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That thy trust may be in the LORD

Proverbs 22:17-19 Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 18 For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. 19 That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.
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In Proverbs chapter 22, Solomon tells us to “hear” the words of the wise and apply our heart to knowledge. In this context, hearing is much more than listening: it is listening, understanding and then applying it to in our lives.

This is what God is calling us to with regards to His Word – the Bible. God holds all wisdom, thus to “hear” His words is the best thing we can ever do in our lives. Knowledge is gaining understanding of what we hear – we gain knowledge of God through His word. By prayer and study and Godly counsel, we gain understanding of His Word. We exhibit wisdom when we then take what we understand and apply is to our lives -- when we obey the Word of God.

This obedience to our understanding, which is obedience, ultimately, to God fosters the intimacy and fellowship of our relationship with God. Think on how challenged a relationship would be between a parent and a child if the child never obeyed the desires of the parent even though the parents desires were for the child’s best – it would be strained and distant. That’s how our relationship becomes with God when we choose to not obey. As a side note: it is often valuable to be reminded that partial obedience is DISOBEDIENCE. God calls us to obey all of His wisdom – not just select parts that we “like”.

The end result of our wisdom is shown to us in Prov 22:19. Our trust will be in the Lord – our obedience will prove to us that God does have our best in mind and as we grow in His Word so will our faith and our relationship with Him!

Pray with me that we have hearts that desire to listen, understand and obey our loving Father in Heaven...





Email me (Pastor Jim) at pj-brown@sbcglobal.net or visit our website at:www.calvarychapel.com/hcfw

posted by Pastor Jim @ 7:43 AM