Solomon continued to talk about the rewards disciples have when they acknowledge and focus on God. This devotion looks at how God rewards obedience.
Nuggets
- God wants us to make a conscious decision for Him.
- Science has proven that faith does positively impact our health.
- God will completely fill and overflow us by making godly, holy, and righteous.
In the last devotion, we talked about the rewards of faithfulness. Solomon went on to describe what focusing on God meant. In this devotion, we look at how God made us intelligent creatures to choose Him and the rewards we receive for honoring Him.
Let's Put It into Context
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3: 5-6 CSB)
We’ve already looked at Proverbs 3: 5-6. When we live the lives that God has called us to live, we will find favor in Him. Finding favor is all predicated on trusting the Lord completely. We have to acknowledge God, but sometimes, we have trouble doing that.
We are called to acknowledge Who God is. God is in all because He created everything; therefore, He has control over all. He wants to bless His disciples, and He wants worldview people to become His disciples so He can bless them.
We are to put our faith and trust in God. Faith is the belief that the doctrines stated in God’s Word are true, even if we do not understand all aspects of them. Trust is confidence that the promises of God are true.
In acknowledging God, we are becoming godly. Godliness, equated with the Old Testament term fear of the Lord, is an attitude of reverence that is promoted by walking in His Spirit.
In Pursuit of Knowledge
“Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and turn away from evil” (Prov. 3: 7 CSB)
The opposite of acknowledging God is we are stuck on ourselves. We think we are so smart and able to take care of ourselves.
We aren’t. We need God to take care of us.
Look what Lawson had to say about trust. He wrote, “To trust in God is to depend on Him for bestowing on us every needful blessing, and preserving us from all evil. This dependence on God is to be exercised with all our hearts, our judgments being persuaded that God is the only and the all-sufficient object of confidence, and our souls resting with full satisfaction in His power and faithfulness.”
Every needful blessing. Everything. We don’t tell God, “This is a little stuff. I’ve got this. You keep dealing with the big stuff.”
God can multitask. He can deal with the big stuff and the little stuff at the same time.
Not only that. He can deal with my stuff (and there are days that I can be the problem child) while He is dealing with your stuff — and everyone else’s.
But let’s look at it this way. Johnson made a good point. Solomon’s saying that we shouldn’t be “… wise in your own eyes …” (Prov. 3: 7 CSB) doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be intelligent.
God made us to be inquisitive. He doesn’t want us to just go along with the crowd and not figure things out for ourselves.
Most of all, God wants us to make a conscious decision for Him. That is why He gave us free will. Free will is the ability within us to make decisions, which determine actions that produce character.
There is no way we are going to withstand Satan’s temptations without God.
So, what was Solomon calling us to do? “… fear the Lord and turn away from evil” (Prov. 3: 7 CSB).
The fear of the Lord means reverence and love, not terror. I know that I am using up my words repeating myself, but this is important, people. Godliness, equated with the Old Testament term fear of the Lord, is an attitude of reverence that is promoted by walking in His Spirit.
Reverence. Walking in God’s Spirit. Walking is the term used to describe how we live our lives.
How does God want us to live? We have to turn from Satan and turn to God. That is what repentance is. Repentance is expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to changing ourselves through obedience so that we no longer do the wrong things.
Some may want to debate what evil is. Evil is equated with sin because it is that which goes against God and His purposes.
Yes, God does get to have a say in what is evil. He is Creator and Sovereign Lord. It is His call.
No, we don’t get to debate it. No, God is not going to change His mind. everything that was a sin back in Moses’ day is still a sin in Tom, Sally, and Elaine’s day.
I love what Lawson had to say. He wrote, “We must renounce every sublunary dependence; we must not make our own understanding a staff to our hearts.”
Oh, yes. We need to give up the worldview idea that we don’t need God. We can’t use our understanding as a crutch.
We need to totally focus and depend on God. As we walk in the Spirit imitating Jesus, we find the way to godliness. But the only way we do that is humbly.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
Physical Benefits
“This will be healing for your body and strengthening for your bones” (Prov. 3: 8 CSB)
Believing in God is good for us. Johnson argued that “simple piety secures health.” In fact, he goes a step further when he claims that “simple piety is the source of health.”
Science has proven that faith does positively impact our health. Fisher wrote that “… there is ample reason to believe that faith in a higher power is associated with health, and in a positive way.”
Well, isn’t that logical? We are putting our faith and trust in the God Who made us. We are letting Him take control.
With God in control, we don’t abuse our bodies as much. We are at peace and less stressful when we put our trust in God.
Oh, yes. We will still get sick and die. Those are the results of sin. We still have to endure the consequences and results even after we profess faith in Jesus.
Honoring God
“Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; 10 then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine” (Prov. 3: 9-10 CSB)
I know. This looks like the poster verse for the prosperity gospel theory. That theory purports that, once we profess faith in God, He will always give us financial blessings and physical well-being.
God is going to bless us. He is going to give us what we need. He will heal us if it is in His Will to do so.
It doesn’t mean we are all going to be millionaires — or even thousandaires.
It does mean God is going to take care of us on this earth. The best blessings aren’t going to occur until eternity begins.
Now, don’t get caught up because you don’t have barns and you don’t drink wine. Just as God doesn’t want us to be box checkers, He wants us to know we will be blessed in a variety of ways. All of those blessings will mean we are “… completely filled, and … will overflow …” (Prov. 3: 9-10 CSB) with His goodness and mercy.
How do we get these blessings? “Honor the Lord with your possessions …” (Prov. 3: 9 CSB). We serve God.
We work our plans. We do what we are called to do.
We are generous. We had a whole category on charity. Charity means showing others love flavored with acts of benevolence. Our doing for others is based on our love for God and others.
Thorne put it this way. He wrote, “Those who with a right motive give of what God has given them acknowledge their indebtedness to Him and His ownership in what they possess.”
But you know, I read that back and I think, “Oh, man. That is so world focused.” God isn’t world focused. God is spiritual focused.
God will completely fill and overflow us by making godly, holy, and righteous. He is going to sanctify us.
When we acknowledge God as Sovereign Lord and work to expand His kingdom, He will bless us — either here or throughout eternity.
Making the Connections
Thomas said that “earnest seeking for knowledge requires a deep sense of the necessity of knowledge. A self-conceited man feels no such necessity; he thinks he knows everything.” We have to know we need God.
It all comes down to we need to give God the reverence due Him. We were made to worship Him. When we do that, He will reward us.
How Do We Apply This?
As Humphrys said, we need to pay attention to the areas in which we need to improve and to the means in which God is calling us to use to rectify that lack of knowledge. We do that by evaluating where we are at in our walk.
Clarkson gave us a great list of things to do.
- Acknowledge our Creator
- Give Him the reverence He deserves
- Be grateful for His tender mercies
- Submit our will to His
- Walk in His Spirit all the days of our lives
It’s about obedience. We will be blessed when we totally give our lives over to Him.
Father God. You are the Creator of the universe. You made us in Your image. Still, You allow us to make the decision of whether or not we are going to worship You. We choose to submit our lives totally to Your Will. Help us to be obedient. We look forward to Your blessings, whether they be here or throughout eternity. Amen.
What do you think?
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