Thoughts on Christ and His Word

Everyone wants a loving friend. But a true friend is honest with us about our shortcomings. Proverbs 27:6 says "Faithful are the wounds of a friend."  In verse 5 King Solomon writes "open rebuke is better than hidden love" and in verse 7 he writes "the sweetness of a man's friend gives delight by hardy counsel". So we want friends that are encouraging and positive but we also need friends who will give us good Biblical advice, that will wound us with rebuke and correction, and will be loving all the way through it.

Proverbs is the ultimate cause-and-effect book. In Proverbs 11 verse 19 we read "As righteousness leads to life so he who pursues evil pursues it to his own death". Verse 27 "He who earnestly seeks good finds favor but trouble will come on him who seeks evil". Verse 29 "He who troubles his own house will inherit wind." So when we walk in evil rather than in love we are preparing future catastrophe for own head. So much so that even in our family when we are unfaithful to our spouse, when we neglect our children or are abusive with our own family, at the end of life we will inherit nothing but wind. As Galatians 6:7 says "Be not deceived God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that will he also reap."

For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, And her mouth is  smoother than oil; But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. Proverbs 5:3‭-‬4 NKJV God always points us to "the end". The important thing is to always keep the end in mind. Everything in life is temporary so we must live for "the end" (eternity) when God will judge all things. Psalms 73; Matthew 16:26; 2 Corinthians 4:8

In Proverbs 4 Solomon begins by saying "Hear my children the instruction of a father." And then he goes on to recall what his own father instructed him. King David instructed his son Solomon to keep his commands so that he can live a good life, to get wisdom and to get understanding. He told him not to forget nor turn away from the words of his mouth and not forsake them because they would preserve him. He told his son to love the wisdom he was sharing with him and to get all the wisdom he could. The reason that David could say such things to Solomon was because David was filled with the Word of God himself. So what he was instructing his son to do was to follow the words of God as he was following them. David was a role model loving God and being filled with God's wisdom. Therefore he could authoritatively tell his son to follow his instructions. The sad thing is that many fathers today even if they are christians are not living by the wisdom of God and therefore their i...

Most people don't gain wisdom and insight from God because they approach God and his Word in a very casual manner or not at all. They never seek God with all their heart. In Proverbs 2:2-6 Solomon gives us 6 action phrases that we must do in order to find God's true wisdom. We must incline our ear to wisdom, apply our heart to wisdom, cry out for wisdom, lift up our voice for understanding, seek wisdom as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures. Until we seek God and H is wisdom and understanding in that way we will never truly understand the heart of God.

Psalms 142 - 145 are loaded with David's personal please for God's help through his emotional problems. He felt abandoned and alone (Psalms 142:4), he felt attacked Psalms 143:3), he felt overwhelmed and distressed (Psalms 143:4). Yet his trust was in God and not in man to get him out of his emotional hole - Psalms 142:5; 143:7 - 8; 145:14 David expected God to save him and trusted in Him to restore him physically and emotionally - Psalms 142:7; 143:7-8; 145:8, 14, 17 - 19.

Psalms 128 verse 8 says "When you eat the labor of your hands, you shall be happy and it shall be well with you." The life in Christ is not all about suffering and pain. God gives us plenty of things to enjoy and pleasures to delight in. In P salms 128 God tells us we will be happy and we will enjoy the fruit of our labor, our wife, our children, and yes even our grandchildren. God wants us as his children to enjoy our life because every good gift comes from his hand. We should be a grateful and thankful people for all the good things that we received from the Lord our God.