Today’s Bible reading ties in nicely with yesterday’s sermon.  In Deuteronomy, we read that God wants his people to serve him when they move into their new country.  That he is the one who rescued them and wants them to prosper.  But he cautions them about being tempted away from him.  And we know from reading the Bible that they were indeed drawn away from God.  They had every blessing of God, yet they foolishly turned their back on him.  This is why later on in the prophets, the nation of Israel were called fools.  In Jeremiah, God is speaking and says, “My people are fools; they do not know me. They are senseless children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil; they know not how to do good.”  I sometimes I wonder how a people who actually saw God and knew his power in his acts, turned to idols and other gods.  But then I look at myself and how little I trust God.  I often try to do things on my own and yet I too have seen God work.  My idols are money and self.  But how much more can I do with God blessing me.

Pride is a tough subject.  Like I said in my sermon, it is not always a bad thing.  It is only bad if you are exalting yourself higher than you aught.  But even with that you have to be cautious because without God we can do nothing and our works amount to nothing.  We can only do and be what God has allowed us to do and be.  So remember, if you boast, boast in the Lord and what He has done in your life.  And he has done great things in your life!

Well, we are in the book of Numbers this week in our read through the Bible.  And the theme that you will see time and time again is complaining.  Even with the cloud of God’s presence visible night and day and directly directing them, they still did not see God’s provision and presence.  But complaining is something that is in the nature of all of us.  You do not have to look far to see it in our own lives.   So how do you keep yourself from complaining.  Something we learned (indirectly) on Sunday.  Count your blessings.  Blessings are more fun to count than complaints any way!  And best of all you will never run out of blessings to count so you will never have time to complain.

Another week of wisdom.

This week is Valentines Day and it is a special day to show love.  But this Valentines Day is extra special because it is also the start of Lent.  And while I church does not do much to observe Lent, it still is an important event on the church calendar.  Lent is the 40 days before Easter that helps prepare us for the passion of Christ and the celebration of his resurrection.  So this Valentines Day, do not forgot to express your love to the one who first loved you and sent his Son Jesus to die for you.

Proverbs is an interesting book.  It gives us insight into how God works in human experiences.  However, as I said in my sermon, proverbs are not promises.  They were never intended to be.  Proverbs is man’s way of looking at godly things.  Proverbs are a literary form that expresses perceived truth.  It is not intended to be guarantees or work 100% of the time.  They are like metaphors (in fact there are a lot of metaphors in the book) that put together similar things or traits.  Metaphors are not intended to relate to exactness.  And just as you cannot take metaphors (and other analogous language) to extremes or form concrete conclusions, they give you a general picture by using a variety of imagery.  That being said, there are some proverbs that are more true than others.  But this is because those truths are backed up by other scripture.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart . . .” (Prov 3:5) has the same command/blessing as “Love the Lord with all your heart . . .” (Matt 22:37)  To do so will bring blessing to your life.

We have made it to week five of our read through the Bible.  Genesis told us the importance of the beginning of the Jewish nation and the promise of the Messiah through Abraham’s seed.  Now as we start to read through Exodus we will see the basis for much of the basis for the salvation that God is going to bring.  Should be enlightening, so keep on reading.

I was reading our reading guide for our five day Bible reading program this morning about Joseph and the wisdom that God gave him.  He did not claim credit for the ability to interpret dreams even though he could have and it would have benefited him in the eyes of Pharaoh.  But Joseph gives credit where credit is due and gave all the glory to God.  I think this is one reason why Pharaoh exalted him.  He saw the wisdom in Joseph that could only come from the divine.  If we want true wisdom, as we learned in Sunday’s message, we to need to realize that it only comes from God.

Hope you all are staying warm this week.  It is cold outside and there were not services this week.