GOD intends for His People to be wise; not foolish, not haphazard, not flying by the seat of our pants – whatever that means. I’ve heard it all my life, said it, but didn’t really examine it. Wisdom is the better way.
And then we come to Proverbs.
Today, in particular, Proverbs 8.
Oh please read it for yourself. All of it.
See that wisdom was present at creation. See that wisdom remains for those who seek ‘her’.
Wisdom.
Wisdom is as real and strong as any edifice you will walk past today. No, not as tangible as that mortar and steel building but the effects of wisdom in our lives are surely visible.
Wisdom. Verse 11 For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire compares with her. LINK
35For whoever finds me finds life and obtains the favor of the LORD.36 But he who fails to find me harms himself; all who hate me love death.”LINK
Proverbs 8 tells us Wisdom was present with Father GOD when He spoke creation in place — and unless we want to ‘create’ a mess today, we will seek wisdom. We can start with Scripture.
I expected my relief to last longer than 30 minutes! But here I am, cautious and concerned and warned: don’t celebrate too long, don’t celebrate with arrogance. Be kind. Be generous. And get to work LIVING THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST.
Proverbs 14:34 King James Version 34 Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.
We have a reprieve.
Reprieves are for advancing, not retreating, and not squandering.
What do we have a reprieve from? That’s a good question.
How do you see it? HOW DOES GOD SEE IT? ASK HIM AND RESPOND ACCORDINGLY.
Are you wondering how to ask?
My suggestion is to start with your Bible. Read it. Read it like it is the BEST book you have ever picked up. Because it is!
Read until it becomes alive to you, then do what it says, praying every page of the way.
I trust that we have a reprieve from the advancement of certain evils.
But there are plenty of demons to fight – armor up! Ephesians 6:11-24
Don’t spend this reprieve playing! That’s the message.
Perhaps we can hear The LORD saying to us: he who has an ear, let him hear.
(That he is he or she, you understand.)
Genesis (KJV) 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
Mark 12: 30and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Link
This is how we use this reprieve.
Study JESUS. The JESUS revealed in Scripture. Read Him. Watch Him. Follow Him. Know Him and be known by Him. (Matthew 7:21-23)
In this way, we will not waste this reprieve.
Biblically obedient brothers and sisters, I need your prayers!
By no stretch of the imagination have I arrived at full obedience but by His Grace, I am moving forward!
Two weeks and this month, this year, will be done — in the books.
Are you making plans for 2024? Are you thinking you want to do better in 2024 than you did in 2023? Me too! Watch after family and friends better. Pay more attention to my calendar. Bring my thoughts captive more. Study more. Read more. Are you thinking about those things too?
That’s what we do at the end of one year leading into a new one, right? And that’s not bad. It’s good to reflect. Visions and plans are good too.
What does the Bible say? People perish where there is no vision. Proverbs 29:18
What else does the Bible say about our plans?
Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”source Don’t miss the verses before and after. We will surely need them in 2024. We need them now.
Depending on the circles in which you read or listen you may be getting wind that 2024 may hold some rougher times than did 2023. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps not.
But on this, we can hang our hat, take it to the bank, and other clichés we hear or say, GOD will NOT forsake His Children.
Psalm 37:25 New American Standard Bible 1995 25 I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread. source
LORD willing and I make it to the new year, I’m taking this with me, how about you? Wait, before I close — who are the righteous who can rest on this promise?
We talk about it. We go to places of worship as we call them. We sing songs of worship, as we call them. I wonder does GOD call it worship? Do you ever wonder that too?
But are we worshipping The One True God? And how can we know if we are or are not?
What is worship anyway?
All good questions. Can we answer them here? I don’t know, but we can seek answers here for sure.
Are you familiar with the story of Nebuchadnezzar, his statute, and his demand of the people in the plain of Dura? If you are not I hope you will use the link above and read Chapter 3 of the Book of Daniel.
There were three (3) Hebrews in the province of Babylon named, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Those were their Babylonian names. Their Hebrew names were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, respectively. (If you are interested in a little more about their names, click HERE.)
So what was going on in Babylon? Nebuchadnezzar. Poor guy. He was so messed up but GOD loved him -and he was not even a Jew. Chapters 1 through 4 of Daniel tell the story of Nebuchadnezzar. I am thinking he finally got it right and I am thinking we might get to meet him in Heaven. I am hoping so.
But I’m off point.
In Chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar is so full of himself, that he had a statute of himself erected and he demanded to be WORSHIPPED.
That set me off on this trail.
Nebuchadnezzar, in my humble opinion, was set on controlling the people. And that meant obedience. I mean you can’t control the people, unless they obey you. Can you?
It seems to me man is never satisfied as long as he wants to control other men (please understand this includes women too – as all mankind). There’s just something about people that causes them to want to control other people. And it causes so many problems. But I’m slightly off-point.
Worship. We can attend a song service, sing every song, raise our hands, and jump a pew, but if we are not yielded to consistently, daily, obeying GOD, we are not worshipping Him. Instead, we just may be worshipping the traditions of men.
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah understood obedience. They understood that bowing down before that statute was an affront to The One and Only Holy Holy Holy GOD. And they refused to do it.
Worship. I made a note in the margin of my Bible.
True worship is yielding to the CONTROL of GOD.
Am I yielded to being controlled by GOD? Daily, consistently?
Am I ever growing more and more obedient to Him? Am I more and more obeying what I read in the Bible, practicing the commands and precepts found there? Practicing them in my home? Practicing them in public?
More and more times are coming to afford us opportunities to choose to worship (obey) GOD or the traditions of men.
Today we can examine ourselves and we can pray, for ourselves and each other. Not a one of us is exempt from the distractions, snares, strategies, and traditions set in place by the evil one. Let us guard our hearts and all our senses so that we will grow more and more obedient and thereby worship our GOD with every breath. 1 Peter 5:7-9, Proverbs 4:22-24
It’s not the music. It’s not the song. It’s not the sermon. It’s not the place. It’s OBEDIENCE.
Nebuchadnezzar wanted to control the people, he lusted for worship. And from the majority, he got it. There are many Nebuchadnezzars in our world, sometimes they are people, sometimes, just things.
WORSHIP GOD. Only HE is worthy. HE is the ONLY safe One to worship. The only safe one to unconditionally obey.
We are glad you are here; stay a while, look around, and be encouraged. We estimate there to be over 3,000 posts here at The White Stone Blog. Please know my hope is ALWAYS to help and NEVER harm. I have voiced many opinions and thoughts here since 2007 and by now I MAY NOT EVEN AGREE with all of them and some of my grammar and punctuation likely needs editing. But this is changeless: JESUS is our ONLY Savior and Hope. Do you KNOW Him?
