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July 2014

Daily Bible thoughts 672: Thursday 31st July 2014:

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

” I told myself…that to be able to see the spot where Dietrich had managed, against all odds, to train young men for the ministry not in the state church but in the newly formed Confessing Church whose pastors refused to take the loyalty oath to Hitler, was important for our pilgrimage. Every day they risked their lives. Every day they stood against the Nazi machine, witnessing to another reality, an alternative truth and a transformed community.” Jim Belcher: ‘In search of Deep Faith’, p.10.

As we know, there were so – called ‘super apostles’ influencing the church in Corinth. These braggarts lifted themselves up and put Paul down. Shepherds care for the flock but false teachers ‘fleece’ the sheep (20). Spiritual abuse was taking place in that congregation. In speaking about ”boasting”, Paul is being ironic. There is more than a hint of sarcasm in his words. Paul’s boast was not about Himself, but it was of the Lord and His strength (30). His aim was to bring praise to God (31). His very weakness made him more deeply reliant on God’s resources, and that meant God’s glory shone all the more brightly in him and through him.

A key message of 2 Corinthians is that suffering is the badge of authenticity. It was clear to see that the persecuted Paul was the genuine article, and that the proud, egotistical false teachers were not. Here is a test of genuineness: ‘How much are you prepared to suffer for your faith?’ There are two words repeated frequently in today’s passage. They are ”in danger”. That was Paul’s life story. He was ‘Danger Man!’ His life was constantly under threat. How different he was to the mouthy imposters. They had flashy words; Paul had outstanding character. His life was lived under constant threat, and he endured so much privation for the sake of Christ. Never lose sight of the fact that it is always dangerous to be a Christian, although some believers are forced to face this reality more than others. But it’s always true.

Another key word in the passage is ”more”(23). There was so much more to Paul than there was to the false apostles, and that more came from God ultimately. But genuine people, have you noticed, are prepared to give so much more of themselves, and do more, and put up with more for the cause of Jesus?

It is possible to read this bit of the Bible and feel guilty that you don’t suffer anything like Paul did. But would you want to? No, neither do I? I don’t think God intends us to feel such shame. We can’t make ourselves suffer, nor should we try. But the question to face is this: ‘Are you prepared to live faithfully, openly and honestly for Jesus in the culture in which God has placed you? And, the Lord helping you, are you prepared to take whatever hostility may come your way for standing up as a Christian and living the Jesus way?’ In ‘In search of deep faith’ , Jim Belcher tells how he and his wife and young family of two girls and two boys, took a year out and travelled across Europe on a ‘pilgrimage’, visiting sites connected to great heroes of the faith like Corrie Ten Boom, William Wilberforce, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and C.S.Lewis. They started out in Oxford and visited the place where Nicholas Ridley, Hugh Latimer and Thomas Cranmer were martyred. Belcher used this trip to teach his children important truths about the life of discipleship whilst ‘on the go’ ”I asked them if they would be willing to be burned at the stake for their beliefs. They didn’t answer. ”Or would you recant,” I asked them, ”and say you don’t really believe in order to save your life?” They laughed nervously. I pushed a little harder, with a little more enthusiasm…You may never have to face that dilemma, I told them, but what if someday someone asks you if you are a Christian? Will you deny it? How strong are your convictions, your roots?…will you just keep quiet about what you believe and go with the flow of those around you?” (p.27).

Allow yourself to feel the force of these questions. They are important for us all.

Prayer: Lord, I never want to deny you or let you down. Let me never be ashamed of you.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 671: Wednesday 30th July 2014:

Isaiah 26: 12-21

We need to be able to openly acknowledge that all we have achieved that is good and genuine is actually God’s work (12), and that the growth and extension of the ”nation” (think ‘church’) is God’s doing for God’s glory (15). There is no place for boasting: ””all that we have accomplished you have done for us”. One of our greatest idolatries is that of self. We so easily set up monuments to ourselves, as Saul did, or erect pillars to ourselves as Absalom did. We become proud of our achievements. May God write: ”Hallowed be your Name” upon our hearts so that we seek His glory alone (8): ”everything we’ve done, you’ve done for us.” The Message. It was God who had delivered them from the oppression of foreign kings who once ruled over them (13, 14). They could not pat themselves on the back for this. The victory and the growth came from God and all the glory was to flow back to Him.

There are also times when we have to openly and vulnerably admit our failure (16-18). There are moments when we have to confess that we have not fully lived up to our calling; that we have not been as fruitful as God intended. Maybe we have been totally unfruitful. It’s no use pretending otherwise if that is the case. Isaiah looks backward from the prophetic future into his own day. Israel had suffered so much throughout her history, but the prophet said, ‘It’s all to no avail.’ Israel had gone through the pains of child birth, but there was no child to show for the agony. God’s purpose in establishing the nation of Israel was that she would be a blessing to the world (Gen.12:3), but by Isaiah’s time that had not happened. Only through Christ, the true seed of Abraham, would God’s original promise to Abraham be fulfilled (Gen.22:18; Gal.3:16, 29). ”Nothing came of our labour. We produced nothing living. We couldn’t save the world.” The Message.

Years ago I underlined the words of verse 19 in my Bible, as I saw them relating to the New Testament teaching about the ‘rapture’, the catching away of the church (1 Thess. 4:13-18) to meet Jesus at His second coming. Way back in the Scriptures we find this magnificent teaching about God’s victory over death (see also 25:7, 8). These words in Isaiah are among the clearest utterances in the Old Testament on the subject of resurrection. Note the apparently contradictory concepts of giving birth and death, but God is going to work a miracle. There is going to be a new day for the righteous dead when they awake to the freshness of a brand new morning. No wonder Bishop Thomas Ken wrote: ”Teach me to live that I may dread, the grave as little as my bed.” May God help us to view death through His eyes.

This sinful world has had a bloody history. Countless atrocities have been committed and many have sought to cover up their dastardly crimes. But a day is coming when all will be revealed (20, 21). Numerous ‘Abels’ have been slain, but God knows about it (Gen.4:10). He knows where they lie in the earth. Every crime will be exposed and judged. And all who have died in the love of God will joyfully rise to live in the presence of God (19). In the meantime, while the earth is judged, there will be a hiding place for God’s people, just as Noah’s family ‘hid’ in the ark during the flood (Genesis 6-8), and the Israelites ‘hid’ in their houses during the time of the first Passover (Ex.12:21-23).

Prayer: thank you Lord for the ‘blessed hope’ of seeing you and being with you forever. May this thought affect my life every single day. ‘We are an Easter people, and Hallelujah is our song.’

 

 

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 670: Tuesday 29th July 2014:

Isaiah 26:1-11

The praise continues! As with the previous two chapters, Isaiah is looking towards the end of the world and the time of ultimate victory. But even now his inspired words have much to teach us. There are vital principles in this chapter, which are repeated in other parts of the Bible, and they have a relevance to life in this world now.

This is a passage written in the heat of strong spiritual desire (8, 9). There is a deep longing for God’s glory (8b), and for Him to do something in the world to set things right (9b). But the reality we face is that not everyone will be responsive to God (10). The same sun that melts butter hardens clay! Some will ”learn righteousness” and some won’t. There are those who are totally unable to see the seriousness of the situation they are in (11); they are oblivious to the threat of judgment hanging over them.

Here are some things to remember about God that will make your heart sing (1a):

  • He makes strong (1b): But the thing to remember is that this ”city” was not always so. It has come through some bad stuff to get here. If, today, your ‘walls’ are broken down and your life is in ruins, you too can know His salvation.
  • He opens doors (2; Rev.3:7; see also John 10:9)
  • He gives peace (3, 4; see Phil.4:4-9). He keeps people in ”perfect peace” if they have a ”steadfast” mind fixed on Him, at the back of which there is continual ”Trust”. We can know stability in an unstable world because of the ”Rock” – like sturdiness of our God Three times it is emphasised that He is ”the LORD” (4). He’s in total charge of everything!Trust in Him should be an eternal ‘project’ and not just a fleeting thing. To have ‘perfect’ peace, always trust. You keep your mind where it needs to be, and He will keep your heart where it wants (and needs) to be – in this sublime, supernatural tranquility. If you play your part (by His grace of course) then He will do His work. In reality, we will not know the fullness of this perfect peace until we are finally with God forever, but even now we can have a big foretaste. God does not want us to live in anxiety. B. Meyer points out that the Hebrew for ”perfect peace” is ”Peace, peace”, then he makes this most wonderful application: ”As though the soul dwelt in double doors, like some chambers which we have entered, which had double windows against the noise of the street, and a baize door within the ordinary one to deaden the sound of voices from the next apartment. Understand, dear soul, that it is thy privilege to live inside the double doors of God’s loving care. He says to thee, ”Peace, peace.”…We remember how, on the evening of his resurrection, our Lord spoke the double peace. Peace, because of his wounds, the peace of the justified; and peace because He was sending his apostles forth, as the Father had sent Him…We must see to it that our mind is stayed on God…It is through our imaginings that we get perturbed and defiled. We anticipate and fancy so many ogres; we harbour such dark forebodings…Do not imagine, but trust; do not anticipate, but leave God to choose.”
  • He humbles pride (5, 6; see 28:3). We must never forget that ”God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”(James 4:6)
  • He prepares the paths for our feet (7). These are right paths, but they are not necessarily easy ones. Above all, we are called to walk in the way of God’s ”laws” (8). Those who do that in a world hostile to God are asking for a whole lot of trouble, and they will almost certainly get it. But He makes our ways ”level” and ”smooth” in the sense that they are the right and best ways to travel; whereas the path of the wicked leads to ‘‘shame’’ and (Note too that this is how we are to pray: not asking God for stuff while we just do our own thing. Our prayers will be most effective when we wait for God whilst ”walking in the way” of His ”laws”; not pursuing our own will, but His agenda).

Prayer: Help me Lord to live in your ‘Peace, peace’ – closed in behind your double doors.

 

 

 

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 669: Monday 28th July 2014:

Isaiah 25

Here Isaiah now addresses God instead of the people and worships Him. Looking on beyond this calamitous judgment we have read about in chapter 24, he can praise God for working out His great purposes (1); His ”well-thought-out plans, solid and sure.” The Message.. He can see that through judgment people, who otherwise would not do, will come to honour God (2,3). We may be surprised by certain ‘conversions’. Some will only come to God through His ‘severe mercies’. That is a sad and sobering fact. ”Superpowers will see it and honour you, brutal oppressors bow in worshipful reverence.” The Message. Isaiah can also see God’s goodness to the remnant who have trusted Him through the terrible storm (4, 5 and 9) God provides: ”a warm , dry place in bad weather, provides a cool place when it’s hot.” The Message. God is like the cloud that blots out the hot rays, offering a safe place of comfort and protection.

There are three things mentioned here that we know God did ”On this mountain…” , i.e. in Jerusalem, though the death of His Son:

  1. He has prepared a lavish banquet of spiritual blessings for ”all” who will trust in Christ (6; see also Ephesians 1:3) ”…a feast for all the people of the world, a feast of the finest foods, a feast with vintage wines, a feast of seven courses, a feast lavish with gourmet desserts.” The Message;
  1. He has destroyed death ”for ever”. (7,8; see also 1 Corinthians 15: 26, 54 and Revelation 21:4);
  1. He has defeated all His enemies (10-12). Moab here symbolises all nations that set themselves up against God. Moab’s sin was pride (Isaiah 16:6), and in (25:12) her ”high fortified walls” symbolize that pride, and the pride of all people who will not submit to God. It remains true that ”God opposes the proud” (1 Peter 5:5). In The Message there is a picture painted of Moab drowning in a cesspool: ”like swimmers trying to stay afloat, They’ll sink in the sewage. Their pride will pull them under.” We can all learn from this.

Prayer: Thank you Lord that your eternal purposes will prevail, and no enemy will stop you from doing what you intend. Jesus, we celebrate your victory – and, amazingly, we who trust you share it!

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 668: Friday 25th July 2014:

 Isaiah 24:14-23

” Chapter 24 begins the long apocalyptic vision of the Day of the Lord, which continues until chapter 27. It seems impossible to give it any certain historical background, and it was probably intended to be an ideal description of the last great judgment which will engulf the whole world. The horizon is very black except for the bright gleam of light that appears in verse 23, and which leads on to the burst of praise in chapter 25, just as chapter 12 follows chapter 11.” Search the Scriptures p.293

Ultimately there is going to be a new heaven and earth (2 Pet.3:11-13; Rev.21:1). There the ”LORD Almighty will reign (Is.24:23) in the new Jerusalem (Rev.21:2-5) In this holy city the light of God Himself will be so bright that the sun and moon will not be needed (Rev.21:22-24); they will be ”abashed” and ”ashamed” in the light of God Himself (Is.24:23). God’s reign on this new ”Mount Zion’’ will be glorious, as Isaiah had earlier prophesied (2:2-4). But before that there are terrible times to come for the whole earth. A chapter which began with a message of judgment for all people in the world (1-3), concludes with similar words for ”the powers in the heavens” (21; see Eph.6:11, 12).”That’s when GOD will call on the carpet rebel powers in the skies and Rebel kings on earth. They’ll be rounded up like prisoners in a jail, Corralled and locked up in a jail, and then sentenced and put to hard labour.” The Message.

There is hope however, for a remnant will be saved (14 – 16), and they will come from ”the ends of the earth” (16; see Mark 13:26, 27). In (16) Isaiah says ”I waste away”. He is speaking as a representative of this godly few who will be spared. They too will suffer before the end. But the ungodly ”people of the earth” will not escape God’s judgment (17, 18). ”Terror and pits and booby traps are everywhere, whoever you are.” The Message

In (18-20) Isaiah describes the ‘shaking apart’ of the earth. Not only will the earth’s inhabitants be ”burned up” (6), but the earth itself will be destroyed (2 Peter 3:7, 10; Rev.6:12-14).

Although we cannot fully grasp how all of this will be worked out, it is obvious that serious times lie ahead for the world before the glorious return and reign of Jesus over all the earth, and in the new universe to come. It will be hard on believers in the run up to the end, but it will be utterly devastating for those who do not have true faith. Judgment must come because of sin (5, 6: sin leads to a ”Therefore”. It has consequences. See also 20)

As believers we have to face the truth about sin and what it is going to lead to. But we do not need to be pessimists; we can be optimists. Let us keep our eyes focused on Jesus and all that is to come when He reigns. Someone summed up the book of Revelation like this: ”Things are going to get a lot worse before they get a lot better; then things are going to get a lot better after they have got a lot worse!”

We do well to maintain this balanced vision.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for giving us a map by which to navigate the future. Help us to always follow you as our ‘Captain’, and we trust you to get us safely home.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 667: Thursday 24th July 2014:

Isaiah 24:1- 13

This speaks of a comprehensive judgment (1-3) affecting all kinds of people in all strata of society. God will have no respect for people’s social and economic status. In the preceding eleven chapters Isaiah has talked about the judgment to fall on particular nations; but here he looks ahead to a judgment that is going to come to the whole earth at the end of history.

”The Lord made the earth and is King over all the earth (Ps.47:2), so he has a right to do what He pleases. He will punish sinners because they have not respected His covenant…or cared for the earth as faithful stewards of His gifts. They have disobeyed His will, claimed the earth for themselves, and abused it selfishly.” Warren W. Wiersbe: ‘With the Word’, p.466

These are sobering words (4-13) and there can be no doubt as to the cause of the judgment (5, 6). We have sinned against God, and the earth is cursed. When the first man and woman disobeyed God, the sin principle came into the world, and we have lived and worked in a world under the curse ever since. Not everyone will be destroyed in this prophesied calamity, but very few will be left (6b, 13). In (10) we read about a ”ruined city” lying ”desolate”. It’s been said that this city represents all cities: human society in general. In the book of ‘Revelation’ John calls this representative city ‘Babylon’, the symbol of all worldly power that sets itself up against God.

I don’t know exactly all that this judgment will entail, but who can deny that we deserve it. Undoubtedly, coming before the big Day of Judgment, there are’mini’ days of judgment. Much of this comes in the form of reaping what we have sown. Having given God up, He has given us up to experience the consequences of giving Him up. We have told Him to get off our backs and said we don’t need Him. He then says, ‘Okay, see what it’s like to live in a world that you are trying to shut me out of.’ To some extent we make a kind of Hell here and now. God allows us to head for the far country and the pig food, if that’s what we want. Some parts of the world look and feel more Hellish than others, but the whiff of the evil one is everywhere. Not only have we broken God’s laws, but in doing so we have also broken creation’s laws. We have not looked after the world as God told us to, with due care and consideration. So nature is getting her own back, and the scary thought is that there is probably much more to come. It is not just that we break God’s laws, but we break ourselves on them.

”The landscape will be a moonscape, totally wasted…The earth turns gaunt and grey, the world silent and sad, sky and land lifeless, colourless. Earth is polluted by its very own people, who have broken its laws, Disrupted its order, violated the sacred and eternal covenant. Therefore a curse, like a cancer, ravages the earth…the good times are gone forever – no more joy for this old world. The city is dead and deserted, bulldozed into piles of rubble. But that’s the way it will be on this earth. This is the fate of all nations: An olive tree shaken clean of its olives, a grapevine picked clean of its grapes.” From The Message.

This chapter is to be taken seriously. The judgments have fallen on the other nations mentioned in preceding chapters, and this should drive us to our knees to plead with God for mercy.

But as we shall see, there will be survivors, and all those who trust in Christ have a wonderful hope to cling to. Even in the face of such a gloomy outlook there are those who can sing because they see beyond it.

Prayer: Lord have mercy on this world; Christ have mercy on our nation; God have mercy on me, a sinner.

 

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Daily Bible thoughts 666: Wednesday 23rd July 2014:

 Proverbs 22:12 – 16

Yesterday we saw the importance of good talk (11): ”God loves the pure-hearted and well-spoken; good leaders also delight in their friendship.” The Message. The next proverb (12) deals with its opposite: ”God guards knowledge with a passion, but he’ll have nothing to do with deception.” The Message. What this proverb seems to mean is that the Lord will ensure that the truth will prevail over the words of the false. He will vindicate the truth. That is good to know. Come to think of it, that is exactly what God did in the resurrection of Jesus. In raising Jesus (”the truth” Jn.14:6) He was vindicating Him in the face of the irregular human verdict based on lies. The truth will out. It will prevail. It is self-evident that lying is a mug’s game. Liars get caught out. They have to tell more and more lies to cover their earlier lies, but they always get exposed in the end. So stay with God on the side of truth. Indeed determine, with God’s almighty enabling, to be scrupulously honest.

The lazy person always has an excuse for not working; for staying in bed (13). These are often hollow and ridiculous excuses. ”The loafer says, ”There’s a lion on the loose! If I go out I’ll be eaten alive!” ” The Message. As someone observed, they talk about the lion outside, but forget about the ‘lion’ within (1 Peter 5:8) who will surely ”devour” them if they don’t change their ways. In church life we need to ensure that we are not making empty excuses for failing to do pressing work that we really ought to be getting on with.

Proverbs has a lot to say about the danger of adultery. If we heed it, we will do our utmost to stay far away from even the possibility of temptation. Here is another aspect (14). It is one way God’s judgment on a life is worked out. As Paul shows in Romans 1: 18-32, when men give God up, God gives men up; He gives them up to things like adultery. He allows them to reject Him and choose their own way down an ever more slippery path. He takes off the ‘handbrake’ and allows them to start rolling downhill.

Children, left to their own devices, will incline towards folly because of their inherent sinful nature (15). Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can this be properly subdued, but parents also have a role, under the influence of God’s Spirit, to correct and train their children in God’s ways. ”Young people are prone to foolishness and fads; the cure comes through tough-minded discipline.” The Message. It is a sad thing to read that the old priest, Eli, did not discipline his boys as he should have done, with disastrous consequences (1 Sam.3:13). May God help us as parents, for we surely need all the aid we can draw from him. To raise children well is probably the greatest, and hardest, calling in the world.

The people who extort money from the poor, or who try to bribe the rich will ”both come to poverty”. God will punish the oppressor. Sooner or later he will lose his ill-gotten gains (Jas.5:4, 5). On the other hand, the briber will end up squandering his wealth for nothing. We have been warned!

Prayer: Lord, I can see that your way is best. Sometimes the way of the world is appealing, but I know that it is wrong. Help me to always walk in the road of heavenly wisdom rather than being diverted down the pathway of human folly.

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Daily Bible thoughts 665: Tuesday 22nd April 2014:

 Proverbs 22:7-11

We continue to finger the precious ‘pearls’ of wisdom hanging on this Biblical ‘string’.

Verse 7: In our indebted society, surely this is motivation to go without rather than live on ‘tick’. The ability to have now and pay later has done a lot of harm, where used irresponsibly. It is a fact of life that power and wealth go together, and all too often the powerful do not use their resources for the benefit of the needy. In Bible times the poor often sold themselves to their lenders in order to pay off their debts. ”The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.” The Message. (See also verses 9 and 16).

Verse 8: As we are regularly disturbed and unsettled by the news headlines we need to remember this proverb. The Bible is a realistic Book. It faces the fact that we live in a world in which there are those who sow ”wickedness”, but it is also insistent that we will reap what we sow. It is a much repeated principle in Scripture. Evil is boomerang – like and will rebound on people with great velocity. ”Whoever sows sin reaps weeds, and bullying anger sputters into nothing.” The Message.

Verse 9: ”A generous man…” has much to teach the ”rich” (7) who dominate the poor. You don’t have to have a lot to be generous. Here is another repeated Biblical principle which I would express like this: you can’t out give God! ”Generous hands are blessed hands because they give bread to the poor.” The Message. I believe that serving the poor in some form is a non-negotiable part of Christian discipleship. And for those who are blessed with much there is an even heavier responsibility. Consider also Prov. 11:24, 25: ”The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.” The Message.

Verse 10: ”Kick out the troublemakers and things will quiet down; you need a break from bickering and griping.” The Message. This is more easily said than done, but there comes a point in church life where, after all due process, with time and patience for people to change their ways, this has to be done. It is a sad day when such surgical removal has to take place (and, hopefully, a rarity), but sometimes it just becomes inevitable for the health of the body. The ‘cancer’ will spread if not removed.

Verse 11: Kind words that flow from a pure heart will open all kinds of doors. We are not thinking here of manipulative and deliberately flattering words. This is about genuine people operating out of a true heart. Whoever you are, it’s nice to know that there are those around you who are for you; who love you and have your back. They are not being sycophantic and pursuing their own agendas. They are just good people and their words bless you. Who does not need such friends?

Prayer: Lord, I am again aware of just how much I need your wisdom and not my own. I thank you for the beauty of the wisdom that shines in just a few verses of this wonderful book. It causes me to crave more and more of your perspective.

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Daily Bible thoughts 665: Tuesday 22nd April 2014:

Proverbs 22:7-11

We continue to finger the precious ‘pearls’ of wisdom hanging on this Biblical ‘string’.  Verse 7: In our indebted society, surely this is motivation to go without rather than live on ‘tick’. The ability to have now and pay later has done a lot of harm, where used irresponsibly. It is a fact of life that power and wealth go together, and all too often the powerful do not use their resources for the benefit of the needy. In Bible times the poor often sold themselves to their lenders in order to pay off their debts. ”The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.” The Message. (See also verses 9 and 16).

Verse 8: As we are regularly disturbed and unsettled by the news headlines we need to remember this proverb. The Bible is a realistic Book. It faces the fact that we live in a world in which there are those who sow ”wickedness”, but it is also insistent that we will reap what we sow. It is a much repeated principle in Scripture. Evil is boomerang – like and will rebound on people with great velocity. ”Whoever sows sin reaps weeds, and bullying anger sputters into nothing.” The Message.

Verse 9: ”A generous man…” has much to teach the ”rich” (7) who dominate the poor. You don’t have to have a lot to be generous. Here is another repeated Biblical principle which I would express like this: you can’t out give God! ”Generous hands are blessed hands because they give bread to the poor.” The Message. I believe that serving the poor in some form is a non-negotiable part of Christian discipleship. And for those who are blessed with much there is an even heavier responsibility. Consider also Prov. 11:24, 25: ”The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.” The Message.

Verse 10: ”Kick out the troublemakers and things will quiet down; you need a break from bickering and griping.” The Message. This is more easily said than done, but there comes a point in church life where, after all due process, with time and patience for people to change their ways, this has to be done. It is a sad day when such surgical removal has to take place (and, hopefully, a rarity), but sometimes it just becomes inevitable for the health of the body. The ‘cancer’ will spread if not removed.

Verse 11: Kind words that flow from a pure heart will open all kinds of doors. We are not thinking here of manipulative and deliberately flattering words. This is about genuine people operating out of a true heart. Whoever you are, it’s nice to know that there are those around you who are for you; who love you and have your back. They are not being sycophantic and pursuing their own agendas. They are just good people and their words bless you. Who does not need such friends?

Prayer: Lord, I am again aware of just how much I need your wisdom and not my own. I thank you for the beauty of the wisdom that shines in just a few verses of this wonderful book. It causes me to crave more and more of your perspective.

 

 

 

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