Well, it’s been a
while since I posted on my personal blog.
Things have been a little busy with our new ministry, Around The Corner Ministries,
and my focus has been there. We are on a
40-day devotional journey, so in writing those devotions, I haven’t been able
to keep up with my blog.
But here’s a little
nugget from scripture I just couldn’t keep to myself.
I’m studying
Proverbs with a group of ladies in my neighborhood, and this week we are in
Proverbs 10. The study asks this
question:
Security is the key ingredient of
peace. According to the verses below, what
are the different types of security that are ours when we walk in the way of
righteousness?
Proverbs 10:2-3 – Ill-gotten
gains do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death. The Lord will not allow the righteous to
hunger, but He will reject the craving of the wicked.
Proverbs 10:27-30 –
The fear of the Lord prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be
shortened. The hope of the righteous is
gladness, but the expectation of the wicked perishes. The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the
upright, but ruin to the workers of iniquity.
The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not dwell in the
land.
Here are four, that
I can immediately see:
·
The security
that death holds no fear for me (v. 2, 27)
·
The
security that I will not go hungry (v. 3)
·
The security
of a refuge (i.e., stronghold) (v. 29)
·
The
security of firm footing (i.e. will never be shaken) (v. 30)
Death and hunger
are easy to understand, but we must see these as spiritual concepts. After all, the righteous do suffer physical
death, and physical hunger. The promise
that secures us is that we have eternal life, because of the righteousness of
Christ in which we stand, and that everything we need for spiritual life and
health will be provided as we walk in obedience (practical righteousness).
The word for stronghold is ma`owz, and is
translated “strength” in the KJV. It
means a strong or fortified place, a place of safety, a harbor, or refuge. What is the stronghold? The way of the Lord. It is in following God’s way, living in obedience
to the commands of His word, walking the path that He lays out before us because
of His claim on us as Creator. The path
of God (His way) is the place of strength and security.
To be shaken (removed/KJV) is to totter,
slip, be moved, overthrown, waver, or fall down. Who will not fall down or slip? The righteous – the ones who stand in
Christ. We will not be moved or
overthrown, because we are protected by the very power of God. Who can overthrow Christ? Who can make Him stumble or fall down? How can God waver? It is impossible, and as we stand in Him, we
are protected.
We have the path of God underneath us,
the protection of God around us,
the provision of God to nourish us,
and the promise of God to sustain us.
That, my friends, is the security that provides peace!
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