Tag: Job

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Psalms Devotionals 2

Acnowledging God as God

Acknowledging God as God

Acknowledge that the Lord is God.
He made us, and we are his,—
his people, the sheep of his pasture. (Psalm 100:3)

Last week, I was preparing a message on the book of Job. And perhaps because of that, when I came across Psalm 100 in my quiet time, it really struck me that this was a song Job could have sung after all his experiences.

Because verse 3 was the main thing that he learned.

God is God. We are not.

He made us. We are his people, his sheep.

And that’s a good thing.

Why?

Because ultimately, he is good, his faithful love is forever, and his faithfulness through all generations. (5)

There’s a lot in this world that we can’t understand. And because of that, it’s easy to start questioning God. To start questioning his goodness. To start questioning his love toward us.

But the key to finding joy in the midst of our trials is acknowledging the Lord as God. That he is wise. That he is powerful. And most importantly, that he is loving to us.

So with those truths firmly in mind, let us shout triumphantly to the Lord. (1)

Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before him with joyful songs. (2)

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. (4)

For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever;
his faithfulness, through all generations. (5)

Categories
Proverbs Devotionals

Humility

It’s kind of ironic that as we near the end of the book of Proverbs, after hearing all this wisdom, we see someone still saying, 

I am more stupid than any other person,
and I lack a human’s ability to understand. 

I have not gained wisdom,
and I have no knowledge of the Holy One. (Proverbs 30:2-3)

But maybe that’s the kind of humility we need. Because no matter how wise we think we are, our wisdom cannot compare with God’s.

Yet when times get rough, we start to question God.

We wonder why he allows Corona. We wonder why he allows natural disasters. We wonder why he allows all the evil we see in the world. 

Like Job, we can try to demand answers from God. Like Job’s friends, we can pretend to know what all the answers are.  

But in the end, we realize, “I know nothing.” 

Only One truly knows and understand all things, and that isn’t us. (4)

So we have a choice. In our ignorance, we can rail against God. Or we can humble ourselves and say with Job,

I know that you can do anything
and no plan of yours can be thwarted. 

You asked, “Who is this who conceals my counsel with ignorance?”

Surely I spoke about things I did not understand,
things too wondrous for me to know. (Job 42:2-3)

At the beginning of the Proverbs, we saw these words, 

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7)

And again,

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (Proverbs 9:10)

We will never understand everything. But if we want to make a beginning, it starts with this: fear the Lord. And trust him. 

What will you choose?

Categories
Proverbs Devotionals

Using proverbs wisely

A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like lame legs that hang limp. (Proverbs 26:7)

A proverb in the mouth of a fool
is like a stick with thorns,
brandished by the hand of a drunkard. (9)

One mistake people make in reading the Bible is how they use proverbs. But as it says in the above proverbs, if you use them wrongly, they are worthless at best, and can be hurtful at worst. 

Take Job’s friends for example. Their mouths were full of proverbs. Paul even quotes one in the New Testament.

So their words in themselves weren’t wrong. (Job 5:13, 1 Corinthians 3:19)

But they were fools who did not know how to use them and caused great hurt to Job. 

Two important things to remember about Proverbs.

1. They are neither promises or guarantees. They are general truths of how the world God created works. And as with all general truths, there are always exceptions. 

So for example, the general truth that Job’s friends pointed out is that God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked.

But this does not mean that every person who is blessed on earth has God’s favor.

Nor does it mean that every person struggling in life is under God’s curse.

In this broken world, we see righteous people suffer and wicked people prosper. But the general truth holds, and in the end, God will bring justice to this world. 

Or take this general truth: 

Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6)

Is this a promise? I think we all know it is not.

But how many good parents have beaten themselves up over this verse because despite their best efforts, their child went down a wrong path? 

So be careful about accusing others or accusing yourself when reading these proverbs. 

2. Each proverb has a proper time to be used. 

Take a look at these two proverbs from today’s reading. 

Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness
or you’ll be like him yourself. 

Answer a fool according to his foolishness
or he’ll become wise in his own eyes. (4-5)

So which is it? Answer the fool or don’t answer him?

The answer: it depends. There are times when it’s best not to let yourself get dragged into an argument because all it will do is bring about a lot of heat and very little light. 

On the other hand, there are times when you need to say something because otherwise the other person will continue thinking that they are right, when in reality he is bringing harm to himself and others.  

So seek God’s wisdom on your best course of action. Both proverbs are wise…at the proper time. 

Let us always use the proverbs we find in the Bible with wisdom.