For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
If you borrow money, you end up enslaved to the lender. Stay out of debt so that you serve only the Lord. If you find yourself in debt, pay it off as fast as you can so that you can free yourself to serve only the Lord.
Do I, do you, long for God in the manner in which deer long for water? Deer desire water in such a way that predators often wait by watering holes for them to come get water. Of course that is because the deer must have water in order to survive. Do we need God in order to survive? Do we understand that we do?
The psalmist gives us a reference which leads to another question for us to ask ourselves. His heart was breaking as he remembered a time when he gathered with God’s worshipers, singing for joy and giving thanks to God. Do we remember such times? If such times are in our past, but nor our present, why not? If you live in the U.S., there are almost certainly such gatherings going on near you. Join them and gain joy. Finally, the psalmist reminds us that we do not need to be sad and discouraged. Let us put our hope and faith in God. If we do so and praise His name, we will find our joy restored.
Reading this, I think about Paul’s metaphor of our lives being a fragrance rising up to God. When you smell pleasant odors you, generally, do not initially know where they come from. In the same way, others will not be exactly sure why they like, or dislike, us (more on that in a moment). They will just sense something about us. Paul tells us that, if we are serving God, those who are believers will find that pleasant (even if they are not quite sure what it is at the moment). However, those who are refusing to accept Christ will find that service unpleasant, similar to the smell of something dead. This is an important point to remember. We should strive to befriend the unbelievers in our lives, but despite our best efforts, if we are faithful many of them will find us unpleasant to be around.
Job spends some time discussing how ingenious and industrious mankind is at finding metals and gems which we value. Yet, he tells us that no one knows where to find wisdom. He tells us that only God knows where to find wisdom. Job then tells us how we too can find wisdom. Wisdom is found in fear of the Lord and forsaking evil demonstrates understanding.