“…That is, our focus shouldn’t be on ‘saving’ others, nor should it be on who is saved or who isn’t… No, we should primarily be living, thankful and appreciative, that we OURSELVES are sure of our own salvation through Christ and His finished work…
…and while we couldn’t say exactly if those within our spheres of influence are saved or not, you can be sure that, one way or the other, you may have the same vision as I did – that is, that they also would say to you, ‘we’re going to be okay’, because ‘God is very pleased with you, His child’.“
Today, in an attempt to make the most of my time away from my usual grind, I thought I’d go through Proverbs coinciding with the current days of the month. I thought I’d go through Proverbs 12-14… and I eventually decided against it, opting instead to go for the Proverbs where I left off at since the last time I read the Bible to keep up with Our Daily Bread’s ‘Bible In One Year’ plan (which, by the way, I guess I should be proud to announce that I’m a little bit ahead)…
Which left me going through Proverbs 19 to 21. Or, that was the plan anyway… because I was quickly stopped by the words of Proverbs 19, as early as verse 2.
Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever makes haste with his feet misses his way.
Proverbs 19:2
Desire without knowledge is fantasy. If you really do desire, you would accumulate knowledge. Consequently, being impulsive is not without making haste… and acting on mere desire alone, and acting on fantasy would ultimately result in you ‘missing your way’ – or, I assume, away from the path you were made for.
You’d think that you’d recognize the darkness growing, and the difficulty rising the further you get from the right track… but as we read on, we’re to consider a grim – and more likely – possibility: That is, the further you go, the harder it gets for you to turn back:
When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.
Proverbs 19:3
See, you desire, you play on your fantasies without subjecting them to reality (to adjust accordingly), and it’s not a question of if, but when you would stumble. Your fantasy leads you to getting reckless, and leads you to folly…
And, when you are brought to ruin, the possibility of humbling yourself is still there, but most often than not you would be raging ‘against the Lord’. I picture the act of raging against the Lord as insistence of our own old desires, and rejection of knowledge – knowledge which only He could provide, that is.
You’d blame Him instead of blaming yourself.
Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.
Proverbs 19:1
We’re to supplement our desires with knowledge, and in so doing, we also strive for integrity – so that, even when we find ourselves in a place of poverty, we would still find ourselves better off compared to someone with riches, yet on a path to destruction.
And… well, in my own attempt to increase knowledge and strive for integrity, there was the option of meditating more on what God said, regarding the phrase – ‘I’m very pleased with you, my child’.
Before we move on I should probably follow this up with backup Scriptures, just as Proverbs 16:7 served as backup to ‘We’re going to be okay’. I got these from a Desiring God article; Verses to serve as backup, just so that we aren’t just stuck with ‘The Lord told me’, but ‘The Lord told me, according to His word:’
- Zephaniah 3:17, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness.”
- Psalm 147:11, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.”
- Romans 2:29, “But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”
- 1 Corinthians 4:5, “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”
‘I’m very pleased with you, my child’ – is a consolidation of the Truth: That God gladly rejoices over us, He takes pleasure IN us; We fear Him and we hope in His steadfast love, and though we may not receive any praise from man, we receive praise and commendation from God. And it’s all because of Christ and His finished work.
In meditation I tried to draw more wisdom out of the depths, and I found nothing and was easily shaken by everything that came to my head. However, as I walked through the low tide, and back to the beach, a thought came into my head – whether I was influenced from the outside, or whether I genuinely generated the question for myself, from myself, I don’t know; To God, to the Creator, the Maker, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I ask Him and/or myself: ‘Am I very pleased with you…?’
And the thing is, the fact that I asked that question in the first place sort of means that I don’t find as much pleasure in God, just as He is very pleased with me… And, sure, this is a dangerous place of thought to remain in, but on the other hand, we’re left with a way to set things right, by way of completing the said ‘other side of the coin’:
If God says to us, ‘I’m very pleased with you, my child’…
Then by Christ and the Holy Spirit, we are able to say, ‘I’m very pleased with You, my Father’.
Yes, I suppose this is a message to myself, as I’m about to embark on more travels and trials: There’s pleasure to be found in appreciating the fact, the TRUTH that Christ paid such a huge price for us to not only see God and not die; He paid such a huge price for us to see Him, and to RUN to His throne of grace in our time of need, crying out, calling out to Him, recognizing that HE is our Abba, Father!
That’s certainly something that I’m going to be thinking about, meditating about, as we drive, as we make our negotiations, as I attempt to keep at my routines, even when I am not at home:
I’ve always told people that I thought I’d never appreciate God as my Father, because I assumed I didn’t have a good experience with my own natural Dad… but, it’s through Christ that I’ve come to realize that my Dad didn’t necessarily love me according to how I expected Him to love me, but love me with his best, he certainly did.
No, this time, and especially this time that my biological Dad has already gone to fellowship with God and the rest of the body of Christ, I feel that there’s also a need to intentionally meditate, receive and appreciate the Truth regarding our God – that He IS our Father, our PERFECT Father.
Before the week formally begins, I pray and declare that we would continue to allow the Word, alive in our hearts and in our minds, to keep integrating into each and every aspect of our own beings, that we would continue to bask in the Light, while shining it for all to see.
May the Lord be glorified in all that concerns us, as we continue to move from glory to glory, realizing and eventually celebrating our God… our good Father.
I hope I could continue to post, considering that there probably wouldn’t be as much internet connectivity where I’m headed. All the same, may our Father take care of all of us… Until the next post.
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