There are times when we make a choice of a road, thinking it’s the right way, only later to discover, after a loss of time and energy, it’s a dead end.
We turn around, with much of our insides churning and turning as well.
Along our journey, do our ears hear the temptation of an acquaintance,
“Let’s go out and raise some hell. Let’s beat up some old man, mug some old woman. Let’s pick them clean and get them ready for their funerals. We’ll load up on top-quality loot. We’ll haul it home by the truckload.
Join us for the time of your life! With us, it’s share and share alike!” Proverbs 1, The Message.
Or, do we undergo the continual temptation, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait to shed blood; Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause; Let us swallow them alive like Sheol . . . ” the Proverbs 1 NKJV.
S T O P! For a moment, instead of the pointing finger, and a heart on the defensive, can we look inside and consider our hearts? Are we offended about the shedding of blood for any human kind?
God knows us better than we know ourselves. Do we care about God more than our own self-satisfaction?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction Proverbs 1: 7.
Do we really care about love? God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, is Love.
God is love 1 John 4:7.
Do we want to give Love our ear? Our decision is either a Dead End or Life and Light. (Yes, each with capital letters.)
Some may ask, “How can a God of love allow all the death and suffering?”
God speaks, each and every moment of each and every day. Do we have ears to hear? That is the life and death question:
“Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares. She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:
“How long you simple ones, will you love simplicity?
For scorners delight in their scorning. And fools hate knowledge” Proverbs 1:22.
We have a choice to make. Do we believe the Holy Bible? Do we consider the writings penned thousands of years ago by the inspiration of God to many authors through a large span of time, over a huge expanse of area? Are we curious to take not of the hundreds of prophesies stated, each fulfilled in due time.
Or, not? God speaks:
“Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you Because I have called and you refused,
I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded.
Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke,
I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you Proverbs 1: 26,27.
Are you offended by the Word of God? Or does this put a reverent fear in our heart?
Turn at my rebuke; Surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you . . .
God calls. Do we refuse? Or do we turn to hear what the Spirit says:
The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.
Day unto day utters speech,
And night unto night reveals knowledge.
There is no speech nor language
Where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth,
And their words to the end of the world.
In them He has set a tabernacle for the sun,
Which is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
And rejoices like a strong man to run its race.
Its rising is from one end of heaven,
And its circuit to the other end;
And there is nothing hidden from its heat Psalm 19: 1-6.
Do we consider the Word of the LORD?
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul;
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes;
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever;
The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
Yea, than much fine gold;
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.
Moreover by them Your servant is warned,
And in keeping them there is great reward.
Is today a day we turn and give the true and living God our ear? Or, not:
“Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD, They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke. Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, And be filled to the full with their own fancies . . . But,
whoever listens to me will dwell safely, And will be secure, without fear of evil” Proverbs 1: 29-33.
It’s time to listen. I want to hear Him today. He’s perfect, pure and holy. I’m not. He covers me and gives me new life. Power is the gospel message:
1 John 4: 7-21, Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot[a] love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Today. He who has ears to hear let him hear, and turn to follow God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Spirit. Amen.
Simply pray and talk to the Lord yourself . . . and tell someone else, that you have decided to turn to Christ today.
