Proverbial life: being intentional

We’re taking a topic-focused tour of the book of Proverbs.  Although Solomon was commenting on life roughly 3000 years ago, his observations ring loud and clear in today’s modern times.  In this blog post, we’ll be looking at a topic that determines the success or failure of the resolutions so prominent this time of year: how intentional we are.

New Year’s resolutions are full of nice goals.  I want to eat better, exercise more, read more, and spend less time on my phone…but unless I am intentional about these things, not much is going to change in my life.  When we look at the book of Proverbs for advice on these life-change topics, Solomon’s focus isn’t looking at our feelings of what we’d like to see happen; rather he’s more interested in the results of our actions (or lack thereof). 

Our first proverb looks at a clear, stark contrast:

Proverbs 13:4
The slacker craves, yet has nothing,
but the diligent is fully satisfied.

We automatically assume that the slacker craves the “bad things”, like sweet foods and a life of ease.  However, the slacker’s desires are likely for good things…but without the intentionality demonstrated by those who are diligent, the slacker ends up with nothing to show for his good desires.

Our second proverb continues the thought:

Proverbs 14:23
There is profit in all hard work,
but endless talk leads only to poverty.

I have been guilty of this many times.  I’ve wanted to learn a new hobby, or read a stack of books in a year, or spend more time with my wife and kids – and I’ve talked endlessly about doing each of them.  But since I did not intentionally schedule time to learn the hobby, read each day, plan a date night, or plan a family game night…those things did not happen as I had hoped.  I experienced poverty in those areas because I didn’t do the hard work necessary to make them a reality.

Our third proverb tells us about our plans:

Proverbs 21:5
The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit,
but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor.

Plans become profit when diligence connects them.  We have to intentionally execute our plans, or else we’re back to being full of endless talk.  Planning helps us stay the course to reach our desired destination.  Planning is what keeps us from being reactionary and reckless, because those two traits will keep you from succeeding.

Our last proverb reminds us what we should be intentionally pursuing:

Proverbs 21:21
The one who pursues righteousness and faithful love
will find life, righteousness, and honor.

When reading Proverbs, if we read the words diligent and profit, but only think about career and money, we’re narrowing the ability of God’s word to impact our lives.  We were designed to partner with Him and successfully represent Him in all parts of life, not just the way we bring in income.

So for your 2023 resolutions, consider pursuing righteousness and faithful love – because right here, we see that God says we will find life, righteousness, and honor.  All three of those sound good to me.

If they sound good to you, too, then be intentional about it.  Make a plan to pursue righteousness, be diligent in faithful love, and you’ll enjoy the profit of a full life, right-living God’s way (aka: righteousness), and honor.  May God bless your efforts to be like Him in 2023!

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Flashback Favorite - What's pursuing you?

What’s pursuing you?
originally posted on May 18, 2017

Ever feel as if something is chasing you?  We can have lingering thoughts, feelings, or memories that just won’t let go.  Their pursuit of us is constant, even though it can take different forms.  Sometimes, it’s over-bearing, always-present.  Other times, we’re able to shove it out of our minds, only to have it resurface again later (and usually when we’re drifting off to sleep, right?).

The pieces of our past can hound us in many ways.  Pain, shame, hate, anger, things we said, things we didn’t say…just to name a few.  Antagonistic people, or even those who are out-right enemies, can dominate our thinking and the thought of them can doggedly chase us down.

I’ve said many times that I love the real-ness we find in the book of Psalms.  The various psalmists explore all aspects of life, often laying out their extremely-raw emotions before God.  And we don’t see any lightning bolts striking down the psalmists for their words, either.  Instead, we find that their petitions, questions, and wrestling drive them toward God, not away. 

David is always a good example of one who openly talked with God, and in one of his psalms we find a mindset that can help us deal with the thoughts and people that pursue us.  Read Psalm 23, and pay close attention to the last stanza:

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters. 

He renews my life;
He leads me along the right paths for His name’s sake.
Even when I go through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff – they comfort me. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

David marvels at how God has no problem with settling down for food in the presence of [David’s] enemies.  To us, that’s not the time to sit down to a nice meal.  If enemies are present, then we would think it’s time to take cover or prepare for battle…but with God on his side, David knows he is safe to camp out where God has him.

But it’s one of the lines afterward that really opens my eyes.  Despite being in the presence of [his] enemies, David isn’t chased by them forever.  Because he is with God, David recognizes that only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life.

His enemies are around, there are and will be hard situations in life…but when David looks at the bigger picture, the one from God’s perspective, he finds that only God’s goodness and faithful love have been chasing after him.

That’s the key for us, too.  When our thoughts are being overtaken by memories of old sins or difficulties in the present, we need to look at life from God’s perspective.  From His vantage point, we’ll see clearly and be able to trust Him with our present and all the days of [our]life.

A few years back, a Christian band released a great orchestra-rock song about recognizing that our past doesn’t control us anymore, even when we feel pursued by memories and feelings.  The link below is to a video of the song’s lyrics.

Disciple – Dear X, You Don’t Own Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9yIZnypqBk

Keep Pressing,
Ken

Unworthy or Unlovable?

May I ask you a deep, hard question?

When each of us take an honest, serious look at everything we’ve done in this life – the good and the bad – do we think we deserve God’s love? 

You and I both know that our “bad” far outweighs our “good”, especially if we admit to the sinful thoughts that we keep buried inside.  Even after we place our trust in Jesus for eternal life, we can still wrestle with feelings that based upon our past sins, we are not worthy of God’s love or that God shouldn’t love us.

Our response to our feelings is often shame-driven hiding.  We avoid God and other believers because “if they only knew the real me…they wouldn’t want me around anymore, they’d abandon me”.

However, this kind of thinking is flawed because it assumes that all our relationships must be created and maintained on our own merits or worthiness.  Rather than fooling ourselves and others (and trying to fool God) into thinking that we’re “good enough” to be around…we need to honestly recognize that we’re not worthy of love, nor do we really deserve it.

But that hard, honest truth doesn’t mean we’re unlovable.

David also recognized the discrepancy in his own life between what things he had done and God’s immense love.  Look and see how he was still able to approach God:

Psalm 25:4-7
Make Your ways known to me, Lord; teach me Your paths.
Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation;
I wait for You all day long.
Remember, Lord, Your compassion and Your faithful love,
for they have existed from antiquity.
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my acts of rebellion;
in keeping with Your faithful love,
remember me because of Your goodness, Lord.

The Hebrew word translated as faithful love is hesed.  Hesed means to have a zeal (in a good sense) in love and kindness toward any one; it especially refers to the grace, favor, and mercy God shows toward people or that one person may show to another.

God’s compassion and faithful love have existed longer than David’s sin.  We are just a flutter and a flash in comparison to the infinity of God and His love.  David understands that for him to have any relationship with God, it must be based upon God’s qualities – and not on David’s actions.

So, is David unworthy of God’s love?  Absolutely.  He doesn’t deserve it at all.  And he knows it.

Then is David unlovable because he’s unworthy?  No.  He is loved by God, because of who God is.

It’s not our job to carry the responsibility of being the foundation of our relationship with God.  He established that already through Christ’s death on the cross.  Are we humble enough to accept this?

Are we humble enough to accept that we are unworthy, but that we are still loved?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

What's pursuing you?

Ever feel as if something is chasing you?  We can have lingering thoughts, feelings, or memories that just won’t let go.  Their pursuit of us is constant, even though it can take different forms.  Sometimes, it’s over-bearing, always-present.  Other times, we’re able to shove it out of our minds, only to have it resurface again later (and usually when we’re drifting off to sleep, right?).

The pieces of our past can hound us in many ways.  Pain, shame, hate, anger, things we said, things we didn’t say…just to name a few.  Antagonistic people, or even those who are out-right enemies, can dominate our thinking and the thought of them can doggedly chase us down.

I’ve said many times that I love the real-ness we find in the book of Psalms.  The various psalmists explore all aspects of life, often laying out their extremely-raw emotions before God.  And we don’t see any lightning bolts striking down the psalmists for their words, either.  Instead, we find that their petitions, questions, and wrestling drive them toward God, not away. 

David is always a good example of one who openly talked with God, and in one of his psalms we find a mindset that can help us deal with the thoughts and people that pursue us.  Read Psalm 23, and pay close attention to the last stanza:

Psalm 23
The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I lack.
He lets me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters. 

He renews my life;
He leads me along the right paths for His name’s sake.
Even when I go through the darkest valley,
I fear no danger, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff – they comfort me. 

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord as long as I live.

David marvels at how God has no problem with settling down for food in the presence of [David’s] enemies.  To us, that’s not the time to sit down to a nice meal.  If enemies are present, then we would think it’s time to take cover or prepare for battle…but with God on his side, David knows he is safe to camp out where God has him.

But it’s one of the lines afterward that really opens my eyes.  Despite being in the presence of [his] enemies, David isn’t chased by them forever.  Because he is with God, David recognizes that only goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life.

His enemies are around, there are and will be hard situations in life…but when David looks at the bigger picture, the one from God’s perspective, he finds that only God’s goodness and faithful love have been chasing after him.

That’s the key for us, too.  When our thoughts are being overtaken by memories of old sins or difficulties in the present, we need to look at life from God’s perspective.  From His vantage point, we’ll see clearly and be able to trust Him with our present and all the days of [our] life.

A few years back, a Christian band released a great orchestra-rock song about recognizing that our past doesn’t control us anymore, even when we feel pursued by memories and feelings.  The link below is to a video of the song’s lyrics.

Disciple – Dear X, You Don’t Own Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9yIZnypqBk

Keep Pressing,
Ken

God's faithful love

David’s psalm started with fear and a request for protection from his enemies.  Once God steps in and rescues him, David begins to sing God’s praises.

Psalm 57:9-11
I will praise You, Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
For Your faithful love is as high as the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

God, be exalted above the heavens;
let Your glory be over the whole earth.

The key to David’s rejoicing and praise toward God is found in a special phrase used in this section of the psalm.  David identifies God’s faithful love as the reason for singing God’s praises.

The Hebrew word translated as faithful love is hesed.  Hesed means to have a zeal (in a good sense) in love and kindness toward any one; it especially refers to the grace, favor, mercy God shows toward men or that one person may show to another.

It was this portion of God’s character that David was banking on when he petitioned God for refuge and shelter as his enemies closed in.  David says that God’s hesed is so great that it fills all the skies of the entire earth.  If that aspect of God’s character is true – and it is – then David felt that he could confidently approach God with his request for shelter.

When we recognize the magnitude of grace, favor, and mercy God has shown us…well, take a look at how Paul described God’s feelings for us:

Romans 8:31-32 What then are we to say about these things?  If God is for us, who is against us?  He did not even spare His own Son, but offered Him up for us all; how will He not also with Him grant us everything?

A few verses later, Paul adds:

Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

In a word, he’s crazy about us.  We can count on God’s hesed towards believers.  As a result, when trials come, we can have the same confidence as David to approach God with requests for refuge.  We can find shelter and rest in Him because of His faithful love toward us.

Keep Pressing,
Ken