Selma Christ Church

One day a religious teacher came to Jesus and said, “Which is the first commandment of all?”

Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

This is the first most important commandment of all times. It is a very simple commandment.  It is very simplistic in that God needs nothing else from us but that we should love Him as much as He loves us.

And yet if we are all honest with ourselves, we find that having a close relationship with Jesus seems so far away sometimes.  The “stuff” of life seems to tug at us.  The overwhelming “to do” list cries for our attention.  The everyday challenges of life at times seem to put a “haze” about our life and walk with God.

I’m merely wondering … what if we could pay just one third of the attention to God as we do to our Facebook page, our twitter feeds and Google accounts, the latest game or television programs, .. I wonder — how would our lives be so much different and easier.

It’s not that these things are wrong.  Social media is an excellent way to keep in touch with friends.  Playing games on your iPhone or iPad provide a break and a challenge.  And watching your favorite television program can give time to relax, but I am reminded of this verse from Proverbs 4:23, “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.”

The first verse of that chapter says “Hear, my children, a father’s instruction.”

What this father is saying to his son is, “This is how life works. After living a lot of years, I just want to tell you something. What’s really important in life is keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”

I mean, more than anything else, it is important to keep (guard) our heart.

If you are like me. I find that I often fritter away my opportunities to spend time with God.    There are so many “time-killers” that rob me of a moment with my Savior.  I get confused with what’s important and what is urgent and what is, well — not necessary at all.

David understood that spending time alone with God was essential. He found that his time with God not only was a much needed refuge but his means of survival.

Jesus guarded his time with God escaping the demands of the day and of the people to be with His Father.

Oswald Chambers, whose works have often challenged, encouraged and convicted me said this in his writing, My Utmost for His Highest: “Guard jealously your relationship to God. Jesus prayed “that they may be one, even as we are one” – nothing between. Keep all the life perennially open to Jesus Christ, don’t pretend with Him. Are you drawing your life from any other source than God Himself? If you are depending upon anything but Him, you will never know when He is gone.”

Notice that last line, “If you are depending upon anything but Him, you will never know when he is gone.”

Let’s face it.  Spending time with God does not ever just “fit in” to our day’s routine. We must schedule and then jealously guard that time, but the more we honor that appointment, the greater our desire to protect it, and the greater our walk with God.

All God wants from us is that we should show Him the care and concern that He shows to us. He wants us in our entirety, all of us, our soul, body, mind and heart because it was that much He gave to us in the form of His Son on the cross of Calvary.

Being hungry for His presence and desiring to be in the presence of the Lord on a daily basis should be our greatest priority.

How are we spending our time?  Have we taken time to spend time with Jesus today?  Are we “guarding jealously” our relationship and walk with God?

An elderly couple is lying in bed one morning having just awakened from a good night’s sleep. He takes her hand and she responds, “Don’t touch me!” “Why not? ” he asks. She answers back “Because I’m dead.” The husband says to her, “What on earth are you talking about? We’re both lying here in bed together and talking to one another.” The wife says, “Not so, I’m definitely dead.”

 

Her husband insists, “You’re not dead. What in the world makes you think you’re dead?” His wife answers, “I know I’m dead, because I woke up this morning and nothing hurts.”

 

That’s truly something to be thankful for, isn’t it?!

 

Lily Tomlin once said: “Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain.”

 

And yes, it seems that there is always something to complain about – like the other driver.  Or the amount of ads we have in the morning paper.  Or the politician who likes to pass laws for the rest of us but makes themselves exempt from them. Or the weather.

 

We may all need to enjoy a fine “whine” now and then but when it becomes a habit it can color how we see the world.

 

For me complaining comes all too naturally as in this classic story. “Two construction workers in Chicago, Bob and Frank were working on a high rise and had lunch together every day above the city. The view was amazing and they grew to be friends.

 

But every day Frank would open his lunch box and complain: meatball sandwich again, I hate meatball sandwiches!

 

Finally Bob, tired of hearing this, asked him: “Why don’t you just ask your wife to make you another kind of sandwich?”

 

Frank looked puzzled: What do mean?, he said, I pack my own lunch!”

 

Hopefully, this month we would choose a different attitude, a better attitude for your life. 

 

I am challenged by this bumper sticker that I once saw pasted to the bumper of a car: “Wag more, bark less.”

 

You see, we can choose to be thankful even if we burn the Thanksgiving turkey. Here’s several reasons why we can be thankful:

 

1. Salmonella won’t be a concern.

2. No one will overeat.

3. Everyone will think it’s Cajun blackened.

4. Uninvited guests will think twice next year.

5. Your cheese-broccoli-lima-bean casserole will gain newly found appreciation.

6. Pets won’t pester you for scraps.

7. The smoke alarm was due for a test.

8. Carving the bird will provide a good cardiovascular workout.

9. After dinner, the guys can take the bird to the yard and play football.

10. The less turkey Uncle Harry eats, the less likely he will be to walk around with his pants unbuttoned.

11. You’ll get to the desserts quicker.

12. You won’t have to face three weeks of turkey sandwiches.

 

The month of November and Thanksgiving always is a good reminder that “in everything we are called to give thanks.”

 

I was raised in a family that was simple.  We never celebrated Thanksgiving with a big meal.  We didn’t have a table spread and fit for a king.  Yes,  we had our pumpkin and mincemeat pies.  We had our mashed potatoes.  We had a turkey once in a while.  For the most part, I can remember the good dressing (no, not oyster dressing) that I was able to consume. 

 

I remember Thanksgivings when the weather was absolutely gorgeous, and others when there was snow on the ground.  And I can remember going for drives and looking at the leaves which still clung to their branches. For some of us, it was football outdoors with each of us imitating Bart Starr and the Packers.  Remember, there were no Colts in Indianapolis. I can remember as a child taking a paper sack and making a Pilgrim or an Indian outfit at school.

 

Psalm 100 is one of those grand psalms.  Take a few minutes to read it. 

 

Having a glad attitude consists of several truths:

 

A.       The first ingredient is—Shout:  “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands.”  Or as the New King James puts it:  “Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!” 

 

The Psalmist is telling us to practice letting positive, praiseworthy things come out of our mouths.  Practice the art of praise. 

 

B.        The second truth is serving.  Verse 2 says, “Serve the Lord with gladness.” 

 

Sometimes we find ourselves serving the Lord, with carrying around a pound of limburger cheese with it.  Serving can become drudgery.

 

The Psalmist very kindly says, “Serve the Lord with gladness.”

 

C.  The third ingredient is come.  Look at verse 2 again:  Come before His presence with singing. 

 

Well, God created music; and even though I don’t have much a singing voice, I know that God’s music is very powerful and very therapeutic and very healing. 

 

Our combined choirs are rehearsing for Christmas. It’s going to be great.  You see, our heart attitude stretches into our Christmas cheer.  We cannot but help sing when we know we have a Savior who was born to us.

 

 D.  Fourth:  Know that the Lord…

 

The Psalmist brings us to the heart of the matter.  If we are going to shout and serve and come, then we must know three things about the Lord.  And those three things are found in verse 3:

 

First, He is our God.  Know that the Lord, He is God.  

 

Second, He is our Maker.  Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.

 

Third, He is our Shepherd.  Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves.  We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

  

I can get into a grumpy mood, and suddenly I’m not happy with anything or anyone but choosing to be glad/thankful/grateful goes a long way to correcting our tendency to complain.

 

Let’s reflect on the ordinary everyday blessings from God.

 

A hug from your kids going out the door to school.

A car that starts most of the time.

A bed to sleep in every night.

A furnace to warm us up this time of the year.

A cup of water any time we want it.

 

Delight yourself in God. As David put it in Psalm 16, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

 

The nearer we get to God, and delight in God, the more we enjoy present blessings here and now… the more we enjoy life.

For Everything there is a Season

Dr. Leonard Sweet, pastor, professor and author, writes:  “Small acts of faithfulness are often great acts of courage.”  As I read that statement, I thought of David who had his sling, Rahab who hard her string, Sampson and his jawbone, and Aaron and his rod.  I think of Mary who anointed the feet of Jesus with her ointment. 

Sadhu Sundar Singh, a Christian Indian missionary of the early 1900’s so aptly said, “It is easy to die for Christ.  It is hard to live for him.  Dying takes only an hour or two, but to live for Christ means to die daily.”  Indeed it does. It demands dying to our desires, our agenda, our opinions, our flesh so that we might walk in the Spirit.

 And then C.S. Lewis, the great author and apologist, said, “There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven, but more often I find myself wondering whether in our heart of hearts, we have ever desired anything else…. It is the secret signature of each soul, the incommunicable and unappeasable want, the thing we desired before we met our wives or made friends or chose our work, and which we shall still desire on our deathbeds when the mind no longer knows wife or friend or work.”

 To finish Sundar Singh’s quote we hear him say:  “Only during the few years of this life
are we given the privilege of serving 
each other and Christ… 
We shall have heaven forever, 
but only a short time for service here, 
and therefore we must not waste the opportunity.”

 The Christian life is not a once-a- week happening, it is a day- to-day relationship with God.  I’ve been spending some time in the Book of Ecclesiastes as I prepare for a Bible Study.  Recently I was reading chapter 3.  You know the chapter.  It sounds so monotonous.  “For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven:  a time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted” and on and on. 

 We all know that life can become old, repetitive, and monotonous but this chapter has reminded me that every life has its season. It has reminded me that that what happens is we have to look at your life and the opportunities that God gives to live. And in doing so, you need to define what season of life you are in.

 There are specific seasons (winter, fall, spring, summer: infancy, childhood, teen, adult, senior), there are specific times, there are numerous opportunities that give us the ability to have joy. To have pleasure and satisfaction. To worship and be connected with God and His people.  We must be diligent and vigilant to walk through our life saying, “Okay, where am I? What season of life is this? And what opportunities provide themselves?”,  

 We all know how fast life moves.  Solomon writes over 38 times in Ecclesiastes that life is a vapor or the morning fog which is here and gone in a matter of hours.    Life moves so quickly that we can completely miss the opportunities that God gives in every single day to enjoy Him, to share His love, to live fully for His glory.

Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning once penned these words:  “Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”

 How many opportunities and burning bushes has God placed in my path, but I didn’t see them.  How many burning bushes has God places in my path, but I did not hear any call from God because I was too distracted by my Blackberry (or cell phone)  – or TV, or schedule, or desires?

 If you and I have not heard God call us by name lately, might it be because we’ve been walking right by burning bushes?  If you and I have not seen any burning bushes could it be that we’ve been to hurried. 

 Why not take time today to enjoy a friend’s company, a child or grandchild’s conversation, a preying mantis that makes its way across a limb, the smells of the season. Let’s take time to listen to a friend’s cry, a neighbor’s plea or pray for a specific need. Let’s take time to talk with God, and share the love of Jesus.

 

MIGHTY MEN OF VALOR

The world has created its own fantasy of what brave, mighty, tough, and successful men look like.

 

            We all think of the man’s man. Who can’t but think of John Wayne or Clint Eastwood and “make my day.”  Or our mind immediately thinks of men like Bruce Willis of Die Hard fame, or Steven Seagal.

 

The Scriptures, too, talk about the man’s man. They look tough and they are tough.  They are true Die Hard kind of men. 

 

The Bible describes them as “mighty me of valor.”  They were men who for the most part surrounded David.  They were men who would risk their very lives for him. They were loyal.  They were skilled. They were mighty men who could inspire and challenge him.  They were mighty men who would be there for him, stand up for him, fight for him.

 

They were men ready for an adventure…a combination of “combat commandos,” “stealth rangers,” and “navy seals.”

Time after time on fields of battle they were “the last men standing.”

 

Several of them are singled out in 2 Samuel 23.  There is Eleazar, who, when everyone else retreated from the field of battle, stood his ground in a battle with the Philistines, “till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword.” Wow.  Talk about commitment, determination, and loyalty.  He had such a grip on his sword in the midst of battle that his sword literally became one with him.

 

And then there was Shammah who stood alone in a field of lentils defending it against the Philistines.

 

Once David was feeling homesick, and he wished out loud that someone would bring him a drink of water from the well at Bethlehem. Three of the mighty men heard his wish and decided to go retrieve some of David’s favorite water.

 

The Bible says that they broke through the Philistine garrison at Bethlehem to retrieve a drink of water, and David, recognizing the tremendous sacrifice these men had made, felt unworthy to drink it. Instead, he poured it out on the ground as an offering to the Lord.

 

And who can forget Benaiah the man who killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day.

 

Of course, the one they followed, David, was also known as a mighty man of valor. (I Samuel 16:18)  Even as a young teenage boy, he had earned this testimony.  Even before he became a public figure, and while still tending sheep on a hillside, he was known as “David – man of valor.”

 

What the world needs today is a company of “mighty men and women of valor,” through whom God will do great things, and through whom God will inspire others as well.

 

We need men who are not frightened by the odds which appear stacked against them. Men and women who rise up in times of crisis, refuse to give in when things got tough and go above and beyond the call of duty, out of faith, loyalty, and love and desire to please the Savior whom they serve.

 

The great need today is for men. Real men. Men of character. Men that will stand. Men of strength. Mighty men of valor…of courage who will do what is right and stand with their God.  Real men love Jesus.

 

Today ask God to show you what living courageously looks like in your life.  And, secondly, why not thank God for those men (and women) who have been examples of valor, or courage, in your life.  Happy Father’s Day!

Fear. It is a primal feeling, yet it permeates every aspect of our lives. With nauseating power, we encounter fear where we least expect it and most despise it. We feel it in relationships. We’re nagged by fear in our careers. We sense its gnawing presence while driving on the interstate, when looking into the face of our child, or even when going to bed at night. Fear is everywhere. And fear is powerful.

Why we experience fear. 

There seems to be every reason to fear, especially in light of recent events. When is the next Boston tragedy going to happen? What will happen if North Korea launches a nuclear missile? Will I get caught in the crossfire of an urban gunfight? Will an explosion erupt nearby?

Fear is as familiar as breathing itself. It’s part of life. It’s part of being human. It’s part of existing. Is there any place on this planet that is exempt from the danger of natural disaster, the fury of depraved humans, or the terrifying uncertainties of our own future, our health, or our eternal destiny?

Fear grapples with questions as mundane as “does this water contain dangerous chemicals” to “what’s going to happen to my soul when I die?”

We experience fear for the same reason that we experience joy, grief, anger, or contentment. It is an emotion — a powerful, visceral emotion with profound physiological effects. Fear can control us.

Get the truth about fear. 

Because fear meddles with our emotions and confuses rational thought, we need a clear perspective on our fear. We need some source of truth and wisdom that comes from outside ourselves. Biology and psychology provide helpful information about fear, but the Bible speaks directly and unmistakably to the subject of fear.

Good Fear. Bad Fear.

The Bible’s information on fear is fascinating for one major reason. It tells us both to fear and not to fear. The reason for this paradox becomes clear once we understand a few of the passages on fear.

Bad Fear

When we encounter fear in the Bible, it is often in a negative context (1 John 4:18). Repeatedly, we read things like “fear not” (Isaiah 54:4), and “do not fear” (Revelation 2:10). Even in the face of danger, violence, persecution, and the like, God gently encourages us not to fear (1 Peter 3:6). The sense we get from just a cursory biblical survey of fear is that it is a negative emotion. Fear is somehow distasteful or unpleasant. We know this innately. When fear is present, we are not comfortable.

Good Fear

In other places, the Bible presents an altogether different view of fear. In fact, fear is equated with things like “honor” and “love” (1 Peter 2:17). What is going on here? Why does the Bible talk about fear in such a way? In Proverbs, “fear” is contrasted with “evil” (Proverbs 3:7). On one occasion when God was comforting Isaiah, he told him “do not fear.” But then in the next sentence, God told him, “let [God] be your fear, and let him be your dread” (Isaiah 8:13).

The difference between good fear and bad fear has to do with the object or cause of that fear. The vague and uncomfortable fear that we feel in the face of life’s circumstances can and should be replaced by fear of God — the awe and wonder at his majesty and holiness.
How to Fear the Right Way

God affirms the presence of fear in the human experience. And he tells us how to manage it. He himself is the solution (Psalm 34:9). Fear can’t be wiped away by some moral resolve or by building up steely nerves and stalwart bravery. Fear has its antdote in a person who commands an entirely different form of fear — godly fear. Fear is okay; we just need to direct our fears in the right way.

But how?

Let us dispense with the advice, however well meaning, to “face your fears,” “defy your fears,” “overcome fears,” or “be brave.” Those things are right, as long as they are placed within the right context. The real response to fear is God-directed fear. This is a kind of fear that we can manage, because of what it involves (2 Corinthians 7:1).

To fear God is to honor him. Fearing God means respecting who he is, acknowledging his character, and allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed in awe and even love (Psalm 118:4) Fear is to know God — in all his untamed, uncontrollable, infinite power — yet to accept it in humility. Fear is trust (Psalm 115:11).

Ordinary fear is raw, disturbing, vulnerable, exposed, tragic, and disturbing. It is anything but assuring. Fearing God, however, is a life-changing experience of goodness, comfort, assurance, warmth, security, and liberation. The contrast between the two fears couldn’t be more amazing, especially when you experience it.

In Psalm 27, David writes,

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

 

Fear — the right kind of fear — is healthy and right. It allows us to defy the controlling power of life’s circumstances.

There is a person who welcomes your fears. God is prepared to swallow every fear you bring him.

• Do you fear about finances? Bring it to God. 
• Are you afraid about your health? Take this fear to God.
• Are you fearful that your children will “turn out alright?” Tell God about your fear.
• Is your commute to work a fearful experience? God wants to own this fear.
• Do national events or uncertainties bring you fear? God can take these fears.
• Is there someone in your life whom you fear? Carry this fear with you into the presence of God. 

See what happens to your fear when God steps into the picture. Fearing God displaces every other kind of fear with an all-encompassing sense of his presence, power, and perfection.

Fearing God is the solution to fear itself.

 

 

Although Mother’s Day is focused upon mothers, it gives everyone of us an opportunity to reflect upon God’s teaching that have to do with mothers. After all, everyone on the planet has a mother. As we approach Mother’s Day, give these verses some careful consideration and meditation. Whether you are a mother, will be a mother, or just have a mother, they will encourage your heart and strengthen your soul.

1.  Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

2.  Leviticus 19:3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.

3.  Deuteronomy 4:9-10 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.

4.  Deuteronomy 6:6-9 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
5.  Deuteronomy 11:19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
6.  Psalm 115:14-15 May the LORD make you increase, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
7.  Psalms 127:3-5 Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

8.  Proverbs 14:1 The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.
9.  Proverbs 14:26 He who fears the LORD has a secure fortress, and for his children it will be a refuge.
10.  Proverbs 22:6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.
11.  Proverbs 31:31 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

12.  Joel 1:2-3 Hear this, you elders; give ear, all inhabitants of the land! Has such a thing happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation.
13.  Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
14.  Luke 18:28-30 And Peter said, “See, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
15.  Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
16.  Colossians 3:20-24 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

17.  1 Thessalonians 2:7 but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.
18.  1 Timothy 5:3-4 Honor widows who are truly widows. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness to their own household and to make some return to their parents, for this is pleasing in the sight of God.
19.  Titus 2:3-5 Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
20.  1 Peter 1:22 Love one another deeply, from the heart.

It’s simple. It’s short. Yet it’s incredibly powerful. Proverbs 3:5-6 is one of the most familiar passages in the Bible–with good reason. It sets forth a life-changing truth that is worthy of our attention. Spend three minutes reading this article, and see if you agree.

 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

 

Let’s break down this life-changing truth to make sure we understand it.

 

 

Trust in the Lord.

 

It starts with trust. Any real relationship has to start with some level of trust. It’s the only way a friendship will endure. It’s the only way a marriage will work out. It’s the simple reason why an employer hires workers, or why the workers stay employed. It’s all about trust. Trust in the Lord, however, takes on an entirely new dimension. This is our trust in an eternal, all-powerful, all-wise, all-loving God. He is worthy of our trust. The trust is important, not just because of who God is, but because of the way in which we must trust him: with all your heart. It involves every fiber of your being. That’s the kind of trust we can have in God–a complete, unshakable, deep, abiding trust.

 

If you are a Christian, you trusted God for salvation. You can trust Him with the rest of your life, too–every detail.

 

 

 

Read part 2, Don’t Lean On Your Understanding

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

 

 

Don’t Lean on Your Understanding

 

The verse involves a positive–something you must do. But it also involves a negative–something you must not do. Don’t lean on your own understanding. Basically, the verse is telling us that we ought not to be self-reliant. We cannot pursue a course of action, a financial decision, a business move, a relationship, or an educational choice, simply based on our own understanding. It must be founded in our trust in God.

 

Self-reliance is such a deceptive trap. We begin to pride ourselves in something–our savvy, our looks, our intellect, our spirituality, our family, whatever. And when we do, it takes away our trust in the Lord. It has become trust in self. The result is a dangerous compromise that will lead to destruction.

 

 

Instead, Acknowledge God. In Everything.

 

The antidote to this self-reliance is found in the first command of the verse. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart.” Which is developed in the next verse: “In all your ways acknowledge him.” The word “acknowledge” isn’t merely a polite tip of the hat to the Man Upstairs, or a few words of grace over your meal, or even perfunctory attendance at church to let Him know we’re still cool with what He’s doing. It’s way more. It’s allowing Him access, control, command, and involvement in all your ways.

 

What’s the result of this? Will God ruin your life? Will he be a Sovereign Killjoy? Will He rob you of fun? The verse ends on a promise. What is it?

 

 

He will make your paths straight.

 

The promise is put in the form of a metaphor. What does it mean to have straight paths? Several things. First, paths lead toward an end–a destination, a goal. Thus, trusting God wholeheartedly in every area of life gives your life a sense of purpose and priority. Second, it indicates that there will be a clear understanding of where you are going and what you are doing. It makes daily decision-making an easier and less painful task. You realize you are trusting Him. He, in turn, is making your paths straight. Thus, the way ahead is more apparent. Third, “straight paths” suggests moral purity. It suggests a life that has less of sinful compromise and more of wholesome attitudes, actions, and behavior.

 

That’s the kind of life that God promises. It’s the kind of life that you can have. It begins with trust. It involves acknowledging God in every way.