For today, One Year Bible Online links here.
This proverb points out an important point. Those who are honest are always honest. They do not even try to use the truth to deceive or mislead. On the other hand those who do not see a problem with using the truth to deceive will lie about anything and everything. Just look at our society, less than a generation ago we began to accept that politicians would say things that were technically true, but which they knew would cause listeners to believe something that was not true. Today, we accept that politicians tell outright lies.
The proverb writer(s) spend a lot of time warning us against mockery. Here he points out that one cannot find wisdom by mocking others, not even those who deserve to be mocked. If we want to find wisdom we must seek understanding. We must seek to understand those we disagree with rather than mock them. Understanding does not mean accepting, nor does it mean agreeing. Often times it means realizing that what we are arguing about is not really what we disagree about.
I would not have put these two psalms together, yet I am glad that One Year Bible Online did. Both of these psalms tell us to sing to the Lord, to praise Him, and to worship Him. In our worship services we spend a lot of time focusing on using singing to praise the Lord, and that is a good thing. However, we often miss something said in the first of these psalms which should influence how we understand worship: “If only you would listen to His voice today!” If we truly believe what we say when we sing praises to God, and if we truly worship Him, we will listen to what He says.
Think about what it is like when a single person meets someone they are attracted to in more than just a sexual way. In that situation, they want to listen to what the other person has to say. They ask questions about what the other person has done, is going to do, wants to do. They want to help that person accomplish their goals in life.
Contrast that with those who are not really into the other person and see them as only a way to gain pleasure. In the latter case the person dominates the conversation, seeks to tell the other person what they have done, what they are going to do, and what they want to do (sometimes this conversation is about doing for the person to whom they are talking). They do not spend any time finding out if that is what the other wants them to do. A significant part of the conversation may even be them telling the other how much they love them. The key thing is that they spend no time listening to the other person.
How often is our worship more like the latter than the former? When we seek to worship God, let us remember that true worship involves listening to the object of our worship.
In Matthew 10:33 Jesus says that He will deny before the Father everyone who denies Him before men. Yet, here we have Peter very emphatically denying Christ, not just once, but three times. This was certainly the type of circumstance that Jesus was referring to when He said that. The fact that Peter did this here and went on to be used by God to spread the Gospel gives all of us hope, because there are few among us, if any, who have not at one time or another done something similar to what Peter did here. I know that there have been times where I have failed to stand up and acknowledge my faith in Christ. There have even been times when I have denied that faith to avoid ridicule. The story of Peter’s actions here tells me that God will forgive me my weakness.
There are a lot of lessons to be learned about serving God in this passage. However, the one I want to emphasize today is one which I rarely hear talked about. When God’s messenger told Gideon that God was with him, Gideon replied, “Then why has all this bad stuff happened? Where are the miracles? And why has God allowed the Midianites to oppress us?”
God’s messenger responded by telling Gideon, “If things are so bad, do something about it!”
Gideon responds by saying, essentially, “What can one man do? I can’t make a difference, not even with the help of those who will listen to me.”
And here is the lesson, God’s messenger tells Gideon that He will be with him and give him the ability to succeed. There is a lot more to be said about this passage, but the message is clear: Don’t just complain about how bad things are, do something about it. If you believe that things are bad take what action you can.
It is worth noting that Gideon did not start out by going to battle against the Midianites, the people he had initially complained about oppressing the people. No, Gideon started by tearing down the idols worshiped by his clan. He called on the people to return to faith in God. Whatever the problems we are called to battle, the first step is to call on the people of God to repent of their sins.