For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
If you guarantee a stranger’s debt, make sure that you are able to pay it off. How can you possibly know if they can and will pay the debt themselves?
Doing wrong may give us a frisson of excitement that we enjoy, but once that has worn off the consequences will be unpleasant.
If you want your plans to succeed, get good advice. Do not undertake a major risk without first obtaining wise advice.
If we turn to God when trouble surrounds us, He will turn to us. Let us call out to God, and rely fully upon Him, for rescue from the dangers which overtake us. He will rescue us and protect us. If we do His will, He will not let us be disgraced.
Paul speaks of his plans to stop in Rome on his way to preach in Spain. We know that he made it to Rome, but that he never went to Spain. This illustrates the importance of remembering that all of the plans we make, no matter how well-intentioned, are subject to change according to the will of God. Paul asks the believers in Rome to pray that the believers in Jerusalem will accept the moneys raised for them by the believers in Greece and Macedonia. This suggests that even then there were those who were willing to sacrifice to meet the needs of others, but were unwilling to accept when others sacrificed for them.
When Assyria began to invade Judah, Hezekiah strengthened the defenses of Jerusalem. However, he did not point to these defenses, nor to his army, when he encouraged the people of Jerusalem. Rather he pointed to God. He acknowledged that the Assyrian army was more powerful than his own, and that they were capable of breaking down his defenses. However, he publicly proclaimed that God was capable of turning aside even the mighty army of Assyria. The Assyrians, on the other hand, dismissed the possibility that God might be able to stop them from conquering Jerusalem. They did so loudly and publicly, attempting to dishearten both the people in Jerusalem and elsewhere. When the Assyrian army was destroyed and Sennacherib was forced to withdraw from Judah, the surrounding nations recognized God’s power.
Let us follow Hezekiah’s example. Let us prepare for difficult times, but trust in God to deliver us, not on our own preparations.