2008-01-25
Good Morning God's Treasures,
At last, we have reached the last verse in PR 31: 10-31. I don't know about you, but I have found this comparison of this passage with Christ's Sermon on the Mount teaching on mammon in MT 6: 24-34 very revealing. The first thing I'm led to do is to complete the comparison by examining the last traits of God's ideal person in PR 31: 31, "Give her credit for all she does. She deserves the respect of everyone." Remember, in our analysis, gender and marital status is not a consideration, as our society is not the patriarchal society of the ancient Jews. This important revelation of God's ideal person deserves a review first: aleph, valuable; beit, trustworthy; gimmel, righteous; dalet, industrious; hay, values family; vav, organized; zayin, decides wisely prioritizing God's Kingdom first; chet, hard working and strong; tet, wise and diligent; yod, helps oneself; kaf, generous to the poor and needy; lamed, has peace of mind; mem, productive for self and family; nun, know for the right reasons; samech, produces more than family's needs-efficient; ayin, strong, respected, and not afraid of the future; peh, wise and gentle in speech; tzaddi, responsibly occupied; koph, family appreciates and praises this person- good reputation results; resh, earns spouse's and family's respect; shin, praiseworthy, lasting inner beauty. And now, we come to the last [22nd] letter of the Hebrew alphabet, representing PR 31: 31 in this case, tav.
Tav: A person who comes close to these traits certainly deserves credit for everything he does. No many of us, if any of us at all, can do them all, except our Lord Jesus Christ. But what we see in this is God's amazing openness with us about His will. This is nothing to be taken either lightly or for granted. We have to at some time in our lives asked, "God what do you want of me?" That very question itself speaks of some degree of spiritual maturity. I say this because the usual approach is, "God, I want to do..., so how should I do it?" At least the first questioner is subordinating his own will to that of the Lord. It is in subordinating our will that we take the first steps toward trusting God to take us in His direction, which we should understand is always in our best eternal interests. Why trust God? IS 64:4, "No has ever seen or heard of a God like You, Who does such deeds for those who put their hope in Him." [see also 1 COR 2: 9].
You'll remember that I wrote about the pro golfer, Tiger Woods, in a previous devotion. I have a lot of respect for this young man, who at the age of 32, came in seven strokes ahead of his nearest opponent in the Target Invitational Tournament at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, CA recently. This was an honest win against some of his best colleagues in the world, a win which brought him $1.34 million! Tiger Woods will not take one penny of that money home with him. After paying taxes, he will plow all of it into his charities, like the Tiger Woods Educational Foundation for bringing education to disadvantaged children in the Los Angeles area. There has never been any kind of talk in the media or elsewhere of Tiger Woods taking drugs or doing anything dishonest in his life. He is the father of little Sam Alexys [16 mos.] with his wife, Elin. His greatest joy right after he came off the 18th hole on Sunday was to greet his widowed mother, his wife and his baby daughter. By far, Tiger Woods is not perfect. He can lose his temper, or exhibit some other trait of humanness, just like anyone else. But his management of his mammon is under public scrutiny and is coming out cleanly. I was pleased to see that the PGA has plans for drug testing in the face of the pro baseball scandal. To my understanding, it is not because there is any drug use now, but to prevent any in the future of pro golf.
A person's reputation really does matter. Abraham's was certainly good, as we see from the king, Abimelech's conversation with is army commander, Phicol, and Abraham, in GN 21: 22, "God is with you in everything you do." Later Joseph enjoyed a good reputation with the Egyptians, certainly at the time the Pharaoh entrusted him to come up with a plan to save Egypt from the seven years of famine after Joseph interpreted the king's dream [GN 41: 29-30,34-36, and 40-41]. The prophet, Daniel, had a good reputation from the best Source of all, the Lord God. We see this from God's revelation in [DN 9: 24-27] of the Vision of the Seventy Weeks and Gabriel's words in DN 10: 11, "The angel said to me, 'Daniel, God holds you in great esteem. Stand up and listen carefully to what I am going to say. I have been sent to you.'" What followed was an explanation of the history during more immediate times in DN 11 and also a vision of the future beyond that. To strengthen Daniel, the angel repeated God's love for him in DN 10: 19, "God loves you, so do not let anything worry or frighten you." Men like the apostles, John, Peter, and Paul, also shared good reputations among the believers. Otherwise they would not have been entrusted with the leadership positions they were allowed to have by humans and by God. AC 6: 3-6 reveals the importance of a good reputation when the first deacons of the early church were selected by the church leadership, because they "were known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom." These men would care for the finances of the members of the church, allowing the elders to give over their time to prayer and the work of preaching. One last example is Timothy, in AC 16: 2, of whom the believers in Lystra and Iconium speak well. A good reputation is not something we can achieve by our own words; it must come out of our thoughts, decisions, and actions noted by others. We must examine our own lives to see if we, as individuals and as congregations, deserve a good reputation and credit for everything we do.
PRAYER: O Lord, we come before Your throne today to acknowledge that we are imperfect and much in need of Your direction and interaction in our lives. We are as yet sinners, eager for You to perfect us, so that one day we will deserve to come back to You in heaven and sit by Your right side. Our Lord Jesus did just that when He allowed His life to be sacrificed on the cross, so that He could take on the sins of the world as the One and only perfect Sin Sacrifice for mankind [HE 10: 10]. His death and resurrection give us hope that He, as "the First among many brothers" [RO 8: 29], opens the way to us being able to follow Him. We should never tire of seeking You first, following Your direction, and remembering what Your Son, Jesus Christ, did for us. PS 37: 23-24 reveals to us the importance of Your interaction in our lives. "The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand." In the course of our efforts to listen for and to follow Your direction, we should keep the matters of the Kingdom of God primary in our minds. The people mentioned in this devotion are people who enjoy a good reputation and who have earned the respect of their fellow human beings. They also enjoy Your esteem. No other opinion matters as much as Yours does. The prophet, Jeremiah, prayed a prayer that we need to also pray, in JER 10: 23-24. "Lord, I know no one is the master of his destiny. No person has control over his own life. Correct Your people, O Lord, but do not be too hard on us or punish us when you are angry; that would be the end of us." We know You to be a just and compassionate God. We bow to Your authority in our lives. We thank and praise You for all You do for us [PS 86: 12-13]. All these things we pray in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Next week, the Holy Spirit leads me to discuss what 2 THESS 3: 6-15 has to say about earning a living while seeking God's Kingdom. For now, I hope you have had as much fun learning the Hebrew alphabet as I have. Perhaps we will all have to know it, since I believe Hebrew will be the language spoken in the New Jerusalem. Moreover, the traits of the ideal person are certainly worthy of our attention and as our goals. Reading the Scriptures every day lives up to the goal for them that God sets in 2 TIM 3: 16-17. "All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching the truth, rebuking error, correcting faults, and giving instruction for right living, so that the person who serves God may be fully qualified and equipped to do every kind of good deed." We live in an interesting time. All the while that the world is becoming more evil in its ways, God has revealed more of His secrets than at any other time in mankind's history. Long ago, in DT 29: 29, we were told that "there are some things God has kept secret; but He has revealed his Law [Ten Commandments], and we and our descendants are to obey it forever." As history has unfolded, God has revealed more and more of His secrets and has always been remarkably open regarding His will for us. I love the fact that our God is so available to us. JER 29: 11-13, "I alone know all the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to bring disaster, plans to give you the future for which You hope. Then you will call to Me. You will come and pray to Me, and I will answer you. You will seek Me, and you will find Me, because You will seek Me with all your heart." If you find this comforting, then my message has been clearly stated. Our God loves us with all His heart. Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn