
Keep my commandments and live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. - Proverbs 7:2
I have still been reading through Proverbs. While my primary study for the last many weeks has been the book of John, Proverbs has been drawing me in. Maybe it’s because I feel I’m in need of a reminder of how to make wise decisions and to consider deeply the path of life. I’m in a role now that demands precise thinking, balanced understanding, large faith, and great discipline. The scriptures have always been my reservoir for these things. I believe, now more than I ever have, that God’s ways and methods are truest and best. They prove themselves time and time again. And even while His Word is sometimes mocked and His moral dictates appear anachronistic to a postmodern culture, the sheer disintegration of society as it moves away of God is proof enough of His marvelous commands.
And while it is easy to pontificate and to have a profound sense of rapture about the reality of God and His inspired law, it is more difficult to actually keep myself from disregarding them and momentarily unfollowing the will of God. I want to do what is right, but then, as Paul expressed, I am tempted to do or think about what is wrong instead. We encounter temptations, great and small, every day. We know (or should know if we are discerning Bible readers) what is God’s perfect will for us, but we war within. There is something intrinsically placed in us that responds to both the law of God and the law of sin. Our conscience cooperates with the Lord to remind us what is right and wrong. Then the grossness of our sinful humanity pipes up and tries to convince us that none of that Bible stuff really matters or that one time isn’t going to hurt you or that it’s ok to imagine it if you don’t yield to it. “Do what you want to do”, it says. “Think what you want, be who you want, live how you want”. And sometimes, we listen to that voice over the voice of Jesus.
If you read the rest of Proverbs chapter 7 you’ll enter into a masterful description of our everyday struggle. There, Solomon narrates a story about a young man who is foolish and unwary. It is night time and the kid is seen passing by a house occupied by a woman that has less than good intentions. She meets him, greets him, speaks to him, and seduces him. Finally, he gives in. Solomon observes that he is merely a pawn, an ox going to the slaughter, a bird who sees the trap but still proceeds directly into it. Once he is caught, there is no escape. This woman is skilled. She has taken down many strong men. Her house is the stairway to hell.
This vivid and graphically penned short story has so much gold. In my mind I liken the woman to any temptation that rushes upon us, greeting us, pulling us, trying to make us fall. I can attest that I have come face to face with seemingly irresistible allurements. I’ve had to fight defiantly against the sin in me in order to resist that which would have ruined my soul. Then there are the unassuming temptations. More subtle, less risky, but equally condemning. In all of this, the Lord is our helper. He tells us that we can be more than conquerors through Him. That He is faithful and that we are never tempted above our ability to refuse to sin if we rely solely upon Him. He puts His law in our hearts that we might not sin against Him. He gives us the Holy Spirit to remain obedient to Him. With all of this power and access, there is never a need or excuse failure or to succumb to the seductions of this life? We should truly keep God’s wise commands before us, protecting their place in our hearts like we protect our vulnerable eyes. We must submit to the Lord and depend on Him, not ourselves, when we are tested. God will do anything and everything to keep us in the way of wisdom and righteousness. Will you do anything and everything to remain in that way?
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This weekend Pastor Zeke Nichols will bring the Word. Throughout the month of February each speaker will be addressing some aspect of Righteousness by Faith. This subject is truly the cornerstone of Christianity. Praying for you all continually that the Lord blesses you and keeps you in His care.
Pastor Dean