Topic: Book of Proverbs
Trust the LORD with all your heart, and don't depend on your understanding. Remember the LORD in all you do, and he will give you success. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Remember when your parents give you some good advice to you between what is not good thing to do and what is good thing to do in your life? Why your parents give you good advice? Why is that? "My child, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in mind." (Proverbs 3:1)
You might think that your parents would try to control your life. You might say, "Do I have to?" The rules that our parents give us are not that they try to control over our lives. We have a freedom to choose whether to obey our parents or not. If I decide not to obey my parent, then my future will not be good. I would waste my time to hang with gangs or I would do not know what to do with my life problems. Think about what your future life will be if you decide to disobey your family's advice and going with your life. In Proverbs 5, Solomon talked about adultery. He gave a lot good advice to his son about finding a right woman for his son's life.
Since Adam and Eve disobeyed God, our lives become limit. (See Genesis 3:17-24.) "Our lifetime is seventy years or, if we are strong, eighty years. But the years are full of hard work and pain. They pass quickly, and we are gone." (Psalm 90:10)
God has a promise for you and me if we choose to obey Him and our people. If we obey God, He will let us live a long time, and our lives will be successful. (Proverbs 3:2.) God knows and controls our lives. He knows when we would die. Remember when King Uzziah chose to refuse God; He struck him with a skin disease. (See II Kings 15:1-7; II Chronicles 26:1-23.) Uzziah choose to die by disobeying the Lord. God gave us some choices how we need to live until He calls us to go to our eternal home.
That's why we need to remember the word from our parents and from our God. "Don't ever forget kindness and truth. Wear them like a necklace. Write them on your heart as if on a tablet. Then you will be respected and will please both God and people." (Proverbs 3:3-4)
Jesus said in Luke, "If you cannot be trusted with worldly riches, then who will trust you with true riches? And if you cannot be trusted with things that belong to someone else, who will give you things of your own?" (Luke 16:11-12.) Who will you trust to meet your need?
Our lives seem to be tough when we face our difficulties. We may have problems occurred when we have a lot of the financial needs. Or we may have crisis in our families weather we share the gospel of Jesus Christ with unsaved love ones or in family situations. It is hard to solve the problems when the issues are big.
There are many of us who search for the answers to the problems. For example, some people may decide to enjoy the Psychic Hotline to look for the answers. In fact, God gave us a warning of these psychic friends in Deuteronomy 13:
"Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, `Come, let us worship the gods of foreign nations,' do not listen to them. The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or dreamers who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt. Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must execute them to remove the evil from among you.
"Suppose your brother, son, daughter, beloved wife, or closest friend comes to you secretly and says, `Let us go worship other gods'--gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known. They might suggest that you worship the gods of peoples who live nearby or who come from the ends of the earth. If they do this, do not give in or listen, and have no pity. Do not spare or protect them. You must put them to death! You must be the one to initiate the execution; then all the people must join in. Stone the guilty ones to death because they have tried to draw you away from the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery. Then all Israel will hear about it and be afraid, and such wickedness will never again be done among you. Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods." (Deuteronomy 13:1-12 NLT.)
So whom could we be trusted on? Read with me in Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust the LORD with all your heart, and don't depend on your understanding. Remember the LORD in all you do, and he will give you success."
If we want to be happy in our lives, then don't depend on our own interest or our own religious rules. Trust God and He will give us what we need for our earthly living. If you want to receive what He has a plan for your life, trust God with all your heart.
When we face the trials in our lives, are we trying to solve problems by our own ways? Sometime, we may like to depend on ourselves to solve the crisis. I know I do like to try to depend myself. Are we trying to be totally independent by ourselves while we are in human formed?
"Don't depend on your own wisdom." (Proverbs 3:7a) Our lives are not for ourselves. The life that we have is all about Jesus Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me." (John 14:6.) He is the Alpha (beginning) and the Omega (end). (See Revelation 1:8.)
"Respect the LORD and refuse to do wrong." (Proverbs 3:7b.) If you want to follow Jesus as your personal Savior and Lord, to do His will and refuse to do your own power. Again, the Christianity is not about learning all the rules and rituals, but having your personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. "For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.." (I Timothy 2:5-6 NKJV.)
"Then your body will be healthy, and your bones will be strong." (Proverbs 3:8.) Not just your body and bones that God will give you the strength, but He will also give you the strength of your spiritual body. That spiritual body is inside of you.
Although I am disabled man, God is working with me through many hardships. God does not see us outside of us, He sees us inside of us as the shadow of Jesus' cross. All of us have sinned and God knows we are struggling with sins these days. Although we are not worthy called as His children, He has provided the way. That is through Jesus Christ. We love because God loved us first.
If you have been turned away from God for while and have decided to go back to track with Him, or if you are new to the Christianity and would like to receive His salvation in your heart, then He has a great plan for you. If you want to accept Him as your personal Savior, I like to invite you to pray this prayer in your heart:
"Dear Lord Jesus. I am sorry for my sins. Now, I know You died for my sins because You love me so much; and You raised on the third day to be with me for eternity. Lord, I confess my sins to you and want to have my personal relationship with You. Lord, now I want to trust You as my Savior and King and walk with You in all the way of my life. I prayed in the name of Jesus, Amen."
If you have invited Jesus in your life, then you have the personal relationship with God. "...that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." (Romans 10:9 NKJV.) Now, if you like to grow in faith through Jesus Christ, then go and find the local church friends who are strong believers in Jesus and His Word and tell them about your salvation. They may be able to help you in growing through faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Start your relationship with God by reading the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Bible. This book is God's letter to you.
