Resource Manager Posted March 26, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 26 March 2017 Numbers 7 Proverbs 4 Luke 18 "HEAR, O SON A FATHER'S INSTRUCTIONS ..." Solomon in the Proverbs reflects on how his father taught him. "When I was a son with my father … he taught me and said to me, Let your heart hold fast to my words; keep my commandments and live; get wisdom." [Proverbs 4:3-5]Interesting word "insight" – the chapter started with, "Hear, O son a father's instructions and be attentive, that you may gain insight" [Proverbs 4:1] Other modern versions render it as gaining "good sense" – looking "inside" a matter. How do you do that? How deeply do you think through decisions, weigh up all the pros and cons? Where do you get your "scales" from so as to weigh them up? Do you consider God's principles – or are you totally motivated by human desires? "Hear my son," Solomon continues, "and accept my words that the years of your life may be many" [Proverbs 4:10] He adds, "be attentive to my words … Keep them within your heart … keep your heart with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life … ponder the path of your feet then all your ways will be sure" [Proverbs 4:20,21,23,26] So Solomon listened to his father David and before David died he appointed him king. [1 Kings 2:1-4]. It is likely too that Solomon was taught by his mother as most think that the reference to "King Lemuel" in Proverbs 31, is a code name for Solomon himself. But the tragedy is that Solomon in his old age failed to prepare his son Rehoboam for the kingship, nor is their any indication that he had a wife who played her part in training the next generation. Remember, in drawing lessons from the Bible we are instructed just as much by the failures, as by the successes. So many take little notice of instructions and only look at them when the find what they have bought is not working properly, if at all. But that approach is fatal in human relations, when they break down they are extremely difficult to repair. Of course, the relationship that matters above all else is our relationship with God and with His Son. Reading the Bible every day is an essential part of developing that relationship.-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted March 27, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2017 27 March 2017 Numbers 8; 9 Proverbs 5 Luke 19 "A HOUSE OF PRAYER" Our readings in the book of Numbers and the Gospel of Luke include references to cleansing. In Numbers we read yesterday how they consecrated the tabernacle now that it had been set up, offerings were made by each of the 12 tribes. It was about to be used for the first time to celebrate the Passover. It was now the first month of the second year after leaving Egypt [Numbers 9:1-4]. Today we read that the Levites who were to officiate over the Passover had to go through a cleansing process. Moses is to "sprinkle the water of purification upon them … wash their clothes and cleanse themselves" [Numbers 8:7]. In our Luke reading we have the dramatic story of Jesus entering Jerusalem riding on a colt. There is great rejoicing by the multitudes, but as the Master draws near to the city he weeps over it saying "would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!" [Luke 19:42] Then enters the temple, the place where God dwells, as the "tabernacle" had been over 1,500 years earlier. Some urgent cleansing is needed! "He entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, it is written, my house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of robbers" [Luke 19:45-46]. We particularly note how Jesus calls it a "house of prayer" rather than a house of worship. What is the difference? Human attitudes create the difference. All too often places of worship centre on those officiating – and the pomp and ceremony involved. It reminds us of the little story we read yesterday of the two men who went up to the temple, one was a Pharisee and he said in his prayer "God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all I get" [Luke 18:11-12] He suffered from trouble. It says he prayed with himself, his prayer just went round and came back to himself; it never went up to heaven. It illustrates that our hearts need cleansing when we come to worship and the wonderful temple yet to be built, as a "house of prayer" - what a purpose it will serve!. But until then let us make sure our hearts are in a cleansed state each time we come together to sing praise and worship in whatever situation that may be. I hearts should have been cleansed by the personal prayer we offered this morning!-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted March 28, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2017 28 March 2017 Numbers 10 Proverbs 6 Luke 20 "STAY AWAKE AT ALL TIMES" We say that suicide is how people destroy themselves, but our reading in Proverbs today shows there is another way. We read "He who commits adultery lacks sense; he who does it destroys himself. Wounds and dishonour will he get and his disgrace will not be wiped away." [Proverbs 6:32-33] Adultery is not a word you hear much of today, like the word "sin", the western world in particular does not think in this kind of language anymore, not like when we were young. Attitudes have changed so much in our lifetime, indeed in earlier centuries adultery could carry the death penalty as the laws of England were based on the laws of Moses. The world is being destroyed by its permissive attitudes. AIDS is a curse man cannot cure, he can only hold it at bay for a time, and there are plenty of other sexually transmitted diseases that create serious health problems. Man destroys the quality of his life because he thinks he can flout Godly principles. Tomorrow we will read of Christ's warning to "watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the cares of this life and that day will come upon you like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth" [Luke 21:34-35] Jesus also says, "There will be great earthquakes and, in various places famines and pestilences" [Luke 21:11] So God will make life more and more miserable for Godless human beings, just like he did for the nation of Israel when they just went through the motions of serving their God and their hearts were far from Him. Remember, that day, Jesus said, "will come upon you like a trap." In a sense, human beings are destroying themselves – the so called Christian world in particular; they are committing spiritual adultery. Finally we particularly note how Jesus concluded his message by saying, "stay awake at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man" [Luke 21:36] Are you awake? Wide awake?-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted March 29, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2017 29 March 2017 Numbers 11 Proverbs 7 Luke 21 "FOREBODING OF WHAT IS COMING ON THE WORLD" Foreboding is not a word we use much these days, the dictionary says it means – 'have a premonition of something evil or harmful.' Jesus used it (as translated by the ESV) in our reading today [Luke 21:26] when he forecast that just before he returned, there would be "distress of nations in perplexity … people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world." In our younger days there was always a good degree of optimism of even better times that lay ahead because of the new inventions in many areas. This was not just in the things we buy for our homes, but the better fertilizers and great productivity in many areas. Clever scientists and inventors were making life better and better – and when Communism collapsed as the Berlin wall came down in 1989 it seemed the world was entering a new golden era of peace and prosperity. How dramatically the scene has changed! There is an increasingly uncertain sound about the future; a multitude of voices "twitter" their concerns and lack of solutions. We saw some comparison in this"FOREBODING OF WHAT IS COMING ON THE WORLD" as we read Numbers 11 today. The Israelites had had a wonderful and miraculous deliverance from captivity in Egypt. There was a "honeymoon" period at Mr Sinai and a special tabernacle was built using the gold they had taken from the Egyptians. Then "manna," the bread from heaven, was provided as their staple food. But today's chapter starts, "And the people complained about their misfortunes … oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions …" [Numbers 11:1,4,5]. Compare that to today! Few have anything to genuinely complain about! Yet are they really happy and content? Two hundred years ago nearly everyone believed in a Creator as the source of all blessings, 100 years ago, the majority of people still believed but today the big majority have turned their backs on the God of the Bible, man is now his own "god." Soon we will read what happened to the faithless Israelites in the wilderness and we are starting to see a parallel to this in our days – with its sense of "foreboding of what is coming on the world." Finally in today's chapter in Proverbs there is valuable advice, "Keep my commandments and live … call insight your intimate friend" [Proverbs 7:1,4]. Let us have increasing "insight" into the ways and purpose of God and "ponder the path of our feet" each day. May we walk "the path of the righteous" and then we will not be full of "foreboding of what is coming on the world"?-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted March 30, 2017 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 30 March 2017 Numbers 12; 13 Proverbs 8; 9 Luke 22 "WHOEVER FINDS ME FINDS LIFE" Today we read nearly 50 verses in Proverbs on the wonderful value of Godly wisdom. It is written as though wisdom is a person – and of course the Lord Jesus is the one and only perfect example of such a person. Solomon himself was invited by God to ask for a gift and was commended because he asked for "a wise and understanding heart" [1 Kings 3:5-12] We picked out several powerful points in these proverbs. Wisdom says, "I love those who love me, those who seek me diligently, find me." [Proverbs 8:17] Wisdom has to be sought for! "I wisdom dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear (awe) of the LORD is to hate evil." [Proverbs 8:12-13] We can add to this wisdom's further words, "wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them" [Proverbs 8:7-8]. And surely that applies to written words also, such as emails! Wisdom grants "an inheritance to those who love me" [Proverbs 8:21] Our Bibles' reveal the nature of that inheritance. It is very obvious that Jesus is a living example of true wisdom. Proverbs 8:22-30 give us a powerful account of the absolute knowledge and wisdom that was used in creating all that exists on this earth. "Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth" [Proverbs 8:23] In these days scientists are discovering more and more of the boundless extent of the interlocking working of nature, so many forms of life are utterly remarkable and, what's more, they depend on one another. But tragically, so many have a blindfold over their minds, failing to see it all as the handiwork of God. In the final 2 verses of Proverbs 8 wisdom says, "For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favour from the LORD, but he who fails to find me injures him (or her)self, and all who hate me love death." Let us seek and "find" Jesus - as the embodiment of wisdom. We can read Proverbs 8:32-33 as being his words, "blessed are those who keep my ways. Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it."-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Resource Manager Posted April 2, 2017 Author Report Share Posted April 2, 2017 31 March 2017 Numbers 14 Proverbs 10 Luke 23 "IF THE LORD DELIGHTS IN US" There is a climax point in most lives a cross roads where a decision has to be made as to which path we will take! We read yesterday in Numbers of the conflicting reports of the twelve who had gone up to spy out the land, a 500 mile journey in 40 days. Today we read of the reaction of the mass of the people to the discouraging reports of ten of them; we also read of the confident urging of the two who had returned with positive reports. It is clear that these two have confidence in God, whereas the others only see the situation through the eyes of the flesh. The latter want to choose a leader to take them back to Egypt the focus of their thinking is the variety of food available in Egypt- they push out of their minds the memory that they had been slaves. All the experiences of worshipping the LORD, the wonders at Sinai and the tabernacle has had had no lasting impact on their minds! Does the same happen today? Do human have same order of priorities even though they may read God's word from time to time even quite regularly? We suspect it does. We now note (and mentally absorb) what the two faithful spies say! "If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us; do not fear them." [Numbers 14:8-9] But the mass of the people want to stone them, to silence such talk! We have situations today where people try to silence the true message of the Bible. In centuries past some of those who have given the true message have been stoned, even burnt at the stake! "But the glory of the LORD appeared" and the situation changes. He declares, "How long will they not believe in me in spite of all the signs I have done among them? I will … disinherit them …" [Numbers 14:11-12] And the same will happen at the return of Christ when the door is shut on the foolish virgins. [Matthew 25:10] Let us make sure "the LORD delights in us" when "the glory of the LORD appear(s)"-------- DC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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