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Resting at the River’s Edge in September – Let’s Pursue Wisdom

The theme for this month seems to be wisdom. We’ll spend a significant amount of time in the book of Proverbs. The book was called Sophia by early Christian writers, a Greek word that means “wisdom.”

Solomon is the writer of most of the Proverbs and he establishes his purpose in the very first verses:

¹The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
²for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; ³for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; ⁴for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young—⁵let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance—⁶for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.
Proverbs 1:1-6

Then, of course, Solomon establishes the place to start:

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.
Proverbs 1:7

God has used the Proverbs to correct or warn me very specifically on a number of occasions. I remember being pressured by a boss to lie to his boss and struggling about how to handle the situation. The morning I was to meet with my boss’s boss I read Proverbs 12:22 during my devotions:

The LORD detests lying lips,
but he delights in men who are truthful.
Proverbs 12:22

The situation became incredibly clear to me – did I want to please my boss and have the Lord detest my actions or bring delight to the Lord and displease my boss? Hands down, I wanted to please the Lord. I did and He honored those actions. Very soon thereafter I quit that position and stepped into a much better job.

We’ll also spend a considerable amount of time in 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. They seem an appropriate paring with Proverbs because they provide guidance about caring for and protecting the Church. The three letters focus on leadership qualifications and responsibilities as well as church life. 1 Timothy focuses on sound doctrine while 2 Timothy focuses on encouraging steadfast Christian living despite the circumstances we find ourselves in. The book of Titus carries a little of both topics.

Here’s to being much wiser by the end of the month!

Blessings, Friends!
Sandy

The recommended reading schedule for September is below.

To download a PDF of the September 2011 recommended reading plan, click here.

Jeremiah, the Weeping Prophet
In August, we’ll spend most of our time at the River’s Edge with Jeremiah. I’ll be honest with you…there are some books of the Bible that don’t make me excited when I think about reading them. Known as the “weeping prophet,” Jeremiah is one of those books. Let me be more honest…I’m so wrong! The book of Jeremiah is full of great material and reveals the heart of God tremendously. Here’s a quote that I love. God is speaking to Israel through the prophet Jeremiah.

This is what the LORD says: “What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.
Jeremiah 2:5 (NIV)

Do you hear the Lord’s broken heart? “What fault did your fathers find in me…” Now obviously there is no fault with God, just as there is often no fault with parents when their children choose rebellion. And the parents’ hearts break. God’s heart breaks when we stray far from Him. He watches as we follow worthless idols, knowing that doing so we will be come worthless ourselves.

I bet there are other verses in this book that you know but perhaps don’t know the reference. Check these out:

[The Lord is speaking] “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart” (Jeremiah 1:5a)

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? (Jeremiah 17:9)

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

¹³You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. ¹⁴I will be found by you,” declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 29:13-14a)

Someday my emotions will catch on that the weeping prophet knows the heart of God and I’ll rejoice at the thought of reading the book of Jeremiah.

Mark, James & Peter
Our New Testament reading will have us in these books:

• Gospel of Mark – We’ll finish the Gospel of Mark, reading chapters 8 through 16.
• James – The book of James is a favorite of many. It was written by James, the brother of Jesus, and many people believe it was the first New Testament book written.
• 1 Peter – This book of encouragement was written to Christians facing persecution. We’ll be exhorted to live a holy lifestyle and submit to authority (and who doesn’t need those lessons?).

The month holds some great opportunities for learning and reflecting as we rest by the river’s edge with God’s Word. I pray that you will come to know God’s heart in a greater way as you read during the month of August.
Blessings, Friends!
Sandy

The recommended reading schedule for August is below.

To download a PDF of the August 2011 recommended reading plan, click here.

An elderly gentleman drove himself up to the airline check-in counter. His vehicle was a motorized wheelchair. He was in the wheelchair because he had no legs. They had been amputated at the point where they connected to his torso.

He was wearing a baseball cap that appeared to have some war veteran insignia on it. I was immediately humbled.

I don’t know the gentleman and I didn’t stop to talk to him, but I imagine that he lost his legs serving his country (and mine) in a war many, many years ago. Perhaps that’s not his story, but it is the story of many.

So perhaps for the first time, I really (I mean really) thought about this man and those he represents. I imagined returning home from war with no legs and the tremendous struggle that must have been so many years ago. Then I imagined the lifetime this man has lived without his legs. And I was so very aware that I live every day enjoying a lifestyle that very well may not have been possible without the service and sacrifice of this man and others like him.

I can’t express the thankfulness that welled up in my heart.

Then God took the teachable moment a step further. He reminded me of how easily I give in to the temptation to complain. My back hurts. My sinuses burn. My have a headache. My car windshield wiper motor isn’t working properly. My house is a mess. My customers have unrealistic expectations. The weather is too hot/cold/humid/dry. I could go on. Unfortunately sometimes I do. It doesn’t glorify God.

His word tells me to “do everything without complaining or arguing” (Philippians 2:14). It also tells me that “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness” (2 Peter 13a). Further, it tells me that I am “blessed beyond the curse” (a simplification and paraphrase of Galatians 3:13-14).

When I focus on these things, how can I complain about the small things I mentioned above? The obvious answer is that I cannot, so I must be focusing on the wrong things. More about that in a minute.

When I complain, I am not only letting the enemy win over my attitude, I am also letting society influence me more than God’s Word. America has become a society of complainers. I don’t know when that happened, but I don’t think it was always so. I can’t imagine the pioneers travelling across the country complaining all the way. I rather think they were expectant about their adventure and endured adversity because of their anticipation of things to come. Reminds me a bit of Jesus – read Hebrews 12:2.

I don’t remember adults from my childhood sitting around complaining. I can’t think of a single person from my childhood whose life was characterized by complaining.

As an adult, I can name many. And when I am with them, I sometimes get tired of being what seems like “Miss Pollyanna,” so I join in their complaining. I follow the crowd. Don’t misunderstand me – I’m quite capable of initiating the complaining, so I’m not in any way blaming them for my sin. I’m pointing out the multiplication of my sin – the sin is mine not only for complaining, but for following the crowd instead of responding to God’s higher call.

That’s not the person God wants me to be, and it’s not the person I want to be. Again, when we remember all that Christ has done, how can we consider complaining? A Scripture that often comes to mind is:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
Philippians 4:8

Our focus will impact our thoughts, actions and words. When we focus on what we have to complain about, it is very difficult not to complain. When we focus on how blessed we are in Christ, it is difficult not to be thankful.

Thankfulness and complaining cannot live together in harmony. The complaint robs the thankfulness of its substance. It weakens the impact that being thankful has in our lives. It kills the joy that might otherwise spring from the thankful heart.

God is the author of thankfulness; satan is the author of complaining. We have the power to choose whom we will serve. With the prompting of the Holy Spirit and the enabling power of God Almighty, I choose to serve the Lord.

It’s not the Fourth of July, Memorial Day or Veteran’s Day, but I want to thank all those who have served our country in a uniform of the armed forces. Thank you for giving sacrificially so that I may live in freedom today. I bless you in the name of Jesus to live in peace, joy and the awesome presence of God.

Friends, will you join me in blessing those who have served today. Pray for them and for those who continue to serve to preserve our freedom.

Further, will you agree with me to serve the Lord instead of satan with your attitude? Choose to focus on thankfulness and allow complaining to die before it is ever spoken. Your thanksgiving muscle will grow and your complaining muscle will weaken. And that’s such a better way to live!

Psalms, Prophecies & a Final Gospel

I am more than ready for some Psalms, how about you? This month we’ll read what is often referred to as Book 2 of Psalms – Psalms 49 through 72. I’ve jumped ahead and have read the first half dozen – and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Here’s a taste of what’s to come:

I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.
I will praise you forever for what you have done;
in your name I will hope, for your name is good.
I will praise you in the presence of your saints.
Psalm 52:8b-9

We’ll also read the first third of Isaiah where we’ll find some good prophecies about the birth of the Messiah – great reading as we prepare for the Christmas season. And we’ll have a privileged look at the throneroom of God through the eyes of Isaiah. I love this passage:

¹In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. ³And they were calling to one another:
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Isaiah 6:103

The Gospel of Mark is the only gospel we haven’t read yet, so we’ll tackle it in November. Mark is the fast-paced gospel – only 16 chapters, but he moves quickly from one scene to another.

And on the last day of the month, we’ll begin the book of Revelation, preparing ourselves to end the year with John’s Revelation of Christ.

I hope you’re continuing to rest at the river’s edge with us. Don’t give up when you fall behind, and don’t restrict yourself to our readings if you want to move ahead. The purpose of the plan is to keep us reading, and to help us read systematically through the entire Bible.

Enjoy this month’s time with God!

The recommended reading schedule is below.

To download a PDF of November’s recommended reading plan, click here.

In my last blog, we looked at Ephesians 1:3 and learned that we have been blessed beyond our understanding – “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms” simply “because we belong to Christ.” (NLT) I know that I don’t begin to understand the heights and depths of those blessings. I don’t begin to understand how those blessings impact my life even today – although I sure enjoyed meditating on the passage yesterday. Another verse that came to mind – one that we looked at just a week or so ago:

¹Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. ²Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth.
Colossians 3:1-2 (NIV)

It’s how I want to live my life – so confident of the realities of heaven, so confident that this world is not my home, that the things of this world have less and less power to drag me down. That was the message and application of Ephesians 1:3 for me. Now let’s move on to verses 4 and 6. I’d like to continue looking at the verses in two different translations, the New International Version (NIV) and the New Living Translation (NLT):

⁴For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Ephesians 1:4-6 (NIV)

⁴Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. ⁵His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.

⁶So we praise God for the wonderful kindness he has poured out on us because we belong to his dearly loved Son.
Ephesians 1:4-6 (NLT)

When I read these passages, several words stand out to me, and they make the verses have very personal meanings:

“chosen” – Before the creation of the world (“before the foundation of the world” is how it reads in the King James Version) God chose me. I am not in Christ because of some fluke accident. I am in Christ because I was predestined to be in Christ. Now I’m not going to get into doctrinal discussions about predestination vs. free will because I don’t believe we can fully reconcile the passages in Scripture that address both subjects – but I believe they are reconciled in God. (God’s mind is so much bigger than mine, which is quite a comforting thought!) Suffice it to say that I am fully confident that it is not God’s desire for anyone to perish but for all to come to the point of repenting for their sins and turning to Christ for forgiveness (2 Peter 3:9). Furthermore, I’m confident that I have been “chosen before the creation of the world” and that knowledge changes me. It does something in the core of my being that changes how I view myself and the world around me.

Furthermore, I have been chosen for a purpose – to be “holy and blameless in His sight.” When I view myself as someone whom God has called, chosen and predestined to be holy and blameless, I act differently than when I view myself as someone who is called to a lower standard. I walk taller and am more aware of my actions. I want to please the One who chose me.

The New Living Translation doesn’t use the word “predestined” – instead, it describes it as God’s “unchanging plan.” We serve a God who never changes. His plan has been to bring us to Christ from the beginning of time. The Old Testament tells the same story as the New Testament. God has always made a way for people to find Him.

Why? Because it gives Him “great pleasure.” It boggles my mind that I give God great pleasure, but Scripture is clear about it. Psalm 147 is just one place that tells us that “the Lord takes delight in His people.” God takes delight in me. I love the word “delight.” If you look it up in a dictionary, you’ll find words like “extreme satisfaction,” “great pleasure” and “joy.” Adopting me into His family has given God great pleasure. I’m real good with that!

Lord, thank You! Thank You for adopting me into Your family. Thank You for purposing from the beginning of time – before you even created the world I would live in – that I would become holy and blameless in Your sight. Forgive me when I don’t live up to that calling. It is my great honor to please my King.

If you’re reading along with us using the Resting at the River’s Edge Reading plans, you’re in the book of Ezekiel. I told Phil a few days ago that I was reading Ezekiel and his response was “Wheels within wheels? I’m sure some day we’ll see Zeke in heaven and say ‘Dude, you got the call and you did the best you could with it, but seeing it – this is something else!’”

In other words, if you can make sense of what Ezekiel saw, you’re doing better than everyone else who has ever tried! I can’t imagine the challenge Ezekiel had in describing what is clearly other-worldly. But one day we will see the unbelievable beings he saw and we will stand (or fall) amazed. What can we take away from a book with such mind-blowing “characters?”

I can’t begin to get my mind around the pictures described by Ezekiel, but I can still gain from reading the book. Here’s just two lessons I take from the first dozen chapters of Ezekiel.

God is…More Than
I struggled with a subtitle here and settled for this generic one – God is More Than. Let me tease it out a bit:

• God is more creative than I can possibly imagine. My mind can’t bring the beings Ezekiel is describing into a cohesive picture, yet God created them from nothing. Imagine the degree of creativity required to create such things! I like it that the God I serve isn’t limited in His creativity. (Note to self: Quit trying to suggest to God how to solve your problems when you’re praying – leave the solutions to His creativity – don’t put limits on His answers to your prayers by asking in a way that causes you to receive less than God’s creativity wants to give you!)
• God is more concerned with details than I sometimes remember. The amount of detail that Ezekiel includes about the beings is commendable – but beyond Ezekiel’s detailed writing is a God who included such detail in His creations. Eyes and wings and wheels and motors and hands and faces and much more. I am certain that no part of the beings occurred by happenstance –there is significance to each element. I don’t understand that significance yet, but I know the God who does. He is patient and kind and He is love. He is trustworthy. So I leave the details to Him for now. He’ll explain them to me when I need to know. For now I can be content to marvel at His ability to create such things.
• God is not from around here – and that’s a good thing. Reading about the whirling wheels and the cherubim who interacted with them (or perhaps were a part of them) makes it clear to me that God didn’t grow up in my neighborhood. There is no amount of influence that could make someone from earth imagine what God has created. The creations are clearly other-worldly, as is the God who created them. It can become easy to think of God as a super-human. He is not. He is from a realm that He can give us insight into but while in this body, we cannot truly know.
• God is the ultimate Commander in Chief. He commands the creatures that are beyond description. He speaks and they respond. There is no hesitation in them. (Another note to self: Learn from the creatures – obey without hesitation!) Imagine the power and authority required to command such creatures!
• God is…more than – More than I can imagine, more than I can understand, more than I can describe. And as such, he is more deserving of my praise than I am able to give. Lord, help me to give you more praise!

God Hates Sin
You don’t have to have read very far in Ezekiel (I’m actually a few days behind in my reading according to our reading plan), to understand how grievous sin is to God. As I read chapters six, seven, eight and beyond, my heart was pierced as I understood what an affront sin is to God. I was also struck by the perspective of the seventy elders who were burning incense to idols in the temple. They say:

“The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.”
Ezekiel 8:12b

Wrong, my friends! The Lord sees, and He is grieved by our sin. Beyond that, however, He will judge sin. Period. Let’s not be like the seventy elders and delude ourselves into believing that God does not see and will not judge. As the Apostle Peter reminded the early Christians:

⁸But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:8-9

The Lord sees, but is being patient, giving us and everyone else time to repent before He must come and judge. Peter goes on, reminding the Christians (and us today) that the Lord will come. He follows with an exhortation of how we are to live. I’ll let him write the ending to this blog:

¹⁰But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.

¹¹Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives ¹²as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. ¹³But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.

¹⁴So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. ¹⁵Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. ¹⁶He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.

¹⁷Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position. ¹⁸But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.
1 Peter 3:10-18

Amen!

I am praying through the 2 Peter 1:5-9 passage (Add to your faith goodness, to your goodness knowledge, then self-control, then perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love), taking a different quality each week. (See my blog An Effective Life.) Having gone through the entire list over the past several months, this week I am again praying for faith. As I prayed this morning I was praying simply “Lord, increase my faith.”

Now the truth is I’m running a bit late today and I wasn’t fully engaged in the prayer. I have an employee arriving in 45 minutes and I need to prepare some things for her to do. (That’s my “excuse” today, yesterday it was that I had a very early morning meeting and needed to leave the house by 6am, tomorrow it will be something else…Lord, remove my excuses, make me so hungry (even desperate) for You that You become the “excuse” for not attending to those other things.)

So back to praying on auto pilot this morning. As I prayed “Lord, increase my faith,” a thought appeared in my mind. “In what areas do you want your faith to be increased?” Wow! I’ve been at this long enough to recognize that such thoughts are rarely generated by something within myself, they are usually born of the Spirit. Wow! God is speaking to me. God is asking a question of me. I’m reminded of the passage in Mark 10 in which God asks blind Bartimaeus “what do you want me to do.” It seems totally obvious to everyone what Bartimaeus would want. But God looks at him intently and asks “what do you want me to do for you.” I find it fascinating that God gives us the opportunity to look inside ourselves (if we will take it) by stopping, pausing, and asking us what we really want.

So I am left with the question from the Lord. When hearing from the Lord personally, I am compelled to journal (and now many of those journal entries become a blog). Often I will sit down during our worship time in church to make notes about what God is teaching me. It is so precious, I don’t want to lose it or forget it. I want a record of His Voice to me.

And now today, the question is still left hanging. I realize that I am avoiding the Lord, choosing to not take the time to look inside myself. Instead I am writing about God’s goodness, His willingness to speak to me in the midst of my own haphazard. distracted devotion this morning. Yet God in His goodness interrupts me from stumbling along the path I was going and says “What do you want me to do for you?” I’m so glad He’s the God of interruptions!

This is Sandy, signing off, to visit with God.

⁵For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; ⁶and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; ⁷and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. ⁸For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  2 Peter 1:5-8

I’ve always been fascinated with this passage. Several things give me pause.

Make Every Effort
First, the passage begins with the phrase “make every effort” – in other words, I’m supposed to apply myself to this, not to expect it to happen by osmosis. Simply being around other Christians isn’t going to do it. Simply reading my Bible and praying isn’t going to do it. I’m to make every effort – work at it…and if one thing doesn’t work, try something else.

A Progression
Second, I think the progression is interesting…
     Begin with faith
       Add to that goodness
         Add knowledge
           Add self control
             Add perseverance (some versions say “patient endurance”)
               Add godliness (the Greek word also means “holiness”)
                 Add brotherly kindness
                   Add love

When I first came to faith in Christ, my desires changed and it was easy to begin to add goodness to that faith. I wanted to know more and more about Christ, so study – adding knowledge – was also easy. And as I learned more about what God’s standards were, I began to realize areas in which I needed to exercise self control. All came somewhat easy at first. Then the easy got a bit harder…either because I had gotten tired of being good or God was giving me opportunities to increase my goodness by putting more challenging situations in my path that allowed me to practice goodness. That’s when I needed to add perseverance.

Practicing perseverance isn’t fun, but there’s an element of perseverance in our pursuit of God that leads to godliness. God rewards our diligence, our pressing on or holding on, through enabling us (gracing us) with an apprehension of some degree of godliness. This is where transformation starts to take hold in our lives and it leads to brotherly kindness and love.

Please don’t think I’ve attained it. I said that it came easy at first, and then I needed to practice perseverance. That was true…and it continues to be true over and over again. God continually brings more challenging situations into my life to allow me to grow in each of these areas…so long as I continue to “make every effort.”

A Promise
I love verse 8 – “For (because) if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive…” Wow! This is a prescription for living a life that impacts those around us!

I don’t know about you, but I want the world to be a little different because I’ve lived in it. I want to have a positive impact on some lives. I want to know that some people are closer to Christ because they crossed my path. This verse promises me that if I continue to make every effort to increase in these qualities that I will be effective.

Make It Real
Phil and I were leading a Bible study on 2 Peter a while back and after our discussion of this passage, one person said “I know this, but I so quickly forget it. I get busy in my day and I forget to add goodness or perseverance or love. How can we remember these things in our hectic, every day life?” I can identify with this. We offered some of the usual suggestions, but I wasn’t satisfied with any of them. And her question got me thinking (again) about my own life…had I become lax in “making every effort.” The answer was probably “yes.” So I started praying for each quality, one each day, beginning at the top of the list and working my way to the bottom, then starting over. I found that to be almost disingenuous. I felt like I was giving it a cursory treatment, not truly making an effort.

So I begin to pray for each quality for a week. I prayed for God to increase faith the first week. The second week I prayed for Him to help me increase my goodness. Focusing on only one quality for a week was good. The daily repetition begin to sink in and by day three or four I would find myself remembering during the day to “add goodness” to whatever I was doing. That goodness might have simply taken the form of remembering to let someone else in front of me at the grocery store (or at least not knocking them down trying to beat them to the front of the line) or opening a door for someone or smiling more. But little things are the place to start. At the end of the second week I was feeling pretty good about having a handle on goodness…until I realized that I’d been on vacation all week – if it’s not easy to practice goodness during your vacation, it’s sure not going to be easy to practice it at home. So I decided to continue practicing goodness a second week.

Well, the (not so) short story is that it’s been about eight weeks since that Bible study. I’m up to self control. Yes, I’ve been stuck on this quality for about three weeks, but I’m not leaving it until I feel a release from God to move on. But I am seeing the qualities increasing in myself by small measures. And that’s a very good thing.

So give it a try. Commit to praying for one of the qualities each morning for a week or more. Ask God to help you grow in that quality during the day. He’ll do it. The Holy Spirit will whisper in your ear when situations come up for you to practice using the quality. Regular practice will lead to godliness, brotherly kindness and love. Not to mention a life that has left an impact on the world around you.

His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
                      2 Peter 1:3-4

I wanted to blog about 2 Peter 5-8. I’ve been thinking about it for several weeks now. But when I sat down to write, I first re-read the passage and knew I had to talk first about the two preceding verses.

We’ve been given everything we need, folks. Everything. There’s nothing that we need that we haven’t been given.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t always think, believe, or act like the child who has everything she needs. What an ungrateful child I am!
Let’s re-arrange the sentence. Through our knowledge of God, we have been given everything we need for life and godliness by God’s divine power. The key is in the word through. It’s only through Him that I have these things.

I need some cash before going out for the day. There’s no cash in my wallet, my husband’s wallet or stashed anywhere in the house. To get the cash I need, I’ll have to go to the place where it’s kept – the bank. I have to go through the bank in order to get the money I need. And you know what, the more cash I want, the longer it will take me!

It’s not much different with God. Everything I need is in Him. He’s the bank. I need to go through Him to get what I need, and the longer I stay, the more I’ll get.

Now please don’t hear what I’m not saying. I mean no disrespect to God, of course, and I’m not treating Him as the Great Santa Clause, spoiling us everything we want. It’s just an analogy. The point is that I’ve been given everything I need, but it is only accessible through God.

There’s so much more in these two verses, but I’m trying to keep my blogs short. What jumps out at you when you read them? Is it that He’s given us everything we need for life? For godliness? Is it God’s glory or His goodness? Or maybe it’s that these qualities caused God to give us His great and precious promises? Is it that these promises allow us to participate in God’s divine nature or that they allow us to escape the corruption in the world?

There is much to mine out of these two short verses. But what I’m taking home with me today is that God has provided everything I need for life and godliness. Lord, I want to know this and act and live accordingly. That’s faith. Today, I will live as if I have everything I need. And I’ll pursue it by pursuing God.

And tomorrow I’ll blog about 2 Peter 1:5-8.