Friday, April 17, 2009

Wisdom II

The first two chapters of Proverbs are really quite incredible. Pure wisdom, pure sense. I only wish those who race toward foolishness could really hear it. I only wish I could live it in deeper ways. "God is a shield for those who walk with integrity." When we walk in duplicity, selfishness and deceit, we drop our shield and become vulnerable to that strange woman - foolishness. We become a wide open target to evil.

Lord, help me to walk with integrity by walking with you.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Easter

Lillies
Eggs
Bonnets
Is this the best we have?

Death is defeated. The victory is won!
Fear is cast out. Christ has risen!
It's more than the end of a season.
Our freedom goes beyond our Lenten diet.
Awake, my soul, to the Truth of Monday - everything is different.
My Redeemer lives!

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

Wisdom

To help me through the book of Numbers, I have decided to read a chapter of Proverbs along with my normal reading. Good call Robert!

Proverbs 1 rocks. It has solidified my understanding that the primary way in which God deals with our disobedience and foolishness is to first call us out on it, asking us to turn away from it and back to Him. But if we refuse to listen, he doesn't zap us or grind us into the dirt; he simply let's us have our way and reap what we sow.

"Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices. For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them..."

It is not God who causes their calamity, but their own way, devices, complacency and turning away. This of course is not to say that all of our difficulties or troubles are caused directly by our own sin. Sin has corrupted and broken the good world that God created. Just as the tower that fell on some men in front of Jesus and the disciples was not the result of something they did, things that happen to us are not always the result of something we have done. But, certainly, our disobedience and folly have consequences.