Borne by God
In light of the recent and ongoing sufferings my family is enduring, Pastor Alan asked me to give a testimony about our Lord’s faithfulness during this time at the Sunday evening meeting. Here is something of a revised version. A man’s steps are from the LORD; how then can man understand his way? P R O V E R B S 20:24 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand. P R O V E R B S 19:21 They say hindsight is 20/20; apparently I need LASIK surgery! While things are certainly clearer looking back upon them rather than in the midst of them, none of us can fully discern the Lord’s providential outworking of his purposes for us. The Lord has, however, given to us “all things that pertain to life and godliness,...
Wisdom for Drawing Out Deep Waters
Some Thoughts on Prov. 20:5 “The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out.” Let’s see if we can draw out some of the meaning of this verse. Seems to me a couple of ideas are presented, or possible, here. The “purpose” may be obscure & thus requiring wisdom to be found out & expressed clearly or it may be profound & thus requiring wisdom to be understood & applied. Also, I’m not exactly sure who the author intends here regarding the man of understanding–is it the man himself or another man? Perhaps both are intended; regardless, both are true: We need wisdom to draw things out of ourselves as well as others. I think vs. 27 in this chapter sheds further...
Channels of Grace
As one who is not only prone to wander & indeed has done so to a heinous degree but also prone to perform, I must continually recognize my need for (& plead accordingly) the Lord to graciously bind my wandering heart & quell my propensity to perform. The extent to which I strive to live by my performance rather than by God’s grace will determine how I relate to others: the more “successful” I am in my performance, the more demanding, judgmental & fawning I will be; the more I “fail”, the more I will withdraw and/or deceive. And given the propensity of like-feathered birds for flocking together, I must ask myself why I have chosen to join myself to a particular community as well as how I am contributing to its ethos...