Its raining outside and a cold wind is stirring the branches as I snuggle down to spend my favorite time of the day. As I become quiet I picture myself sitting on my Father’s lap – His arms wrapped around and holding me – holding me securely. A love which is in one way unseen but revealed and promised in His Word in so many ways, but in another way is experienced through the love of all those around me – Thank you again Lord, I worship you from the bottom of my heart.
My reading is Prov 30:1-9. Opening with some words reminiscent of Job chp’s 38-41 of God’s amazing, supernatural power, wisdom and omniscience, reminding us of how much greater He is than us. Against that background is the assurance of the absolute dependability of God’s Word. His creative power and His flawless word are so often coupled, I find. Against this background the writer calls for God’s help with two things.
- To keep him honest. To help him not to speak lies or bend the truth in any way.
- To provide for him, just enough. Too much will lead to him forgetting God and too little may lead him to steal. A further reading is Psalm 119:25-32. Vs 30 tells me that honesty is a choice, just as we have seen with trust and wisdom. But wait a bit, we said that the choice to trust and the choice of wisdom has a supernatural element to it. In other words although we are called to choose these, we are absolutely dependent on our relationship with Jesus through His Spirit to make this choice. So here we are confronted with that same truth concerning integrity and honesty. Now I stop to consider. Honesty and integrity are such a given in the Christian life. Do I ever even give it much thought, except where others have been dishonest to me? I realize with a stark shock that – yes, my heart, not theirs mine, is deceitful above all things. I need to examine the very motives behind my speech and actions and bring them constantly to the foot of the cross so that I can reflect the real truth which is only pure in Christ Himself. So can I challenge every one of you reading this blog today to do the same? It is so easy to measure ourselves against the background of all the dishonesty that we are experiencing around us, it is so easy to feel a smug self satisfaction. Yes? T.he challenge is not to measure ourselves against anyone else but Jesus Himself.