Oh Give Thanks

Psalm 106
"Praise the LORD. O give thanks to the LORD; for He is good--for His mercy endures forever. [2] Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can bring forth all His praise?"

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I was reading through Psalm 106 some time this week, and these few verses in the beginning really struck me. "Praise the LORD. O give thanks to the LORD; for He is good--for His mercy endures forever." We know to praise God. We hear it all the time. We know to thank God. We thank God at mealtimes (sometimes) and we thank God for good tests and for close saves. But how should we really do things? "Who can utter the mighty acts of the LORD? Who can bring forth all His praise?" In other words, in my life, in my praise, in everything that I do for God, I should give it everything I've got--knowing that that STILL isn't enough, because nothing that I have or could say or could give is ever enough to be worthy of what our great and awesome God deserves.

And then there is why we do so. In my life, sometimes (not all the time), I forget that the reason why I am thankful and grateful and give everything to God is not duty, is not because He's done some good things but because "He is good" and because "His mercy endures forever."

Thank You, God. Thank You for being good, for being what You are. And that Your mercy endures forever.

Amen

Eh. Something different, but this I feel struck me this week. So, enjoy the Psalm amidst the many Proverbs I've been posting!

Thoughts and Works

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established."

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I was thinking about this verse lately. It is kind of interesting when you think about it. A bit flummoxing, a tad confusing one might say.





Oh, quite surely this verse is very straight forward. There is little to debate about it regarding its mere meaning. "Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established." If we commit, if we give, if we lift up our works in praise and worship to the LORD, then our thoughts will be established. But the significance of what these verses are telling us--that is what struck me as I examined it with my soul.





One might expect a verse like this to say, "Commit your thoughts to the LORD and your works will be established." And that may or may not be true. But in this verse, we are not promised that. If we commit our works, then our thoughts, not our works, are established.





And in the end, I suppose, that is what really matters anyway. Our thoughts--our hearts, rather, being established.





There is a work that I am itching to accomplish, and I want to do it for God and I want it to be awesome. So if I commit it to God, then surely my thoughts will be established in Him and that is all that matters.





Again, I know not how helpful or how little these things of which I spread. But I write for Christ, and in this I am glad.

Ponder our Path

Proverbs 4:26-27 "Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established. [27] Turn not to the right hand or the left; remove your foot from evil."















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Every now and then it does a man (or woman) good to simply stop for a moment and to think about where his life is going, where the path is taking him. "Ponder the path of your feet" the proverb says, "and let all your ways be established." So now we have moved from simply thinking about our life, but now to establishing it. Many a thing can go awry if we do not establish our path, if we do not clearly mark it for our treading. Having an established breakfast, an established prayer time, an established bed time (hehe), and whatever else one may think of. Any way taken, truly it is wisdom that I in my life need to consider more often.

How, one may wonder, are is person supposed to establish their path, so to speak? "Turn not to the right hand or the left," God says to us, "remove your foot from evil." So, if a pattern in our life is by the wayside, or near the fence, or if our foot is stuck in some evil, then we must eradicate it.

Ponder our path, turn not to the side, continue straight on, and remove ourselves from evil. These things are what I get from this verses. Again, I know not who shall read, but it is good for me to write for Christ.

BitterSweet

Proverbs 27:7 "The full soul loathes a honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet."

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I was thinking about this a little this week, but this verse is a good reminder just to myself that our perspective on what is going on in our lives can have a big impact in both how much we enjoy it and also how well we respond to it. In this Proverb it says "The full soul loathes a honeycomb". This is quite interesting. Honey is really sweet, so why wouldn't someone want it? They are, "full", the proverb tells us. I think everyone gets like this sometimes. God gives us so many good things, but then, being content with the things, we look at all of the good things that God blesses us with and say to Him "God, I think I need something more than this. I want something sweeter." But they don't really need anything sweeter, because it is not the quality of the honey which is the problem, but the appetite of the person who is receiving it. "To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." This person is the complete opposite. It's like he gets this massive hunk of rotting wormwood, takes a big hunk out of it and goes, "MAN! WOAH! I get to eat THIS???!!!! God You are so very good to me." He eats this bitter nasty thing and it tastes sweet, because He is hungry for anything that God gives to Him. Because what may look like Wormwood on the outside may actually be honey within.

This is how we should always be, I think. Hungry--for God.

I know not who may read, but it gladdens me to write for Christ.

Plowing in the Cold

Proverbs 20:4 "The sluggard will not plow by reason of the cold; therefore shall he beg at harvest and have nothing."





Colossians 3:23-24 "Whatever you do work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.







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I think a lot of times we as Christians and people, and Americans, often get tired of plowing. Very few reading this may be farmers, or even remotely close to such a profession (indeed I am not much of a simple gardener even), but I know that this still applies to my own life as it is.

I think, in my life at least, a person may go on for weeks or months throughout the school year, or in the work place, or at the market place, day in and day out doing one thing, and one thing only. Work, work work and more plowing and shearing and pruning and harvesting. Work. We people, especially in high school, would give a great deal simply to have no responsibility and simply sit for a few days and simply REST without doing ANYTHING at all that is required of us.
And then winter comes.

Yeah. We don't want to go out there and PLOW EVEN MORE when we've been plowing out and working our faces off for the rest of the year.

There's just one problem with this. While it is good to rest, we must also realize that when the time calls for it, it is good to work.

And according to Proverbs, it is only the sluggard who "will not plow for reason of by cold." And doing this also costs the sluggard something beyond just getting work done. "Therefore shall he beg at harvest." If we don't plow now, when it's hard, when it stings us in the wind, then we will pay for it later. This is what this verse said to me.

Beyond this, in the other verse I mentioned, it says to "work heartily as for the Lord and not for men."

The reason why we must plow now, in the cold, is not because we try to further ourselves, or so we can work less later. It is to provide for us in the future, and it is because it was to this end that God has created us to function.

To work. To work heartily. In the cold.

And most importantly, for Him.

I know not all who may read, but I write this to honor Christ. And that is all that matters.

Even at Maine West, God Has Control

Daniel 4:35

...But He does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and no one can ward off His hand...

Romans 8:28

And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.


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I wanted to write a short post about all of the cuts that are happening, which I'm pretty sure all of you know about (if you are from Maine West). I know that a lot of us, like me, are upset about at least one of the potential cuts, whether it's a teacher or a club/sport. The reason I wrote Daniel 4:35 is because it says that God's will will always be done. It really shows His sovereignty and power over all; and I think that it can also be comforting, like in this case, that He is always in control. Even if what we want doesn't get done, we can know that everything is going as He wants (and because He is holy and righteous, we should rejoice in that). No board member or anyone else involved can change that (or, ward off His hand).

Romans 8:28 was actually the first verse that came to my mind when I started thinking about my post. What's really great about it is that no matter what happens, God will turn all things for the good of those who love Him. The cuts might not be what we want or expect, and it might not even be the best for us academically, but we can know that God will work this out for our spiritual good, even if we don't understand why or how. And again, no one can change that.

I still encourage all of you to go to the meeting at Maine East on Wednesday (and I'd go too, except I help with Awana Sparks that night), but if things don't go the way we want it or the way we think it really should be, I just want to remind you (and myself) that we can trust that God is in control and will work it for our good, no matter what happens.

Rule or Die

Proverbs 16:32 "He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he that rules his spirit than he that takes a city." Proverbs 25:28 "He that has no rule over his own spirit, Is like a city that is broken down, And without walls."

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I have not posted in a really, good long while. This is mostly due to neglect. I am a busy person, but every person is a busy person so there is no excuse in that sentiment. Nevertheless, I have been thinking about things for a while, reading a chapter of proverbs in the morning, and then reading the same chapter of proverbs before bed (when that hour comes). But one verse that has struck out to me has been these two.

What does it mean to truly have "rule" over one spirit? According to proverbs, a person who has this is "better than he who takes a city", and a person who does not "is like a city broken down, and without walls."

For a Christian, to have "rule over one's spirit" means to have your life be in submission to Christ. Before Christ, we were our own, blinded in our sinful ways. Now, we have Jesus, and He is the King of the castle.

So if we are Christians, and He is the ruler of our spirits, does that mean that every Christian will always have rule over their own spirit? No.

I used to ask how a Christian man could struggle with Pornography. That's because I was one of those, and I couldn't understand it. My life was miserable, and I didn't know what was going on. People said it was "common" and "normal" for people of my age to struggle with such a thing. But I knew--garbage. Those words are meaningless in Christ's kingdom! Against a Holy, Righteous God! Why do people who know Christ become unstable or have trouble fighting things like Pornography, drugs, alcohol, or bad video games, distasteful music, gossiping, slander, hate, jealously, covetousness--ANYTHING, fill in the blank? It is for this reason that this is even possible:

They do not have rule over their own spirit. Their "old man", their "old nature" is what is the problem, as is every Christian's problem. Basically, they are the problem. But it is the part that does not love Christ.

For at conversion, God creates in us a "new heart" and makes us a "new creation", the Bible says. When that person, the person that Christ created us to be, is in control, as Christians we are stable and have rule over our own selves, because Christ is our master. This is where all of us as Christians should be.

However, that is not always the case. Unbelievers have no problem sinning because their is only one master of their lives, and it is them. They are in control, and because of this, they unanimously have no problem with living sinful lives.

However as Christians this presents a problem, as man can not serve two masters. Whether it be God, money, lust, excitement, adventure, praise, man can only have one King of the castle at one time. If a Christian gets caught in an old sin, or even a new one, this presents a state of turmoil in his life.

The "castle" or "city"---basically his soul----is under siege. Christ is King, but it is a battle ground in the village. That is why Proverbs says that those with no rule over their own spirits "are like a city broken down, and without walls." Because when sin is trying to take over a believer's life, and the believer doesn't stop it, then it will. It waltz right on through and rip, tear, and pillage every single thing in a person's life that they had ever built, dreamed about, or hoped of nurturing. Sin will come to destroy you. That is what these verses say.

Paul talks in the new testament of a double-minded man as being "unstable in all his ways." Why is he unstable? Because he is at war! No town or city or even nation is stable or at peace when it is at war. The objective is to destroy the enemy, to shut them out and regain control. And this is precisely what these verses are getting at.

I don't know what these verses say to others, but to me it has said this thing:

"You will be victorious or die."

That is what dawned on me. A lot addicts of sin or substances are never freed from it because they do not realize this one thing: You can not beat an addiction step by step. There is no 10 Step plan that will help them, there are not a million Nicotine Patches in the world that can cut their habit. Either you have Total and Utter Victory, regaining your Rule over your spirit, or you don't--and then you die, because it kills you. It was on this realization that God gave me the ability and the victory to overcome my sin.

I used to be afraid of admitting such a sin. What would people think? But now that it is dead, now that Christ's sword is caught within its chest, being dead it no longer seems scary to me anymore.

Because Christ is stronger than sin. Maybe you aren't. Maybe you couldn't beat it in a game of checkers but Christ is always victorious. He never lost. Not once. In anything.

Thus you need only raise the sword, and Christ's arm shall be your victory. Complete victory, or utter defeat. It is the fight of your life, and it will be hard. But you must be determined and choose your victory, make it a decision, a final decision. If a Christian trusts in Christ and faces their sin with that choice, "I will not lose". If they choose victory, as Christ offers it, then they shall never be defeated.

I hope most of you won't be traumatized reading this. I hope this may help some people. We are all sinners; but the Christians have Christ as master.

I know not who shall read, but I know I have written to honor Christ, and that is all that matters.