Prayer: Father, teach me through Your Word today. I desire to be noble and not foolish in Your eyes. Amen.
Reading: Isaiah 32 key: vs. 5-8 “No longer will a fool be called noble, or a scoundrel said to be a gentleman. For the fool speaks foolishness and his heart works wickedness, to practice ungodliness, and speak error about Adonai, to deprive the hungry of food and withhold drink from the thirsty. The scoundrel’s methods are evil— he makes up wicked schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just. But the noble devises noble plans, and for noble causes he stands.” TLV
Attention: Did you know that the Bible says, “There is no God.” My father used to quote this scripture example found in Psalms 14:1b. “The fool said in his heart: “There is no God.” We can be misled if we only read part of a sentence. We can be deceived and reach wrong conclusions if we do not read the entirety of the Bible. The Bible declares God’s existence, but the fool denies it.
I have been pondering for an analogy as to how our concept of God and His Word can become so compromised and errant.
My wife and I enjoy putting puzzles together. If there was such a puzzle, imagine that this puzzle was the entire Bible. The manufacturer did not provide a picture with the puzzle kit, so you have no idea what the puzzle is supposed to look like when completed. If you have put a 1k piece puzzle together, you know that the picture helps immensely with the assembling of puzzle pieces. The easiest part tends to be the border because it has a straight edge.
Imagine that you attend a local church and you have sat under a pastor’s preaching for twenty years. Let us assume that your attendance at Sunday worship is better than average, so let us say thirty-six sermons annually. There are annual events which typically guide sermons, like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Easter, Christmas, Memorial Day, and Fourth of July. Let us assume that most pastors are topical preachers, rather than preaching an entire book, verse by verse.
Do you see where I am going with this analogy? If you receive a shotgun approach to the scriptures, you are only receiving the highlights, and most of those are from the New Testament. According to the Christian Questions website, a conservative estimate of Old Testament references in the New Testament is over two hundred and as high as 1,000 if you include scripture reference and allusions. If the apostles and Yeshua referenced the Old Testament prophets, should we not also be familiar with the Old Testament?
If we only have a patchwork knowledge of the New Testament and little to no familiarity with the Old Testament, at most, we have an inadequate concept of who God is.
When I enrolled in a private Bible College in 1978, I thought because I had attended worship every time the door was open for around 15 years, it would be a breeze. I found out quickly, that I had more to learn about God and the Bible. Fast forward twenty-five years later when I discovered journaling and studying the Bible chapter by chapter and verse by verse. I discovered new things about God and the Bible which I had never heard from the pulpit.
Do you know God from just what you have been taught by your pastor? Is what you know of God adequate for your eternal destination? Has your pastor given you enough information about God to inspire you to study the scriptures for yourself? Has he taught you how to interpret the scriptures for yourself? Or has he asked you to come listen to him and he will rightly divide the word for you?
The Choose Life Journal plan is a self-feeding program which provides you with a model for growth. I encourage you to fall in love with God’s Word and instruction. You can build a deeper relationship with God through His Word and the help of the Holy Spirit.
Action: I choose to know the God of the Bible by investing time with Him and His Word.
Yield: I choose to give God and His Word priority in my life.
Engage: I choose to engage with the Holy Spirit in being transformed into the image of Yeshua.
Relationship: I choose to build a deeper, intimate relationship with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, I know of no other way to build a deeper relationship with You, than to spend quality time with Your Spirit and the scriptures. Help me to model a submitted obedient lifestyle to my wife and those around me. Amen.
Memory Verse: 1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now these things happened to them as an example, and it was written down as a warning to us—on whom the ends of the ages have come.” TLV
Music Video: Hymn Music & Lyrics—Holy Bible Book Divine https://youtu.be/5hJg94l79BQ?si=HYiLtqJ1MCYRQD3A
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”