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.
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 they 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 put ‘stuff’ ahead of people and leave a trail of broken relationships. 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.
Those who refuse to acknowledge God as Creator and Savior will stumble. And they will continue to stumble until they submit to God and get on his path.
Meanwhile, God opens the eyes of the wise so they can 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, we make a difference.
When we walk with God, he completes us and gives us a purpose.
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.
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.
How do they 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.
Those who refuse to acknowledge God as Creator and Savior will stumble. And they will continue to stumble until they submit to God and get on his path.
Meanwhile, God opens the eyes of the wise so they can 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, we make a difference.
When we walk with God, he completes us and gives us a purpose.
Who is 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.
How do they 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.
Those who refuse to acknowledge God as Creator and Savior will stumble. And they will continue to stumble until they submit to God and get on his path.
Meanwhile, God opens the eyes of the wise so they can 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 walk with God, he completes us and gives us a purpose.
Saying something that’s not right or should not be said.
I do it.
You do it.
We stumble. It happens.
The big question that makes a significant difference in my life is – how often do I stumble?
Is making a bad choice a rare thing in my life? Or does it happen pretty regularly?
Do I learn from my mistakes so I don’t do it again?
Or do I keep doing the same thing over and over?
There’s a big difference between an occasional stumble and being a regular ‘stumbler’. And that difference will be pretty obvious in the amount of negative consequences we have to deal with in our lives.
God points out this truth to us very directly in Hosea 14 – “The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.”
Rebellion.
Doing what we want.
Not obeying God.
Putting ourselves on the throne of our lives.
Rebellion is a mindset that will cause us to stumble – regularly.
So, in reality, I choose how much I’m going to stumble when I choose my level of obedience to God.
Please help us obey so we can avoid being a regular ‘stumbler’, Abba Father.
In the beginning, there were two people in the Garden of Eden and they were both named Adam.
It wasn’t until after sin entered the garden that Adam named the woman ‘Eve’. (Gen. 3:20).
How different would marriages be today if husbands and wives had the same first name? It might help us get closer to how God views marriage.
In God’s eyes, when we take our vows of marriage, we become one person. We are male and female parts of one person – just like Adam was in the beginning.
We are meant to go through life together, loving and caring for each other just like are one person. It’s not ‘my wife has a problem’ or ‘my husband has an issue”. It’s always our problem and our issue.
If we were both called by the same first name, this might be more evident. It doesn’t mean we have to do everything together and go everywhere together. In a good marriage, the man and woman are emotionally and physically and spiritually one person.
When the sins of rebellion and selfishness and independence enter a marriage, they create division. We split into two separate people – sometimes permanently.
But that’s not how God designed marriage. That’s not what he wants for us.
In the beginning, we were both Adam.
Please help us strengthen our marriages, Abba Father.
As we go over and over the words of Proverbs 2, we are realizing that a supernatural thing is happening. God is writing his words onto our minds and into our hearts!
We used to say that the reason we didn’t memorize scripture was that we didn’t have a very good memory. Well, we still don’t have a great memory – except when it comes to scripture. We’ve got whole chapters of the Bible memorized! Because God is faithfully doing it. We’re doing our part and he is doing the amazing part that we can’t do.
God is blessing our obedience to the words he used as he started out Proverbs 2:
My child, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and you will find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless. He guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair, every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose ways are perverse.”
Great job! Here’s the next verse:
“Who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways,”
Jesus is the light of the world. He brought light into a dark and broken world.
When we choose to think and act like Jesus wants us to, we are walking in the light.
When we choose to rebel and disobey, we are choosing to walk a dark and crooked path.
This path just leads us farther and farther away from the light.
The Good News is Jesus will always accept us back. We just need to repent and turn around. We must choose to come back into the light. Get back on the straight path.
This is the path God has prepared in advance for us through his love and grace.
Not really wanting to hear anything that could change the direction we want to go.
Because we know where we want to go.
We have big plans……this is going to be great!
So we march out to the hill country just like the Israelites did in Deuteronomy 1.
Without God’s direction.
Without God’s protection.
And we are chased back down the hill of failure – defeated by our own arrogance and rebellion.
How we wish we had listened! The consequences of our own choices can be very severe – beating us down.
Unlike the Israelites, those of us who have accepted Jesus as our Savior have been redeemed and the Spirit of God lives within us. He is always available – we just need to confess our rebellion and turn away from our sin.
Come with me on a Journey through the Bible 