

Deuteronomy 32:28     “For they are a nation void of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.

1 Kings 9:6-7    But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,  then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

Ezra was a priest.  He was sent to Jerusalem by Nehemiah to start rebuilding the temple and leading the people in commitment to God.  Nehemiah’s prayer.  This was a very big ask by Nehemiah.  He knew they had fallen away from God and this was the reason they were in exile.  He also knew from God’s word that unfaithfulness is punished and returning to God is rewarded by the awesome power and steadfast love of God.  He prayed confession, praise, and faith.  He prayed believing in God’s word.  He prayed for success in what seemed impossible.

When our heart is heavy and our burdens overwhelming we don’t have to wait and be overcome with doubt, fear, worry, and restlessness.  we can take it straight to the feet our redeemer Jesus Christ.  We can know and believe that He is able to do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine.  Why do we not ask?  Why do we not ask?  Why do we wallow in our doubt?  Could it be that we think we are not good enough or have not done enough?  These thoughts of being and doing are lies from Satan.  He wants you to believe that the only way to receive God’s grace and love is to be better, do better, live better and with this lie filling your heart deny the power that is through Jesus Christ who willingly died for the person we were.  He did this for the lost sinner.  He did this out of His love.  He did this to show His love for us.  While we were yet sinners He did this.  In faith, we come to Him.  In faith we can rely on Him.  In faith, He is honored and glorified.  In faith we are made right with Him, not by being good.  We are made good through faith in Him alone and not by what we do.

Come to Him as you are, in faith, confessing, praising, and trusting in Him alone for the trials, worries, and burdens that are seemingly impossible to overcome.