For forty years I led you through the desert … yet your sandals did not wear out." Duet. 29:5
“We praise your love even more than wine. How right [we] are to adore you.”
Much more than a good beer on a Friday night. Much more than a good book on a rainy evening. Much more than a cup of coffee beside my computer. Even more than my good wife of thirty-five years. “O love of every love the best.”
“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!” Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised.”
Amen.
“Give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and thus insult God’s holy name.”
O God, you know me. You know my weaknesses. You where I’m likely to stumble. Keep me on the good path. More than that, help me to press on the upward way.
“Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.”
This verse somehow brings to mind the words of an old folk song, “Run on For a Long Time”:
Go tell that long-tongue liar,
Go tell that midnight rider.
Tell the rambler, gambler, backbiter—
Tell ’em God Almighty’s gonna cut ’em down.
“People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.”
God is rich in mercy, ready to forgive. But He can only forgive those who genuinely want His forgiveness.
As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.
A true friend has earned the right to be honest—brutally honest if need be. A friend knows how to disagree without being disagreeable.
Smooth words may hide a wicked heart, just as a pretty glaze covers a clay pot. People may cover their hatred with pleasant words, but they’re deceiving you.
How wicked a thing it is when nice-sounding words conceal dark motives. The words of the LORD are pure—they conceal nothing. All his motives are loving.
“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you.”
A hungry enemy is someone to be pitied. A thirsty enemy is, more than anything else, someone in need. We are called to love our enemies. The LORD will sort it all out in the end.
“Do not fret because of evildoers or be envious of the wicked, for the evildoer has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out..”
An (eternal) future hope is of infinitely more value than anything we look forward to here on this earth.
Do not let your heart envy sinners,
but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.”
Be zealous. Be determined. Make it a priority. Remember who He is, and how much He loves you.
