Bunch of idiots

^8-11 “‘Get smart! Your leaders are handing you a pack of lies, and you’re swallowing them! Use your heads! Do you think you can rob and murder, have sex with the neighborhood wives, tell lies nonstop, worship the local gods, and buy every novel religious commodity on the market—and then march into this Temple, set apart for my worship, and say, “We’re safe!” thinking that the place itself gives you a license to go on with all this outrageous sacrilege? A cave full of criminals! Do you think you can turn this Temple, set apart for my worship, into something like that? Well, think again. I’ve got eyes in my head. I can see what’s going on.’” God’s Decree!

This really spoke to me that today in our society, we are doing excatly the same thing, taking God's grace for granted! Its about lust and sex and we can do whatever we want and roam around sinning then we just walk into church and say "we are safe". What hypocrites!  By coming to church does not give us a licence to sin, by having God's grace too, does not gives us a licence to sin. And some of us just do not see it. God's grace is not to be used in this manner! We are to treat God's grace up high!

Parents!

“Open up, heavens, and rain.
    Clouds, pour out buckets of my goodness!
Loosen up, earth, and bloom salvation;
    sprout right living.
    I, God, generate all this.
But doom to you who fight your Maker—
    you’re a pot at odds with the potter!
Does clay talk back to the potter:
    ‘What are you doing? What clumsy fingers!’
Would a sperm say to a father,
    ‘Who gave you permission to use me to make a baby?’
Or a fetus to a mother,
    ‘Why have you cooped me up in this belly?’”

 When i read this verse, holy spirit reminded me of the times i talked back to my mother. Then i had the deep conviction immediately that my mother was used by God to bring forth me into this world and i should be grateful, not blaming or to the point of talking back to her. Instead, i should be really thankful of a mother who can and will take care of me. Because no creation would and should talk back to fight against our Maker. Though my mother is not my maker, but God is, she was a tool for God, so if i go against her and be at odds with her, it would be almost equivalent to going against God! Be thankful to your parents! :D

Curruption

^16-17 God says, “Zion women are stuck-up,
    prancing around in their high heels,
Making eyes at all the men in the street,
    swinging their hips,
Tossing their hair,
    gaudy and garish in cheap jewelry.”
The Master will fix it so those Zion women
    will all turn bald—
Scabby, bald-headed women.
    The Master will do it.

This is during Israel's darkest hour. This book was written in approximately at 730 BC. about 200 -300 years after Solomon, at the time of this prophet called Isaiah. Israel is corrupted, in God's words, read the book! "Zion women are stuck-up, prancing around in their high heels"

The corruption, does it sound like our time? Hmm?

Proverbs 8

^12-21 “I am Lady Wisdom, and I live next to Sanity;
    Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street.
The Fear-of-God means hating Evil,
    whose ways I hate with a passion—
    pride and arrogance and crooked talk.
Good counsel and common sense are my characteristics;
    I am both Insight and the Virtue to live it out.
With my help, leaders rule,
    and lawmakers legislate fairly;
With my help, governors govern,
    along with all in legitimate authority.
I love those who love me;
    those who look for me find me.
Wealth and Glory accompany me—
    also substantial Honor and a Good Name.
My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary;
    the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus.
You can find me on Righteous Road—that’s where I walk—
    at the intersection of Justice Avenue,
Handing out life to those who love me,
    filling their arms with life—armloads of life!

what is Fear-of-God? means hating evil. So powerful. Indirectly, this Proverbs is actually saying that fear-of-God ward off evil, and evil ways, gain you wealth, so much wealth, upholds justice and give life. Do we have it? Nope, unfortunately people in our generation wants worldly knowledge but wisdom is totally different. It gives you totally different things on a different level than things of the world can give. 

Morsel of a proveb

I’m chewing on the morsel of a proverb;
    I’ll let you in on the sweet old truths,
Stories we heard from our fathers,
    counsel we learned at our mother’s knee.

Morsel, whats a morsel? Morsel is a small chunk, just a mouthful of proverb. This teaches me a lot, just a mouthful. God gave us a mouthful to handle, one mouthful at a time. I have this habit of taking the whole chunk all at once, but that is not good, take a morsel at a time!


^1-2 On your feet now—applaud God!
    Bring a gift of laughter,
    sing yourselves into his presence.

³ Know this: God is God, and God, God.
    He made us; we didn’t make him.
    We’re his people, his well-tended sheep.

⁴ Enter with the password: “Thank you!”
    Make yourselves at home, talking praise.
    Thank him. Worship him.

⁵ For God is sheer beauty,
    all-generous in love,
    loyal always and ever.

Thanks giving, Praise Worship Him! All these are good! I am encouraged by this verse!

true freedom

¹⁶ Come and hear, all you who fear God;
    let me tell you what he has done for me.
¹⁷ I cried out to him with my mouth;
    his praise was on my tongue.
¹⁸ If I had cherished sin in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened;
¹⁹ but God has surely listened
    and has heard my prayer.
²⁰ Praise be to God,
    who has not rejected my prayer
    or withheld his love from me!

Praise be to God! Our prayers will be answered with love from God! Those who think prayers are not true, it is true. You just gotta try it. Pray with a sincere heart. God will answer with love. When i say answer with love means that He will only answer if He thinks it is good for you. God is not a genie, but a loving Father.

⁵ For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord,
    my confidence since my youth.
⁶ From birth I have relied on you;
    you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.
    I will ever praise you.
⁷ I have become a sign to many;
    you are my strong refuge.
⁸ My mouth is filled with your praise,
    declaring your splendor all day long.

Do not forget the Lord and the things that He have done! From birth till now, God have been our provider and will always continue to be. Do not ever forget the Lord!

¹² This is what the wicked are like—
    always free of care, they go on amassing wealth.

Is this not true? The wicked are always free. They are free from God's law and free, they think they are free therefore they act free. They can do anything their sinful heart desires, just anything without thinking of the consequences. They go on thinking life is all there is and justy try to make the best of it getting rich and all. Its true is'nt it...

Following God is not easy, we have freedom in Christ but not free of care. We cannot just ignore the consequences and do whatever we like, because we know we need to account to God! But through that we find freedom, fulfillment and joy because that was what life is supposed to be like! 

Psalms?

^{After i had read this, i really feel for the old testament people, especially for the non-Jews. Half the time the Jews are praising God for hunting down their enemies which are non-Jews. No one actually shared to these people man. They know of God probably but no one shared to them, they only know of their own gods.} 

^22-23 Pile your troubles on God’s shoulders—
    he’ll carry your load, he’ll help you out.
He’ll never let good people
    topple into ruin.
But you, God, will throw the others
    into a muddy bog,
Cut the lifespan of assassins
    and traitors in half.

And I trust in you.

 God will never let good people topple into ruin! As far as we trust in God! He will help the good people and punish the rest. So now, are we good people, in God's eyes?

Psalm 27

¹ 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?

² When the wicked advance against me
    to devour^[a] me,
it is my enemies and my foes
    who will stumble and fall.
³ Though an army besiege me,
    my heart will not fear;
though war break out against me,
    even then I will be confident.

These verses are about faith! The Lord is my light and my salvation. Light is something that makes things visible and salvation is deliverance from harm. God is a provider of light and salvation, illuminates our lives from darkness and rescues us from sin. He is the reason we live on, free from the enemy. 

When one is in tough circumstances, do you fear?  Where and who is your confidence and hope based on? Yourself? Or God? When an army besiege you, then you will find out. We put our faith and confidence in a lot of things(gods), technology is one, but what does it mean for us to trust in the Lord? It is not blind faith but because of what He had done in the past, we can be sure that He will do in the future. Whether it is in our own lives or in others or in the bible, it is shown that He had done it before. Based on His track record, that is also where faith comes in, faith that He will do it again. Faith that He exists. We cannot prove God in a scientific and logical manner that God exist, but we know that we can do that only by faith. In your hard times, your god will be revealed, whether it is the Lord, yourself or someone or something. It would be revealed!

Righteousness!

⁷ God’s business is putting things right;
    he loves getting the lines straight,
Setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall,
    we can look him straight in the eye.

 

That is God's nature, setting things straight, having righteousness!  Protecting righteousness, guarding it, defining it! Righteousness is something that God owns and defines along, it is his business! Setting all of us straight, fixing us all of us up. That is how much he loves us, that he will always fixes us up regardless of how we were. He even sent His Son down to earth to fix all humanity once and for all, Jesus at His expense. That is God's business! All in the end so that we can look into God's eyes in heaven!

^20-24 God made my life complete
    when I placed all the pieces before him.
When I got my act together,
    he gave me a fresh start.
Now I’m alert to God’s ways;
    I don’t take God for granted.
Every day I review the ways he works;
    I try not to miss a trick.
I feel put back together,
    and I’m watching my step.
God rewrote the text of my life
    when I opened the book of my heart to his eyes.

As a follow up verses after that verse 7, God rewrote our lives when He sent Jesus down to earth to fix all of us. He rewrote everything! He fixes all our wrongs, when we were willing:"When I got my act together". It says when i got my act together. If we are willing, that is the key. When we are willing, thats the key. If we are not willing, it would not happen. It is as a prelude to the things that God will do, but we must get our act together first! 

Wisdom

⁵ “Every word of God is flawless;
    he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
⁶ Do not add to his words,
    or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

Every word of God is flawless, the word from the Bible is true and whoever who follows His word will take cover behind God! God's word is holy and not to be tweaked and changed. We should always ensure that His word is not tweaked and must be accurate.

²⁴ “Four things on earth are small,
    yet they are extremely wise:
²⁵ Ants are creatures of little strength,
    yet they store up their food in the summer;
²⁶ hyraxes are creatures of little power,
    yet they make their home in the crags;
²⁷ locusts have no king,
    yet they advance together in ranks;
²⁸ a lizard can be caught with the hand,
    yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

I think this is quite funny! 4 things that  are extremely wise. The bible says that these are extremely wise, how funny is that, the bible does not say that people are wise, but it says these 4 animals.

Pride

11 The Lord detests dishonest scales,
    but accurate weights find favor with him.

² When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
    but with humility comes wisdom.

³ The integrity of the upright guides them,
    but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity.

⁴ Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
    but righteousness delivers from death.


The Lord is justice, hates sin and promotes justice! I want to concentrate on this verse:

When pride comes, then comes disgrace.

Pride is something that we all have and some thing that is very dangerous in all of us. It blinds us from the circumstance.

Firstly what is pride? 
Pride is a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of one's close associates, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.

Lets all be honest and admit that we all have experienced pride before. It may be an award, a race medal, a scholarship, something and anything. Something that we are proud of, to show to our world. And that is dangerous. When that happens firstly we bring glory to ourselves, not to God. Next, we think that we are already there, no one can actually beat us. No one can defeat us in that area, basically we are king. But that is not true. It bring about complacency into us and we are just blinded by pride. 


Remember when the next time you think pride is overtaking you remember

When pride comes, then comes disgrace but with humility comes wisdom.

Every sin has a cost

²⁶ For a prostitute can be had for a loaf of bread,
    but another man’s wife preys on your very life.
²⁷ Can a man scoop fire into his lap
    without his clothes being burned?
²⁸ Can a man walk on hot coals
    without his feet being scorched?
²⁹ So is he who sleeps with another man’s wife;
    no one who touches her will go unpunished.

This passage in Proverbs 6 talks about adultery, but it really can be applied throughout everywhere, in God's kingdom. What is the cost of your sin? Every sin has a cost. Whether it is to you or to some one else. It has a cost. Next time when you are tempted to sin, just think of this verse. Every sin has a cost!

¹³ Folly is an unruly woman;
    she is simple and knows nothing.
¹⁴ She sits at the door of her house,
    on a seat at the highest point of the city,
¹⁵ calling out to those who pass by,
    who go straight on their way,
¹⁶     “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
To those who have no sense she says,
¹⁷     “Stolen water is sweet;
    food eaten in secret is delicious!”
¹⁸ But little do they know that the dead are there,
    that her guests are deep in the realm of the dead.

 Stolen water is sweet, food eaten in secret is delicious. How true is that? I have experienced it first hand.  Because my mother disapprove of unhealthy foods, i would crave for them and eat in secret and it is indeed delicious! And never would i have imagined that it is in the bible. Moreover, i see pre-marital sex as something that can be described as in this parable too! So true! everything that is in secret is delicious! Why so? Idk, but it is true. Man just have a desire for things done in secret.

Everything that the bible says is really truth. All we need to do is just to open it and read!

What is wisdom?

 ³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
    bind them around your neck,
    write them on the tablet of your heart.
⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name
    in the sight of God and man.

Proverbs is a very curious chapter, what is wisdom? How does one quantify wisdom? How do you get some? What is Godly wisdom? All these questions will be answered in this book. But first, most importantly keep love and faithfulness inscribed in your heart!

 ¹³ Blessed are those who find wisdom,
    those who gain understanding,
¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver
    and yields better returns than gold.
¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies;
    nothing you desire can compare with her.
¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand;
    in her left hand are riches and honor.
¹⁷ Her ways are pleasant ways,
    and all her paths are peace.
¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
    those who hold her fast will be blessed.

 The book talks about the benefits of having wisdom, Godly wisdom. Wisdom is so precious, more profitable than silver, gold, rubies, the whole deal! It will give you life and riches, So much talk about the benefits of Godly wisdom, but what is it?

²⁷ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
    when it is in your power to act.
²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor,
    “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
    when you already have it with you.
²⁹ Do not plot harm against your neighbor,
    who lives trustfully near you.
³⁰ Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
    when they have done you no harm.

All these are part of it, just simply doing the right thing, to be righteous! Do good and be righteous. If you have realized this is part of the ten commandments. Love your neighbour like yourself! and Do not make false accusations. 

²⁴ Keep your mouth free of perversity;
    keep corrupt talk far from your lips.

Keep your speech and mouth away from curses and speculation!

All these atre wisdom, how to be wise in God's eyes. All these are not easy to do i would say. It is not easy to honor all these daily but when one does it, he will reap many riches! Godly riches! 

Desire for the Lord

¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
²     Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
    to my cry for mercy.

³ If you, Lord, kept a record of sins,
    Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness,
    so that we can, with reverence, serve you.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope.
⁶ I wait for the Lord
    more than watchmen wait for the morning,
    more than watchmen wait for the morning.

⁷ Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
    for with the Lord is unfailing love
    and with him is full redemption.
⁸ He himself will redeem Israel
    from all their sins.

 As i read this passage, i wonder what is our desire for the Lord. Is our desire still great? Do we still desire the Lord? The Psalmist says 
"Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord"

How many times we reach that level, out of my depths I cry to you?

Where is our desire for the Lord? lost? 

I admit that desire for the Lord is something that we always need to keep in view. Something that we should keep in check, keep in mind. 

Is our desire for the Lord at the same level as the watchmen? 

No? Then we need to find it, we need to review it and search ourselves. What is taking our time away from the Lord. WHat is taking our desire away from the Lord. There is something that captures our attention and what is it? Is it ourselves?

¹ Lord, remember David
    and all his self-denial.

² He swore an oath to the Lord,
    he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob:
³ “I will not enter my house
    or go to my bed,
⁴ I will allow no sleep to my eyes
    or slumber to my eyelids,
⁵ till I find a place for the Lord,
    a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Like David, he denied himself to find the Lord. We should deny ourselves too. Fast and pray?

fearfully and wonderfully made

¹ You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

Lord search my heart, search my heart oh Lord. Lord You know about all the things that I am doing and will be doing. Lord You know everything. Lord i pray that You reveal to us daily about the things that are wrong with our lives and Lord i pray that You send the Holy Spirit to correct us daily oh Lord. Lord i pray that everyone who reads this article will too. They will just surrender themselves to the Lord. Lord i ask of you to open us up Lord, help us reveal ourselves Lord.

¹³ For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴ I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
¹⁷ How precious to me are your thoughts,^[a] God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸ Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

Sometimes i really marvel in God's creation. Sometimes i think that how i can believe that God is real? As a Christian, i struggle with these things. Contradictory but valid. In Christianity, there are some things that people will never understand. Example is when you stall when you are doing the paper that you prepared so hard to do. Yet, you ask yourself why does that happen. And sometimes even ask God why? But in the end, it is a choice. Everything is a choice. Its our own choice whether we would want to trust in the Lord and just go and accept this failure. For God does not like at the result but the heart. 

I praise you even though i may have think i failed. Because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, And Your works are wonderful!