Some thoughts...

Well, one of the reasons that I started this blog is that a friend thought it would be a good place for me to publish some of my bible journals. Every once in a while, I write one that I just feel could or should be shared. So...I've been in proverbs for the past week. Here are some thoughts from chapter 16:

Proverbs 16: 2, 3 & 8,9, 15
(3)”Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”
In verse 8, it describes how little heed we take to the things we do day to day; yet they are, every single one, weighed and judged by the Lord. This passage happens to go along very nicely with the study we had on Friday night and the issue of what we consider as “big” sins vs. “little” sins. Each and every deed we do, every task we perform is placed at the feet of God. Do I treat them as such? Not really. NIV translation says that our ways seem “innocent” to our own eyes. But as we sit in our oblivious sate, God takes personally every task performed for His glory and honor. Likewise, He feels every crime committed against Him and the sacrifice He made for us. As this “all things considered” theme carries on in the chapter, verse 9 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” Yes, we are given free will, I believe that; but how insolent and brazen are we to think that He doesn’t have a hand in not only the direction we go, but also the steps we take to move in that direction.
In literature class, I ran across an essay by Jean Jaques Rousseau. Although it was painfully hard to read in the beginning, the truth in his words eventually demanded my attention. This man never once professes to be a Christian, but you can see that he quite clearly understood some amazing principles. First, how can we even begin to doubt that there is a creator, or a divine being who controls all? For a human being to simply draw breath expresses evidence that someone must have created the earth and all its contents. To breathe, a man fills his lungs with air, how can he do this without energy? The action requires energy, where does that energy come from? If the energy comes from a process and an outside source, what started that process or that outside source? This chain goes on and on until there is no possible answer as to how one simply breathes than that it is divinely given. The same, Rousseau continued, applies to intellect. Where can knowledge have come from? Humans are, unarguably superior on earth in the aspect that they contain a soul and possess the ability to reason. Where did that ability and knowledge originate from? And, on a side note, why oh why would we ever possibly desire to be compared to anything less (concerning our superiority on earth), as evolutionists want us to?
We try to plot our own direction, without realizing our humbling state. Not that making plans is a bad thing; it’s an excellent thing that, as God smiles down on those plans, we can place hope in them. But sometimes, either our plans don’t really please Him (the only one that matters) or we run headlong into them without remembering the great and mighty power that allows us to run. Verse 15 continues a description of what pleases a king and “when a king’s face brightens, it means life, his favor is like a rain cloud in the spring.” Hopes, dreams, plans, and goals that are founded on the will of God are going to be fruitful. Think about the spring weather and the fresh, crisp green that is released from the foliage by the rivers of water pouring from the sky- that’s how effective and yielding lives with a purpose of pleasing God are. When we brighten our King’s face, we’re not just helping ourselves; we’re helping those around us. After the rain (makes me think of air freshener :P), the birds sing for joy; the vegetation beams bright and invigorated; everything somehow seems to have gained new strength, and so can we also be with our friends and family. While we walk closer to God, His love is more likely to spread, infectiously, from us into their lives. And, to put a “green” spin on things, don’t you think that God also cares about the way in which we treat the splendor he created around us? So, His love extends not only to His children but also to their current dwelling place and we should work to respect and culture that in our hearts and ways.