Sacrifice

Sacrifice - not my favorite word.  But it is an important part of my life.  When we become Christians, we become living sacrifices.  It used to be just a saying.  Of course my life is a living sacrifice.  Until I am put to the test and actually become the living sacrifice.  Everything is easy in theory or in word only.  But then that day comes when we are tested.  My day came on Tuesday, July 10^th, 2007, as I said goodbye to my new husband at the airport.  Yes, I knew that he was going on a mission trip before we got married.  Yes, I knew it would be a long trip - 5 months.  Knowing this ahead of time didn’t prepare me for the actual event.  I cried so much that I am surprised my tears didn’t end the drought that was in the area at the time!  But God is faithful, and He began to minister to me right away.  He spoke to me in my devotion time in Genesis 22:1-14

Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”  Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”  So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.  Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.  And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”  So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.  But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”  And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.  Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.  And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.  But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.”  And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”  Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.  And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided.”

Next to verse 2, I wrote in my Bible that this is the 1^st time love is mentioned in the Bible.  This really spoke to me because the Lord had asked me to surrender my husband, whom I love.  Just as Abraham trusted God to return Isaac to him, I could trust God to return my husband to me.  I wish I could say that I surrendered him and that was it and then I just waited for him to come home.  But I can’t.  I have to confess that I needed to surrender him every day, over and over.  My flesh wanted to take him back.  So, every day I had to place myself back on the altar and give myself as a living sacrifice.  It was hard to stay there and not try to wiggle off.

Abraham isn’t the only one who surrendered to God.  In 1 Samuel chapter 1, we read about Hannah and how she promised God that if He would give her a son, she would give him back to God.  I can remember God speaking to my heart and asking me about Charles.  I wanted to marry Charles and I was willing to be his support system so that he could serve the Lord in the mission field.  Hannah kept her word to the Lord and I had to keep my word. 

Sacrifice is doing something that your flesh doesn’t want to do but you know that it is part of God’s will so you do it anyway.  Our flesh will fight it every step of the way.  I know my flesh does.  There is no way we could do it on our own.  Thank goodness we don’t have to.  God will not call us to do something that He hasn’t already equipped us to do.  We can’t out give God.  No matter what we sacrifice for His kingdom, God will reward beyond anything we could possibly imagine.  Each one of you is a living sacrifice.  Every day you have choices to make and most likely there will be a sacrifice involved.  I want to encourage each of you to be that living sacrifice - allowing God to do His will for His glory.  You will never be sorry you did.

I will leave you with this.  Psalm 73:26 “My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”  In my notes written in the margin it says: God is enough!  Amen!

 What is your food?

Food is mentioned everywhere in the Bible.  You will find it in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Judges, 1 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Isaiah, Lamentations, Hosea, Joel, Zechariah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Philippians and Revelation.  I am not going to go thru all the Scriptures - but I do want to touch on two that are in the New Testament where Jesus was specifically involved.

One of those verses is in John 6:12.  This is the story of how Jesus fed the 5,000.  Verse 12 says: “So when they were filled, He said to His disciples, ‘Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.’” Jesus used leftovers.  The next time your family complains about eating leftovers, read them this verse!  Even though Jesus could make more out of nothing, He said to gather up the fragments so that nothing is lost.  That spoke to me.  We may be blessed with enough money to buy what we need when we need it.  But are we being good stewards of what we have already purchased?  Buying food and then throwing it out because it wasn’t used in time is a big waste of money. When Jesus fed the 5,000, He could have made just enough to feed them with nothing leftover, but He didn’t.  We can learn from this.  There will be days when we will have just enough - nothing left over.  But what are we doing with the “leftovers” when we have it?  Leftovers don’t have to just pertain to food.  We can have money, time, and resources leftover.  Are we using them or wasting them?

The other verse is in John 4:32.  This is where Jesus has just had an encounter with the woman at the well and His disciples have just returned with food and telling Jesus to eat.  Verse 32 says “But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’” Jesus isn’t talking about physical food but spiritual food.  He goes on to say in verse 34 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work”.  What are we doing with our spiritual food?  Are we taking the Word that we have fed on and nourishing others?  Jesus went without physical food for 40 days.  I would probably have a problem going without food for 40 minutes.  How did He do that?  He was nourished by God the Father.  Are we getting enough nourishment from the Word?  Or are we on a diet?  We need spiritual food as much or even more than, physical food.  Are you in the Word everyday?  Do you skip a day, a week, a month?  Think how that would affect you if you skipped meals for that long.  I want to encourage you to feed on God’s Word everyday.  Doesn’t matter what time of day you do it or how long you spend on it.  Just do it.  Chances are you won’t skip a day without eating (unless you are fasting), so decide to not skip a day without feeding on God’s Word. 

 Resolutions Anyone?

It’s a new year  . . . did you make any resolutions?  We have just completed the first week of January - have you broken any of your resolutions?  Did you give up?  The beginning of a new year is not the only time we can make a new start.  We have the ability to start over every day.  Actually, we can start over at any time, whether it is every morning or every minute.  Just because we "failed" does not mean we are done.  Think of it this way:  F.A.I.L. = First Attempt In Learning

Lamentations 3:22-23:  Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

Discouragement is a great tool of the enemy, and he would want us to quit as soon as we fail.  But we have a gracious God that willingly gives us grace and mercy every day – He never runs out.  We are a “work in progress” and God knows that.  God is also the one who will complete the work He has started.

Philippians 1:6:  being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in your will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

So, consider this your opportunity to make a new resolution.  Resolve to run to the Lord for your help.  That is one resolution that will never fail!

Redeeming the Time

I was thinking about things a while back and these words came to mind: Organizing, details, unexpected and redeeming the time.  At the time I got those words I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to do with them.  A few days after that, I heard a teaching at church on Ephesians 5:15-21 and those same words were mentioned.  Ephesians 5:15-16: “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.”  I have written in my Bible that circumspectly means “attending to detail”.  That takes care of the words “details” and “redeeming the time.”  But what about “organizing” and “unexpected”?

Have you read the book of Numbers?  Not a very exciting book.  But I noticed right away that God is very organized.  It starts out with a census - naming all the tribes, and the leaders of the tribes and the number of men in the tribes, right down to the very last one.  Now that’s detail!  By nature, I am a very organized and detail-oriented person.  I have always been this way - even as a child.  I enjoy the kind of paperwork that most people find boring.  Reading Numbers can be boring.  But God put it in there for a reason.  It could have been because God wanted the Israelites to see how He had been blessing them - increasing their numbers and providing for all their needs.  We can easily miss God’s blessings if we aren’t paying attention.  God had Moses write it down so that it would not be forgotten.  If I want to remember something, for me it is best if I write it down.  However, that only works if I remember to read what I have written.  That is also true for reading God’s word.  It only works when we read it.  There is no way to remember everything that is written in the Bible, but reading it consistently will help. There are lots of organized Bible reading charts available.  I don’t use a chart - mainly because it is hard for me to keep up with the chart - I get behind and I get discouraged and I give up.  Instead, I read the Bible, starting with Genesis, and work my way through to Revelation.  I don’t give myself a quota for how many chapters to read.  I simply read until I stop reading.  No, I won’t finish the whole Bible in one year, but I don’t really have too either!  Things happen in life and sometimes I can’t read as much as I would like to. 

That’s where the word “unexpected” comes in.  Life happens.  We can plan all we want but we don’t really have any control over what happens.  We can plan for hurricane season and never have a hurricane.  It doesn’t hurt to make preparations - that is part of being organized.  But we must never put our faith in our preparations.  Accidents can happen, or we get sick at the most inopportune time - or is it an inopportune time?  According to God’s plan, it is exactly what is supposed to happen.  So then, God is in control - do we just give up and not do anything?  Of course not - we all know that.  We still need to live life and make decisions and prepare for our future.  For me, I try to have extra groceries and batteries during the hurricane season.  Many years ago, I went out and bought a generator.  That same year we had Hurricane Dennis and a tree fell in the yard where the generator was and I never got a chance to use it. So much for being prepared!  I had to borrow one from a friend for 2 days.  I was prepared but God had another plan.  I will still get prepared but I will also allow God to have a different plan.

No matter what happens in our lives, we should always be conscious of redeeming the time.  What do I do with my time?  I try to keep my activities under control.  I don’t like to be so booked up that I can’t even find time to breathe.  If I am stressed out, I am probably not going to be very good at redeeming the time.  I know that I have missed out on a lot of opportunities this way.  But when I slow down my pace and God puts an opportunity in front of me, that makes it so much easier to respond with a “yes” to God.  When I am too busy for God, that’s a red flag that something is out of whack in my life.  We never know when we are going to get “that” phone call - that something is wrong with a family member.  We never know when that “something” will happen to us - making it impossible to do the things that we have always done.  We can’t even predict what will happen one minute from now.  Thankfully God knows. 

We can organize our day so that our responsibilities and priorities are taken care of.  We can keep our schedule flexible so that God can use us to minister to a friend or family member when the unexpected happens.  We can pay attention to detail and remember the ways that God has provided for us.  And we can redeem the time for His glory. 

Mary, did you know? 

I think we all know the song “Mary did you know”.  But did she know?  Let’s look at the Christmas story in Luke 1:26-38. 

Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!  But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was.  Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.  “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David.  “And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”  Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”  And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.  “Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren.  “For with God nothing will be impossible.”  Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

So, Mary did you know?  When the angel told Mary she would have a baby that would be the Son of God, did the angel tell her everything that would eventually happen?  Nope.  All he told her was that she would give birth to a Son and call Him Jesus and that He would be the Son of the Highest.  The only question she had was “How is this going to happen since I haven’t been with a man?”  If that had been me, I would have had a whole slew of questions.  Like, “What will Joseph think?  Will he think I was unfaithful?  What will my parents think?  Will they think I was a bad girl and disobeyed them?  What about my friends?  Are they gonna talk trash behind my back?  What about my reputation?”  I don’t know about this Angel . . . But Mary didn’t do that.  Her question was answered, she submitted to God, and she conceived and gave birth to Jesus. 

I don’t think she had any idea of what that would entail.  Remember when Jesus was lost for 2 days.  If Mary knew that she would “lose” Jesus when He was 12 years old, would she have done something different?  Maybe she would have insisted that He stay by her side.  If she did that, He would not have been in the temple listening to the teachers and asking questions.  That time in the temple may have been very important in God’s plan.  Could be why the angel didn’t mention it to her.

I am sure that Mary knew the scriptures and how they foretold of the Messiah.  Maybe she put 2 and 2 together.  But did she really understand that she would be watching her baby get crucified?  If the angel told that to her at the beginning, do you think she would have hesitated?  Would she have worried about it for the next 33 years until it happened?  If so, then her focus would not have been where it needed to be.  Obviously, we have no way of knowing that.  God doesn’t give us all the details up front, and I can certainly understand why.  He has a plan, and it always works out. 

Which reminds me of Romans 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.  Mary loved God and she was called for His purpose.  God worked out the plan for Mary and it was good.

Back to Mary - Do you think that Mary had any idea that 2000 years later, people would still be celebrating the birth of her baby?  Over time, the holiday has gotten off track.  It has become commercialized, and a lot of people leave Jesus out of it.  Can you imagine celebrating your child’s birthday without having the child included?  My aunt started a tradition many years ago – probably 50+ years.  After we eat Christmas dinner, my aunt would bring out a birthday cake and we would all sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.  This was something new to my family – we had never done that before.  It began after my aunt got married and started her family.  She wanted her kids to know what the day was really about.  It was her way of putting Christ back into Christmas. And it was a reminder to the rest of us as well.   I don’t think that everyone around that table was really into singing the birthday song – but they did it anyway.  Maybe it planted a seed.  Maybe it planted a seed in me . . . it took about 20 years for that seed to grow but it did grow.  So don’t lose hope if your “seeds” aren’t sprouting right away.

So, Mary did you know?  No, she probably didn’t.  Just like we don’t know.  But we do know the One who does know!  And the best gift we can give to someone is Jesus.  This time of year, people are more open to hearing the Christmas story.   Take advantage of the season – tell the story (you never know who is listening) and spread joy – as much as you can to everyone you can.  Sing happy birthday to Jesus.  You just might plant some seeds . . .

What are you thankful for?

If the only things you had today were the things you thanked God for yesterday, what would you have?  Ouch!  Now that is something to think about.  Have I thanked God for the roof over my head, the clothes on my back or the food on my table?  Did I thank him for my spouse, my kids, my friends?  Did I thank him for waking me up this morning?  If I didn’t thank Him for those things yesterday, then I would not have any of it today.  So many people think that we only need to thank God for the “extra” stuff, not the everyday stuff.  God provides both – extra and everyday.

1 Thessalonians 5:18:  in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

In EVERYTHING give thanks.  Not just some things, but everything.

1 Chronicles 16:34:  Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever.

Ephesians 5:20:  giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

Giving thanks ALWAYS for ALL things.  At the end of our day, we should be thinking about all that we have received.  We woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast, drove to work (if not retired), picked up supplies on the way home . . . did we give thanks for any of that?  If we got a great parking spot, did we give thanks for that?  If we found a great sale on the items we needed – did we give thanks?  God is the God of the ordinary and the extraordinary.  And He blesses us in so many ways that we may miss some of it if we aren’t paying attention.

Most people will say “thank you” when they are given a gift or when someone gives them a compliment or holds the door open for them.  But it shouldn’t stop there.  We are to be thankful for everything, everyday.  So back to the question:  If the only things you had today were the things you thanked God for yesterday, what would you have?  

 

 Proverbs 31 Woman

Before we get started, let’s take a look at all 31 verses.  (Go ahead and read them, I’ll wait)

In verses 1 through 9, we see the mom telling her son how to be a king.  In verses 10 through 31, we see the mom telling her son what to look for in a wife and it takes her 22 verses to do that! This mom had more to say on finding a wife than on being a king.  Apparently, it doesn’t take much to run a country, but finding a wife is a huge undertaking!  But she didn’t want him to find just a wife – she wanted him to find a virtuous wife.

Verse 10 says:  Who can find a virtuous wife?  For her worth is far above rubies.

Being a virtuous woman is valuable – above the worth of rubies.  I didn’t know what a ruby was worth so I did a little googling.  Basically, I learned that rubies are twice as valuable as diamonds because diamonds are more common than rubies.  It is harder to find a ruby than it is to find a diamond.  This mom must have known that it would be harder to find a virtuous wife.   We are also told in the Bible that having wisdom is better than rubies.   Job 28:18 says:   No mention shall be made of coral or quartz, for the price of wisdom is above rubies.   And Proverbs 3:15 speaks about wisdom this way:  She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her.

So, we see that a virtuous wife is worth more than rubies – similar to wisdom.  It is no wonder that the mom of Proverbs 31 would instruct her son to find a virtuous wife.   However, regardless of whether you are a wife or not, it is still wise to be virtuous.

Ruth was a single woman, a widow.  Ruth was also a virtuous woman – Ruth 3:11 says:  And now, my daughter, do not fear.  I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.   Boaz knew it and all the townsfolk knew it.  Ruth behaved herself.  She didn’t go running after everything in trousers trying to find a husband.  She respected her elders and followed the advice given to her by Naomi.  Ruth had a good reputation.  This made her very desirable as a wife.  No one wants a spouse that they are ashamed of.  Boaz was confident that he would not have to worry about that with Ruth.  The mom of Proverbs 31 is instructing her son to find a wife that will not cause him embarrassment.   People are always watching and our behavior speaks volumes about us. 

For all you single ladies, I want to encourage you to focus on the things that are of value to God and let God handle your marital status.   I heard this little saying on the radio one morning and it has been stuck in my head: “In His time, not mine - for He has a plan for me.”  We must believe that God knows our needs and we must trust God to provide for those needs.  You are precious in His sight.  Remember, even if you do not have a husband while on this earth, you have a heavenly bridegroom that is just crazy about you!   

On to verse 11:  The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain.

Her husband trusts her.  He can safely trust her.  There is no fear that she will dishonor him or violate that trust.  For some of us, it can be hard to safely trust anyone.  There may be a little shred of doubt that holds us back.  Maybe we have been hurt before and we are afraid to take the chance.  Maybe we are afraid that someone will make a fool out of us if we trust them.  What about trusting God?  Do we trust Him totally or do we hold back a little?  The Bible has a lot to say about trusting the Lord.  Some examples are:

Psalm 37:3: Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.   Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Proverbs 3:5-6:  Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.

When we don’t understand, can we still trust God?  When things don’t go the way we planned, can we still trust?   Trust is fundamental in relationships.  A marriage is built on trust.  Friendships are built on trust.  Without trust, relationships will crumble.  That includes our relationship with the Lord. 

Let’s continue on to the last part of verse 11 which says that this husband also has no lack of gain.  I imagine that this husband trusts his wife to be a good steward with their resources and his heart.  She isn’t frivolous with the household money, or his love.   She is trustworthy and he isn’t left lacking in his marriage.

But there is more to this wife.  Verse 12 says:    She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.  What does that look like?  We find our answer in God’s Word.

Proverbs 14:1:  The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. 

Proverbs 21:9:  Better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

Proverbs 21:19:  Better to dwell in the wilderness, than with a contentious and angry woman.

Proverbs 25:24:  It is better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, than in a house shared with a contentious woman.

Proverbs 27:15:  A continual dripping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.

Whew!  Do we get the picture?  God has made it clear in His word the kind of wife we are not to be.  Our attitude sets the tone of the home.   Have we created a sanctuary or a stressful place for our family?  Over and over in the word, God tells us that it is not good to live with a contentious (angry, quarrelsome) woman.  When God repeats Himself, it means we should pay extra attention.   If we were to look back over our day would most of our words be pleasant or could we be considered “contentious”?  How do we get to that point where we can do good and not evil?   Psalm 51:10 tells us how:   Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

We can’t do it but God can.  If we try to do it in our own strength, we will fail because our flesh has other plans.  We want others to “do good and not evil” to us.  We want to be treated kindly and with respect.  We want to be encouraged and uplifted.  Only God can give us the ability to “do good and not evil” to those around us.

The mom of our Proverbs 31 lady could have taught her these truths.  Or, she could have learned them at church.  Or she could have learned them the hard way – like most of us – through bad choices we made in the past.  In whatever school she learned these lessons, it took.  Our Proverbs 31 lady relies on the Lord for her ability to do good and not evil.   Are you married?  Have you failed in the “do good and not evil” area?  Welcome to the club!  But we don’t have to keep our club membership current.  God is ready to forgive our past mistakes and put us on His path to “do good and not evil” all the days of our life.  We can safely trust God completely.   

I know that the Proverbs 31 woman is pretty intimidating for a lot of us.  But let’s think about this for a minute.  What is it about this woman that intimidates us?  Is she a “supermom”?   Does she bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan?  We are really no different than this woman when it comes to the things that she does.   The Proverbs 31 lady made clothes for her family (verse 13, 19, 21), it was part of her culture.  In our culture, we typically “make” a trip to the store to clothe our families.  End result is that our families are clothed.   Our Proverbs 31 lady fed her family (verse 14-15).  Do we feed our families?   Of course we do.  The way we get our food and prepare it is different because of our cultural differences, but again the end result is the same – our families are fed.  The similarities go on – she serves in her community (verse 20), and she tries to find the best deal she can in providing for the family’s needs.  It appears that she may have worked outside the home (verse 16, 24), as well as inside the home.  Her days are long – she gets up early and goes to bed late just so that she can get it all done (verse 17-18).  Sound familiar?   So, let’s put away any intimidation that we may have felt and move onto what characteristics this woman had that made her special. 

Verse 25 - Strength and honor are her clothing; She shall rejoice in time to come.

Verse 26 – She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. 

For the 1^st characteristic, let’s look at verse 26.  She opens her mouth with wisdom.   Proverbs 4:7 says this:  Wisdom is the principle thing; therefore get wisdom.  Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it?  If you want wisdom, just get it!  But, you may ask, how do we get it?  Ahhh, the answer is in James 1:5:  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  Also in Proverbs 2:6:   For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.    If you want wisdom, ask for it.  God has promised to give it to all who ask.

The question then is have we really asked God for wisdom?  Or do we only want information concerning a certain situation?  So many times I ask God for wisdom concerning something but I don’t use it when He gives it to me.  Praying for wisdom is of no use unless we use it.  God will give us wisdom – His word says so.  But are we using it?  We can have all the wisdom there is, but it is nothing if we don’t use it. 

Some of you may have seen that TV show called Hoarders.  People hoard all types of stuff.  Can you imagine hoarding wisdom?  Afraid to use it because you don’t want to run out?  So, we keep asking God for wisdom and He gives it to us and we pile it on top of the wisdom we already have.  We save it for a rainy day.  We save it for a really big decision.  But we don’t use it daily.  Use wisdom – squeeze out every last drop of it.  God will give us more. 

Proverbs 2:10 says:  When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you, understanding will keep you.

There is another woman in the Bible that wanted wisdom.  Eve wanted wisdom – she wanted to be as wise as God - but she went about getting it the wrong way.  What she got was knowledge – she ended up knowing that she did not make a wise choice.

Verse 30 – Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

The 2^nd characteristic of our Proverbs 31 lady is that she “feared the Lord”.  When I was much younger, long before I got saved, I thought that “fearing the Lord” meant that you were supposed to be afraid of Him.  No one explained to me what that meant.  So, as I grew up, I was afraid of God.  It is hard to love someone that you are afraid of.   I grew up with the attitude that I better watch out or “God will get me”.  I better not sin or God is going to send me to hell.  I was afraid.  I can’t even imagine how grieved God must have been knowing that I was afraid of Him for reasons that were not true.  Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to be afraid of God. 

So, let’s look at some verses that describe fearing the Lord.

Psalm 25:12 – Who is the man that fears the Lord?  Him shall he teach in the way he chooses.

Psalm 112:1 – Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments

Psalm 128:1 – Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways

Psalm 128:4 – Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord

How can a man be blessed if he is “afraid” of God.  So, to “fear” the Lord isn’t talking about being afraid.  It is talking about realizing just how awesome and powerful and glorious He is.  When we realize that, we will be in awe of Him, which is basically what “fearing” the Lord is.  We will want to please God because He is so awesome.  We will want to do what His Word tells us.  We will delight in Him.  We will be in awe of Him.  That makes it a lot easier to understand how we can be blessed by simply being in awe of Him.  

The Bible also speaks about a man who feared the Lord and how much God bragged on him.  It is found in Job 1:8 – Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?”  Now we all know what happened to Job.  God allowed Satan to take his health, his possessions, his children and his wealth.  But Job did what it says in Psalm 112:1 – Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in His commandments.   And in Psalm 128:1 – Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways.

Job never wavered.  He was still in awe of God and continued to be a blameless and upright man. And God blessed him with more than he ever had.  The Bible is true – as stated in Psalm 128:4 – Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord.

Our Proverbs 31 lady had wisdom and she feared the Lord.  You can labor all day long trying to do the right thing – but if you don’t fear the Lord, if you don’t have wisdom – your efforts will be in vain and you will not achieve the end result that you desire.  The Proverbs 31 lady feared the Lord and had wisdom.  And so can we.