Who is wise and discerning? They will understand that God’s path is the right path and they will walk in it.
The book of Hosea ends with this truth – ‘But those who rebel stumble.’ Hosea 14:9.
How do the rebellious stumble? They spend many hours on things with little or no ultimate value. They spend a lot of money on things that provide little or no satisfaction. They spend much energy looking for something that will complete them and give them a purpose when the Provider of these does not live on this earth.
Meanwhile, God opens the eyes of the wise as they walk with him. There are still small stumbles but they know how to get back on the right path.
How do we walk right with God? By loving God with our whole heart, mind and soul and loving others. Simple….yet profound. When we do this, we are transformed.
When we walk with God, he completes us and gives us a purpose.
I only have so much time here on this planet – I shouldn’t waste it. If there is one lesson that has been engraved on my mind these last few years, it’s ‘Life is short”.
I truly never knew how extremely short life can be until my son was killed. One moment he was here and the next he was gone.
My life blew up in that one moment.
Life is short – I have no time to waste.
Just like Jonah – he had no time to waste. So it’s a little frustrating to read about Jonah going through his big drama of disobeying God’s direction to go to Ninevah. Jonah decided to go the other direction, got caught on a ship in a big storm, was thrown overboard by sailors and spent 3 days in a huge fish at the bottom of the ocean. It was there that he repented and reached out to God. (bottom of the ocean, end of our rope – sound familiar?)
Jonah used a bunch of time running from God before finally deciding to obey him by going to Ninevah. “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.” Jonah 2:2. When Jonah turned back to him, God ordered the fish to spit Jonah out on the beach so Jonah could go ahead and do what God asked him to do in the first place.
That whole first whale trip was just a big waste of time and energy!
Wait a minute – do I do this?
Do you do this?
I have to admit that I’ve wasted a lot of time in the past disobeying God. I ignored what I knew was right. I did what I wanted to do and gained nothing from it. It was useless – a waste of time.
One of my life goals now is to obey God the first time. I want to stop wasting time and energy while disobeying.
I want to avoid getting hit by the 2×4 that eventually comes our way when we ignore the lessons God is trying to teach us. The issue or problem doesn’t go away when we disobey – it grows. And it continues to grow until it’s too big and bad to ignore any longer.
Have you ever been hit by God’s 2×4 as a consequence for avoiding his directions? Have you found yourself at the end of your rope? Or stuck at the bottom of the sea like Jonah?
I have. It’s a wake up call. An enormous red flag pops up and starts whipping through my life. It seems like everything starts going wrong at the same time but, in reality, this issue has been gradually building steam while I prioritized other things. Because he is a good Father, God doesn’t ignore me when I’m trying to ignore him. He lets the consequences of my own actions grow until it’s just like getting hit by a 2×4. By then, the issue has become too enormous and too awful – I cannot continue to look the other way. It’s a direct message from God – attitudes and behaviors and priorities need to change – and they need to change NOW!
I got it, God! I have learned my lesson and I intend to obey right away from now on. No more 2×4’s in my life if I can help it!
I have also learned that obedience up front, the first time, brings additional blessings of peace and strength that come from being in line with God and in step with the Spirit.
We can make ourselves look good and nice and religious on the outside.
But that doesn’t count unless we are letting God mold us and change us on the inside.
When we submit our hearts and minds to God, he will transform them. Eventually, his redeeming power working in our lives will start to show on the outside. What people see will be different.
Because we’re becoming more like Him on the inside.
This is why, in Joel 2, the Prophet Joel told the lukewarm people of Judah to ‘rend your heart and not your garments.’
They needed to genuinely give their hearts back to God – not just make a big show of tearing their clothes and weeping loudly in the temple.
God called them to rend their hearts – break open their hearts – and let him back in.
Then the transformation can happen.
God asks us to do the same today. He wants us to open up our hearts to him and let his light shine in our lives. To mold us. To change us.
There are times when its a major struggle to open my spiritual eyes…
open my mind….
open my heart…
to the truth….
to a different reality – God’s reality.
Sometimes I can be just like Elisha’s servant in the Bible who was afraid of the huge enemy army which surrounded the city they were in. Elisha wasn’t afraid. He knew something the servant didn’t know. Elisha prayed, ‘Open his eyes, Lord, so he may see.” 2 Kings 6: 17.
And when the Lord opened the servant’s spiritual eyes, he looked up and saw the hills around Elisha full of horses and chariots of fire. God’s army.
Elisha was not worried – he knew the truth. God had his back and there was no cause for alarm. Elisha understood and trusted in the power and faithfulness of his Father God.
His eyes were open.
When my eyes are open, I can see God moving around me. I can feel the strength he gives me to face each challenge that comes my way. I can rest in the knowledge that he has his army fighting my battles and he is working all things out for my good. I can see his light guiding me towards the next step of my journey.
Just like with Elijah, God doesn’t speak to me in a terrible blast of flying rocks or in an earthquake or in a fire. “The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was no in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.” 1 Kings 19:12
God often speaks to me in a whisper – a faint breeze of truth and light that flits through my mind. I have to stop, concentrate and reach out to catch it.
If I’m not careful, it’s gone. If I’m not purposefully opening up my spiritual eyes and mind, the spark moves on. And I’m left wandering, ‘When God is going to answer my prayer? When will I see him move?’
Do you ask yourself these questions? Are you listening for his whispers?
When I am quiet,
when I am focused,
when I don’t let distractions derail my time with God, I hear him loud and clear.
God’s Word is alive – he will underline passages (you wouldn’t see it but I do), he will change the font of a sentence to bold to get my attention or he will read the words to me in my head to make sure it’s his voice I hear, not my own or anyone else’s.
There are situations where he simply opens up my eyes to how he has already answered my prayer. He has taken care of the issue and moved on. Keep up, Judy!
That’s when I realize how much I miss when I’m not quiet,
when I’m not ‘zoned in” enough to hear the whispers and feel his breeze of truth ruffling the pages of my Bible.
God is never tired, he is never impatient, he is never distracted, he is never busy.
We are made in God’s image – little glimpses of him show up in each of us.
But he is not like us.
This fact brings me a lot of peace and confidence. I desire to be more like Jesus. I am eternally grateful that he is not like me. He has none of my weaknesses or failings.
Sometimes God tell us about his emotions in the Bible – anger, sadness, and joy. All of his emotions are perfect – for the right reason. They are not like our emotions which are self-centered and can often cause us to say and do wrong things.
When Elijah mocked the priests of Baal in 1 Kings, he was trying to point out the godlessness of their gods. When Baal didn’t respond to their requests, Elijah said, “Shout louder! Surely he is a god. Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 1 Kings 18: 27. This kicked the Baal prophets into a frenzy of shouting louder and slashing themselves with swords and spears. They often did this trying to get a response from Baal.
I grimace when I imagine this scene of four hundred and fifty bleeding prophets of Baal – crying out to a manmade statue. Looking for answers. Looking for hope.
How futile!
How wrong!
How lost.
When I take a look at the world which surrounds me today with overwhelming violence and lies and confusion, I can say the same thing –
How futile!
How wrong!
How lost.
Jesus came to bring his light of truth, grace and salvation to everyone who would believe. He is the only answer.
He lives within each believer and he has commissioned each of us to be his light in our part of this dark and broken world.
Dear Father, Please help us shine your light brightly right where we live, work and play.
I’m an achiever. I like to get things done. I’m also a planner and organizer so I can make sure they get done.
There have been situations in my life in the past where I have struggled and worked and persevered to make something happen only to discover that it wasn’t the right thing. It didn’t work out.
So disappointing. Have you been there?
As my faith in God has grown, I have realized that I experienced some of that frustration because I was trying very hard to do what I wanted to do. But it wasn’t something God wanted to happen, so all of my efforts didn’t work. I have decided that, from now on, I want God’s plans for my life to become reality, not my own plans. The truth is he knows everything, he has the power to do anything and his plans are perfect.
Mine aren’t.
So now I talk to God about what he wants, watch to see where he is moving and then join him in what he is doing. Does it surprise you that great things happen when I do this?
I’m not surprised.
Does it surprise you that sometimes I forget to do this?
I’m not surprised.
As I’m reading King Jeroboam’s story in 1 Kings, I am reminded of some of the disappointments I had when I was trying to do things my own way. Jeroboam was setting up his own kingdom in Israel without asking God what he wanted and Jeroboam was making a lot of bad decisions. But he persevered and it looked like everything was working.
Then, one day, the king stretched out his hand to command to his men to seize the prophet of God (another bad decision) and his hand shriveled up.
Wow! That would have definitely gotten my attention!
Jeroboam knew exactly who shriveled up his hand so he said to the prophet of God , “Intercede with the LORD our God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” 1 Kings 13: 6. This was a good decision – God instantly restored the king’s hand.
God doesn’t usually make hands shrivel up today but he is constantly trying to guide us down the right paths so we make good decisions. Since I’m a planner and organizer and doer, I have to be careful to listen to God and not just use my own skills to make my plans a reality. Even when I’m sure I’m on the path where God wants me, if things just aren’t working, I’ve learned to stop and look to God – is he trying to redirect me? Did I misunderstand?
I published a book on Amazon two years ago, “Then I Looked Up: Losing a Child, Finding His Legacy of Love.” I cannot tell you how many times I stopped and looked to God to figure out my next step in that year-long pretty intense process. It was often. This was a story God had given me and I knew he would guide me if I kept my eyes open. God gets all the credit for the success of the book and the positive impact it is having on people who are grieving the loss of someone close to them.
I made a really good decision many years ago when I decided that, before putting a big effort into climbing a wall, I’m going to make sure it’s the right wall.
When I am keeping my eyes on God, studying his Word and spending time with him, he shows me when I’m getting off track. I ask him to open doors or close doors – somehow show me if I’m going down the right path or not.
And he does. There are times when he opens my eyes to a different next step than I was planning. In other situations, he encourages me and I know I’m supposed to keep moving forward even when the going gets tough.
By focusing on what God wants – not what I want – God doesn’t have to try hard to get my attention. It’s a great way to avoid climbing the wrong wall and experiencing nasty consequences.
“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, ” completely meaningless.” Ecclesiastes 12:8.
Do you ever feel that way?
Obviously this emotion is spreading rapidly through our culture today as we see the suicide rates drastically rising and mass shootings multiply. To many people, tomorrow seems to be meaningless and not worth sticking around for.
“Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.” Eccl. 2:11
King Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes. He was uber rich and the wisest man who ever lived and yet, this is what he wrote at the end of his life.
Pretty depressing, isn’t it?
The futility of pleasure – fleeting and never gives us lasting contentment.
The meaninglessness of work – we put so much effort into work to achieve recognition and so we can own things we want – then we leave it all behind when we die.
The injustices of life – evil is very real.
The futility of wealth – those who love money will never have enough.
The limits of human wisdom – “wisdom is difficult to find.”
Death comes to all – “the same destiny (of death) awaits everyone, whether righteous or wicked, good or bad.”
At the end of Ecclesiastes, Solomon finally gets to the good news. Solomon’s final conclusions tell us what will bring true meaning to our lives.
He says to enjoy life while obeying God – real freedom and happiness come exclusively from God. Evil and injustice will always in a part of life on earth. We should live in faith knowing God wins in the end and will judge all things.
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, tells us that meaning and purpose will only be found by being faithful to God.
I know because I wandered away for several years when I was a young adult. I moved away from home and gradually filled my calendar with activities I knew were not the best for me. The people I met while doing these activities weren’t interested in a relationship with God so we never talked about him. My whole lifestyle changed to ‘looking for love (and fun) in all the wrong places.”
It was easy.
Several years later, I woke up (with a lot of nudging from the Holy Spirit) and realized I was not where I wanted to be. Don’t get me wrong – I had worked hard and gotten everything I thought I wanted – everything I thought would make me happy.
But I wasn’t happy. I was empty. I had a huge hole in my life. I needed a meaningful purpose for getting up every morning beyond feeding the kids, paying the bills and getting my ‘to-do’ lists done.
It took me awhile to figure out that the aching hole in my life was where God was supposed to be. I’m sure the Holy Spirit had to work very hard on me to get me to see that. My relationship with God at this point had melted into nonexistence.
I realized I missed God. I missed my spiritual family.
I’m extremely grateful that the Holy Spirit helped me identify my real need and desire so I could get back on track. My relationship with God has given me all the purpose and joy and success that I was looking for.
I’ve seen many Christians wander away –
their Bible starts gathering dust on a shelf.
social activities on Saturday nights make sleeping in on Sunday mornings more important than worshiping God with their spiritual families.
their week becomes too busy with other things so they drop out of small group Bible studies, leaving their Christian friends behind.
Some Christians stopped going to church during our pandemic and have never gone back. It is just soeasy to wander away from being a part of a church family like God directs us to be, so easy to watch church in our pajamas on Sunday and check it off the list, ignoring God’s words in Hebrews 10: 24 – 25. “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
I am reminded that this can happen to anyone when I read about the end of King Solomon’s life. “As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.” 1 Kings 11:4. He was the wisest man who ever lived and he lost it. Unbelievable!
God had even told Solomon when he was younger not to marry foreign wives because this would happen.
Solomon was warned and he still wandered.
I feel like God is warning me – and you – today through his Word. I must be diligent about keeping my priorities straight. When attitudes and activities start to draw me away from God, I need to adjust my focus.
I wandered away once. I’m determined not to do it again.
Having integrity means doing what we say we’ll do and doing the right thing even when it costs us something and no one would ever know if we didn’t do it. It means being honest and not just talking a good line but living that out every day.
God tells us in Proverbs 10:9 “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever takes crooked paths will be found out.”
I’ve got to admit – there are times I really hate owning a mistake I made. It would be so much simpler to tell a little lie about it and cover it up.
It seems easier to take a crooked path.
There are other situations where I don’t feel like taking care of a responsibility or doing ‘the right thing’. Maybe if I ignore it, it will go away.
It seems easier to take the crooked path.
Every once in a while taking a short-cut looks very enticing instead of struggling with all the work that is going to be involved to do something the right way.
It seems easier to take a crooked path.
For many years, Satan has enjoyed tempting me by giving me free stuff at stores – things that were somehow never rung up so I didn’t pay for them. I hate the hassle of bringing these things back into the store and asking to pay for them. Satan knows I really don’t want to get back in line and then explain that I didn’t pay for this the first time. I hate the strange looks I get from employees who are wondering why I am doing this weird thing – I had it all the way out to my car without paying for it, I should be happy, right?
It’s definitely easier to take the crooked path – just put the item in my car and drive away.
Just last week I received a letter from a lawyer who said that a woman with my last name passed away leaving a large amount of money and she had no relatives or will. He said that my profile was a close match to her’s and, with the same name, he would be able to create the proper documents to make me appear to be her heir. All he wanted was 10% of the money. Is this really happening? Lawyers are doing this? I immediately dropped that letter in the trash because I know God would not bless one penny of any money I would receive in that situation. And who knows what other dishonest things this lawyer had planned if I showed any interest? Nothing good would come from anything like this. It’s not right. It’s a crooked path leading to pain and serious consequences.
God tells me that the crooked path is dark with holes and cracks that will make me stumble and fall. I’m kidding myself if I think people around me won’t realize that I lack integrity by sometimes choosing a crooked path. And I’m really kidding myself if I think God doesn’t know I took a crooked path.
God tells me the blessing of walking with integrity is that I will walk securely. The path of integrity is straight and solidly built on the truth. God’s light shines on this path and it is filled with his love, grace and security.
Each day, each choice, you and I have a decision to make about which path we’re going to take.
Come with me on a Journey through the Bible 