Hear Humbly, Gain Wisdom

 Proverbs 12:15

The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.

James 3:17

The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Proverbs 15:22

 Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed. 

Proverbs 13:10

By insolence comes nothing but strife, but with those who take advice is wisdom.

Proverbs 11:14

Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.

Proverbs 19:20-21

Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future. Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Proverbs 1:7

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 27:6

Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

Proverbs 15:31-33

He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself, But he who listens to reproof acquires understanding. The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, and before honor comes humility. - 

Distinguished

Have you ever wondered why God hardened Pharaoh's heart?  I've grappled with that more than a few times.  It seems so contrary to what most people consider to be "loving".  I mean, after all, If God was a "loving God" wouldn't He want someone's heart to soften and believe?  

2 Thessalonians 2:10 tells us that those who are perishing are doing so because "they refuse to love the truth and so be saved".   Pharaoh's heart was not a heart that loved the truth.  He may have become convinced and fearful of the truth after God send plague after plague, but in no way did he love the truth.  He refused to love the truth, inspite of the fact that it testifies completely to The One True God who is sovereign over all.  So when he seemed ready to concede, it's no wonder why God would harden his heart.   You see, Pharaoh not only worshipped many many gods, he also thought he was a god.  To the rest of the Egyptian and Hebrew world looking on, it probably just seemed like a simple ordinary match between dualing gods.  I can almost hear it now, "Ding! round two!"  But there is nothing ordinary about what happened between God and Pharaoh and his gods.  There is nothing ordinary about God at all.  

When God hardened Pharaoh's heart I believe He did so for the purpose of making it clear that the God of the Hebrews is the One and Only God worthy of worship.  He can not be expected to receive the same lame praise and adoration that the masses would give a demonically empowered god.  No.  God has always been distinguished.  Pharaoh was merely a testy little defiant cockerel who dared to challenge God by shaking his fist in His face and puffing out his chest, calling upon his magicians as if they could contend with God's power.  Their tricks, though empowered by demons were only good for wowing the masses.  But God, in harding Pharaoh's heart, laid low every Egyptian and Hebrew soul that had breath in the land.  And every single one of them saw God for the distinguished Sovereign that He is.  

God is still distinguished.  And He still demands that those who represent Him be distinguished.  There shouldn't ever be a "Christian" who easily blends in with the wicked.  Like the Hebrews, God desires that you be free.  Nothing should have mastery over you.  And when you allow yourself to become compromised with sin, when you allow your life to take on the appearance of someone who does not have a distinguished all powerful sovereign God, you make God out to look puny, like any other deity  who is so unimpressive that he's easily ignored.   God is not your God if you live such a life.  But God is a God who will distinguish Himself, even if you refuse to acknowledge His Glory.  

Dare you be like Pharaoh?  Will you shake your fist at God and refuse to love the truth?  Or will you be like the chosen, who humble themselves under God, obeying His rules and commands?  He will be distinguished. The question is, are you?  Do you obviously belong to God, or do you spend your life blending in being indistinguishable?  God has never been interested in being compromised in such a way.   

Colossians 1:22     

"He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him"

   

             

Git Ur Eyes Off Me!

Made you look!  Ok ok, no more dramatic plays to suck you into my thought life.  From now on I'll stay on topic.

Have you ever been told by your parents, "It's impolite to stare"?  I would guess that every single one of us were taught this as children.  Yet, it's really sometimes hard not to glance twice at someone who's maybe lost a limb or been scarred by fire.  It's just natural for our eyes to to notice things and even for our eyes to maybe do a double take when we see something that gets our minds working and wondering.  I'm guessing it's just curiosity.  But maybe it could be fear too.  I don't know about you, but when I see someone who's got scars I find myself praying for those I love and myself that God would spare us such a painful ordeal that would leave any of us horribly scarred.  I also pray for the person who's plight caught my attention.  

You know, the same thing happens to us when we notice someone who is spiritually compromised in an obvious way.  Just as it's a discipline to not stare at someone with a physical deformity, so it is a spiritual discipline not to fixate upon someone who is in an obvious state of spiritual compromise.  I mean, it's really hard not to notice the unwed woman with the baby bump.  And it's hard not to notice the blood shot eyes of an alcoholic, or the fact that your friend or family member now has another new last name because they have divorced their husband or wife and got remarried.  These things are just right in front of us, and they are obvious testimonies to the moral failure on the part of the one who's caught our eye.  Yet, still, it's impolite to stare.  

It's so easy to say that we are all sinners.  And I know I've talked about this before, but the simple truth is, not everyone is a sinner like some are sinners.  Some of us have managed to steer clear of obvious sin.  One could really congratulate himself for the way he manages to stay away from the door of the adulteress if he wanted to.  And to a point, his self praise would be valid.  But at the same time, if we could look into that man's heart, we just might find something shameful that he's managed to nurse in it's quiet chambers.  This obviously is impossible for any of us to do.  But with God, it is not only possible, it most certainly happens moment by moment.

How fortunate we, who have "kept our way pure", are to be able to skate through this life with our sin neatly hidden away from appraising eyes.  "Phew!"  Right?  What a glass house that is!  On one hand we are commendable.  Yet I hope we all know that in reality there is NO ONE who is righteous.  So I guess we can all wipe our smug little smiles off our faces and fall to our knees in repentance just like those who bear the obvious shame of their sin.  

When I think of this subject, I can't help but think of Psalm 119.  The perfect prayer.  It is filled with confession and repentant pleas for mercy.  All of them made by the man said to be "a man after God's own heart".  I wonder if I'm a woman after God's own heart?  I do.  I wish I could say that I am.  Because I'd like to be.  Like the psalmist, I'd love for my eyes to be kept from worthless things.  And I'd love for God to teach me, and give me understanding.  I'd love for Him to love me with His everlasting love and find no fault within me.  But there is fault in me.  It's just as blazingly obvious to God as the baby bump on the unwed woman is obvious to me.   

In Psalm 19 the psalmist asks the question, "Who can discern his errors?"  Sometimes our sin is so sneaky within us that we don't even get it that it's sin. But following that question the psalmist says, 

"Declare me innocent from hidden faults.  Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!  Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression."   Psalm 19:12-14

There is one advantage that the one caught in sin has over the one who's sin is secret and undiscovered by others.  Those who's sin has been exposed are directly confronted with it and their need of forgiveness.  The rest of us, who's sin is secret and less obvious are dependent upon God to search and destroy our hidden faults.  I'm so thankful that He's willing to do this.  I'm so thankful that He didn't just leave me thinking that because I don't have an obvious scar from my sin that I'm ok.   Because I'm seriously not ok.  My heart is sick with the evil He shows me.  And I never knew I was capable of such things as He's shown me.  But to see what the psalmist prayed and to pray them myself, I know that like him, and anyone else who repents, God will have mercy on me too.  Though I do not deserve it any more than anyone else.  

It may be impolite to stare.  And it may be a discipline to turn your eyes away from the obvious moral failures of others.  But the greater discipline is to look inward and do some soul searching with God.  What an endeavor!  And what a relief when He purges your life of the sin that is blazingly obvious to Him.