Be Careful

As I read through Numbers 28, the laws for offerings laid down by the Lord for the nation of Israel, I am most struck by a warning He gives at the very beginning of that chapter. 

You shall be careful to present my offering...

Through Jesus we now can approach the throne of grace in gladness, and boldly, for we are His children, redeemed by the sacrifice of our Savior. We have access any time, for any matter.

But I know that I, like many, probably take that for granted much of the time.

Yes, we have unlimited access. Yes, He is concerned about all that concerns us. Yes. He loves us and wants us to approach Him.

But do we always do it with the reverence and awe, with the praise and thankfulness that we should?

I cannot say that I do, after all I am a sinful being in a fallen world; it took the death of His Son for me to be able to come before Him, acceptable in His sight.

Yes, I want to come before my Father continuously, for both praise and worship, to ask for wisdom and mercy.

But let me never take it for granted.

For where would I be if He took me for granted?

The Never Ending Post - Part III

Why do we try to go it alone when there are those who would help us along the way? We can seek out advice and sort out answers if we only stop and ask those who have our interests in mind and care enough to share their thoughts with us. Proverbs 24:6 states you need many counselors for victory.

Is it that you cannot win on your own? Or is it not victory unless you share it with others? Or are you just not smart enough to do it by yourself? Or is it we are to seek out others so that we learn also to seek out God? It seems the more I speak to others the less I realize I actually know myself. Some form of victory comes from being humble enough to know what you do not know.

But who to ask? I cannot believe victory comes from seeking counsel from those who are no wiser than myself. Maybe it comes form listening to people who do not always tell you what you want to hear, the wisdom of knowing in your heart what you hear is right even though you fight it in your head. (Here is an interesting sidebar. I went for my annual eye exam this past Saturday, convinced I needed a new prescription. I told the eye doctor that I felt my vision had changed quite a bit. When you have worn glasses as long as I have, you know when you have to move your head to get clear vision more than usual. The exam yielded no change of any significance, no change in prescription strength. I was puzzled, so was the eye doctor. Until I told him about the nose pad I had lost a month or so ago that I never got around to replacing. Seems the glasses were not sitting on my face quite the right way. Victory in an abundance of counselors. Duh.)

Maybe the victory comes over self, over realizing the limitations one has, which are often fogged from view by the mists of pride.

It is not enough to be smart enough to hear, you have to take that step to listen to what you heard.

Technorati Tags: The Never Ending Post, victory, counselors, wisdom

A Voice Softly

If you debate for even one second when God has spoken, it is all over for you. Never start to say, "Well, I wonder if He really did speak to me?" Be reckless immediately— totally unrestrained and willing to risk everything— by casting your all upon Him. You do not know when His voice will come to you, but whenever the realization of God comes, even in the faintest way imaginable, be determined to recklessly abandon yourself, surrendering everything to Him. It is only through abandonment of yourself and your circumstances that you will recognize Him. You will only recognize His voice more clearly through recklessness— being willing to risk your all.
Oswald Chambers - My Utmost For His Highest: June 18 Devotional

God does not always boom away in our lives, sometimes the voice voice is soft. Always sure, but sometimes soft. I usually need to be hit with a 2 x 4, but I think in His infinite mercy, He wants to stop putting splinters in my head. I need to listen closely, quietly at times, then move decisively on what He is saying to me.

That is why we need quiet time before the Lord. To listen, but more importantly, to hear.

Listening to His voice, hearing what He has to say. Getting the wisdom and strength to proceed along His path, my Narrow Road.

One Smart Guy

I think one of the smartest guys in the Bible is the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8. Not because he had an intuitive grasp of the Word of God (he didn't), not because he was a eunuch (I am not going there), not because of the ability he had that let him rise to a high position of a court official to the Ethipian queen (although he did). He was smart because of what he did when he met Philip:

³⁰Philip ran up and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

³¹And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

Acts 8:30-31 (NASB)

The eunuch knew he didn't understand the Scripture he was reading and invited Philip to teach him. How smart, how wise is it to understand our limitations, our short comings, our deficiencies, our ignorance. How wise is it to be willing to be teachable, and to invite those who can educate and edify us to do so.

None of us fully understands the Word of God, the teachings of Jesus. All of us can stand a little more schooling. How wise it is to seek it out, and when finding it, invite the learning and the learned into our minds so as to invite the Lord more deeply into our hearts.

How True

Wisdom.

Wisdom or Eloquence

Having both is worth striving for.

To quote Cicero in De Inventione Rhetorica (On Rhetoric)

"wisdom without eloquence is of little use to society, while eloquence without wisdom is frequently extremely prejudicial to it, never of any use."

I am not reading Cicero, I am reading Augustine (De Doctrina Christiana - Teaching Christianity). It appears he is reading Cicero. Probably in the original language.

While you want both wisdom and eloquence, you have to opt for wisdom first. Eloquence sans wisdom at best is useless, but can be very detrimental. History bears testament to that fact. Wisdom sans eloquence can at least can have some marginal benefit.

As this post so aptly attests to.

The Finger of God

I am doing some research for a paper for seminary today. I am doing some reading as well. I am also starting a homework assignment. Some interrelated multi-tasking.

I am also struggling a bit, it almost feels like quicksand. Don't know why, but the work has been a struggle the past few days. But I am keeping at it. And in my work some imagery has come to mind. The finger of God.

The finger of God. It is imagery from Exodus 31:18; Moses coming down Mount Sinai, carrying two tablets of testimony, written by the finger of God. It is imagery from Proverbs 3:3 and 7:3; writing kindness and truth and wisdom on the tablet of your heart.

Good stuff being written in stone; being written on your heart. But there is also imagery in Jeremiah 17:1 of the sins of Judah being engraved on the tablet of their heart. And doesn't the process of engraving in the case of this sin just sound more painful than the writing of Proverbs? So sometimes His finger is something you really do not want to deal with.

So I am now looking for His finger to write on my heart; wisdom, truth, kindness, courage and some perseverance. I am looking for the good stuff, not the bad.

I am looking for Him to write on my heart, because I think I have been poking myself in the eye lately.