When the wise speak

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Proverbs 7-9; Psalm 150

TO CHEW ON: "Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
And from the opening of my lips will come right things." Proverbs 8:6

One of my favourite down-time activities is to watch reality shows on the Food Network. I love the contestants' ingenuity with food and seeing the amazing creations they come up with in limited time. But there is one thing I don't enjoy—the profanities used by many contestants. The beeper is busy and still some leak through.

These brilliant cooks may be wise about food but according to the writer of today's reading, could they be lacking in other wisdom? For wisdom here identifies herself largely by what comes out of one's mouth.

What does come out of the mouth of a wise person?

Right things, excellent things, truth, words spoken with righteousness, nothing perverse or crooked, plain understandable speech, instruction, knowledge.

The Bible speaks of speech in other places too:

• A wise person "spares his words"  and is "of a calm spirit" - Proverbs 17:27.

• Jesus advises us to make simple promise which are kept - Matthew 5:37.

• Paul tells the Colossians that their speech should be "always with grace" - Colossians 4:6.

• However, James reminds us that none of us is perfect in this department - James 3:2-18.

Oops! Maybe I'd better take a closer look at myself. What is my speech like when I get upset, am under pressure, on the offensive? Always gracious and excellent? Never perverse? I know too that unwise words nurtured in my thoughts may one day spill out. Perhaps I'd better attend to my own unwise thoughts and words before I point fingers at others.

What about you?

PRAYER: Dear God, help me with my pesky tongue. Actually, help me to go one step back and root out unwise thoughts that, if allowed to grow, will produce a harvest of unwise words. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 150

***********

The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. - Used with permission.

What is "the voice of the LORD" to you?

 "The erection of the Tabernacle and the Sacred vessels"

as in Exodus 40:17-19; from the 1728 Figures de la Bible*

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Exodus 35-40; Psalm 29

TO CHEW ON: "The voice of the LORD is powerful;
The voice of the LORD is full of majesty." Psalm 29:4

The phrase "The voice of the LORD" repeats seven times in this psalm. In this way David draws our attention to God's (Yahweh's) presence, especially in nature where God's voice is over the waters (recalling the scene of creation), breaks and splinters cedars, divides the flames, shakes the wilderness, and causes the deer to give birth. It truly is a powerful, majestic voice.

The Bible speaks of God's voice in other settings as well. God's voice:

• Filled Adam and Eve with terror after they had sinned - Genesis 3:8.

• Gave Moses instructions for the building of the tabernacle, including who he was to enlist to make these things (Exodus 25-31). Though these Exodus passages don’t describe the sound of God’s voice, the content of His instructions is full of technical detail, precise measurement, the knowledge of how to make things, and how to make them beautiful. (with our reading today describing how all these instructions were carried out.) 

• Spoke "still" and "small" to weary Elijah - 1 Kings 19:12.

• Came to the aid of His people - Isaiah 66:6.

• Gave Ezekiel glimmerings of His glory and majesty - Ezekiel 43:2.

• Vanquished a powerful king - Daniel 4:31.

• Witnessed that Jesus was God the Son - Matthew 17:5; 2 Peter 1:17.

The "voice of God," as David uses it here, is actually a literary device called synecdoche: "A figure of speech in which a part of something indicates the whole" - Poetry Dictionary p. 312. It is similar to metonymy which uses an object associated with something to indicate the whole (e.g. we talk of "crown" when we mean "royalty.").

And so, it is not really God's voice per se that we're talking about but God Himself as we envision and experience Him in various ways.

I ask myself, if I wrote a psalm or poem using synecdoche, what part of God would I choose? His voice, or maybe His hands, or heart, or thoughts, or feet?

If I used His voice, what kind of 'voice of the Lord' poem or paragraph would I write? What about you? In other words, how do we view and how have we experienced God?

Has our view of Him been affected by how our society sees and portrays Him--distant and disinterested? Limited by the evil around us? A prudish potentate who doesn't want us to have any fun? A soft grandfatherly figure who, in the end, will welcome us all into heaven because we've done the best we could?

Or does our view of Him reflect how the Bible portrays Him? Are we open to see and know Him in new biblically based ways?

PRAYER: Dear God, I think my concept of who You are has been affected by my culture and its portrayal of You.  Help me to experience You as the holy, righteous, powerful, majestic, creative, glorious etc. etc. deity of the Bible. Amen.  

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 29

 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

* Photo attribution: By illustrators of the 1728 Figures de la Bible, Gerard Hoet (1648–1733) and others, published by P. de Hondt in The Hague in 1728 - http://www.wcg.org/images/b2/_0303160501_038.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9416912

A changed man

Apostles Baptized with the Holy Spirit (From Treasures of the Bible).

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Acts 2:22-39

TO CHEW ON: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’” Acts 2:37

Yesterday we read the end of Mark, where Jesus commissions His disciples to  spread the good news of all that has happened (Mark 16:15-18). Bible scholars believe that the book of Mark is Peter’s account of events surrounding the life and death of Jesus as told to his close companion John Mark (calls him “my son” in 1 Peter 5:13).

It’s interesting to contrast the fearful and foundation-rocked Peter of just before the crucifixion (Luke 22:31-34; 54-62) to the Peter we see here. In just over 50 days, in the interim never attending an hour of Bible school or Theology college, he is a changed man. Now he is confident, bold, articulate, insightful, absolutely clear about what all the events and happenings regarding Jesus mean, and how they fit into God’s plan revealed in the Old Testament. How does that difference come about?

I’m sure this new Peter is the result of what has just happened—the giving of the Holy Spirit baptism - Acts 2:1-14. Jesus had told the disciples to wait with carrying out their assignment of telling the gospel until after they had received the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:48,49). They had done so and it wouldn’t surprise me if the outcome shocked even them.

So much was available to the disciples and is available to us through the Holy Spirit:

• Given by Christ - Matthew 3:11.

• We can ask for Him - Luke 11:13.

• He is called Helper - John 14:16; 16:7.

• He gives power for witness and ministry - Acts 1:8.

• He gives unique abilities to prophesy and speak in other tongues - Acts 19:6.

• His anointing comes with downloads of knowledge (1 John 2:20,27) including what to say in dangerous situations (Luke 12:12; Mark 13:11) and an ability to remember Christ’s relevant words and teachings (John 14:26).

• He reassures us we are God’s children - Romans 8:16.

• He teaches and enlightens us in spiritual truth - 1 Corinthians 2:13.

This is only a partial list but we get the idea. It is through the Holy Spirit that Peter becomes an eloquent and bold speaker in a day and it is that same Spirit that accompanies, changes, and empowers us!

PRAYER: Dear Father, I ask for courage and faith to make more of myself available to Your Holy Spirit. Amen.

 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Prophetic words of knowledge

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 21:17-29

TO CHEW ON: "Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite saying, 'Arise, go down to meet Ahab King of Israel, who lives in Samaria. There he is in the vineyard of Naboth where he has gone down to take possession of it.'" 1 Kings 21:17-18

The sordid little tale of Ahab and Jezebel setting up the murder of Naboth so that Ahab could get the plot he wanted for his vegetable garden reminds us of similar intrigues. For example there was the scheme of David in arranging for the demise of Uriah so that he could cover up the fact that he got Bathsheba pregnant (2 Samuel 11:1-12:15). In both Ahab's and David's cases God sent one of his prophets to expose the sin and impose the punishment.

This kind of prophetic exposure of secrets and sin didn't happen only in the Old Testament. Jesus had such an encounter with a Samaritan woman (John 4:16-42). When Ananias and Sapphira conspired to give a false impression about their offering, Peter knew (Acts 5:3). He confronted them with their sin of lying to the Holy Spirit and both died, on that very day. (Read the whole story in Acts 5:1-11) 

Which just shows us that we can't sneak around on God. He knows what's up and has His ways of bringing our sin into the light.

The part Elijah played in the Naboth garden story also has something to teach us. The fearful, depressed, even suicidal man from our reading a couple of days ago (1 Kings 19:4) has disappeared. In his place we see the old Elijah, ready to leave on God's assignments at a moment's notice. Answering Ahab's wry, "'Have you found me, O my enemy,'" with the authority of his Boss: "'I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord'" - 1 Kings 21:20)

I ask myself, would I be as quick to carry out such an intimidating task? Would I be as unquestioning, as Elijah seems to be, of later fallout for myself (remember, Jezebel had recently threatened his life)? Such an example puts new flesh on the bones of verses like, "I have been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to live transparently before You. May I be as completely at Your beck and call as Elijah was. Amen.

********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Do your 8-12-year-olds have daily devotions? Point them to Bible Drive-Thru.

Shades of wisdom

Image: Pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Proverbs 8:1-19

TO CHEW ON:  "I love those who love me,
And those who seek me diligently will find me." Proverbs 8:17

This chapter, titled "The Excellence of Wisdom" in my Bible, is a poem about wisdom (actually by wisdom, for Wisdom speaks as if a person throughout).

In the part of Proverbs 8 that is our reading today, wisdom describes herself. Let's look through these 19 verses to compile a list of wisdom's attributes as stated and shown in them.

Wisdom is:

• Bold - The way this chapter starts out with wisdom crying out from hilltops, crossroads and city gates brings to mind another kind of woman. It's as if wisdom, knowing the importance of persuading people to her way is not above using the wiles of the loose woman (Proverbs 9:13-17).
• Prudent: "O you simple ones, understand prudence…" Proverbs 8:5,12.
• Understanding - "… you fools, be of an understanding heart" - Proverbs 8:5,15.
• Recognized and identified by speech - "Listen for I will speak of excellent things, And from the opening of my lips will come right things" - Proverbs 8:6.
• Truthful - "For my mouth will speak truth" - Proverbs 8:8.
• Righteous - "All the words of my mouth are righteousness - Proverbs 8:8, 20. Wisdom also is the fear of God that "hates … the evil way" - Proverbs 8:13,20.
• Not given to perversion - "… nothing crooked or perverse is in them" (the words of her mouth) - Proverbs 8:8, 13.
• A clear communicator - Her words are "… plain to him who understands" - Proverbs 8:9.
• Valuable - Wisdom's instruction is compared to silver, gold and rubies - Proverbs 8:10,11, 18, 19.
• Knowledge - "Receive … knowledge" - Proverbs 8:10, 12.
• Discretion - "I wisdom … find out … discretion" - Proverbs 8:12.
• Humble - "Pride and arrogance … I hate" - Proverbs 8:13.
• Good advice - "Counsel is mine" - Proverbs 8:14.
• Necessary for rulers, nobles and judges - Proverbs 8:15,16.
• A kindred spirit  - "I love those who love me" - Proverbs 8:17.
• Discoverable - "… those who seek me diligently will find me" - Proverbs 8:17.
• Just - "I traverse the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of justice" - Proverbs 8:20.
• A means to achieve success - "That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth" - Proverbs 8:18,21.

 What stands out for me in this list is that Wisdom—this amazing quality of the companion of the Creator and fellow crafter of the Earth (Proverbs 8:30) is available to those who seek it/her. Bible characters that were gifted with wisdom, like Samuel and Solomon, come to mind. But this gift of wisdom is also available to us moderns.

In reading Ravi Zacharias's memoir, Walking from East to West, I was shocked to discover that  all through elementary and high school Dr. Zacharias (known worldwide for his ability to understand philosophy and defend the Bible) was a miserable failure as a student. His despair at his inability to perform and his fear that he would be a failure in life and a great disappointment to his father were responsible for him attempting suicide as a teen.

But all that changed when he accepted Christ.  In his own words: "During those intense months (following his conversion), as I gobbled up every morsel of learning I could, something changed in my life, causing an about-face I never would have expected: I became a voracious reader" - Ravi Zacharias, Walking From East to West, p. 110.

I would submit that when Jesus entered Ravi Zacharias's life, one of the things he brought was wisdom.

I want to be wise—don't you? Let's take the words of Proverbs 8 and James 1:5-8 to heart and ask God for it.


PRAYER: Dear God, may I be a lover of true wisdom—one who lives wisely in thought, word, and action. Amen.

 *********
Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.