Proverbs 23:3-8 – Do not crave that ruler’s delicacies, for that food is deceptive.  ⁴ Do not wear yourself out to become rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.  ⁵ When you gaze upon riches, they are gone, for they surely make wings for themselves, and fly off into the sky like an eagle!  ⁶ Do not eat the food of a stingy person, do not crave his delicacies; ⁷ for he is like someone who has calculated the cost in his mind.  “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you; ⁸ you will vomit up the little bit you have eaten, and will have wasted your pleasant words.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, several things, not unrelated but covering the whole gamut of life, caught my attention.

Proverbs 21:2 – “Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.”  We tend to limit that to the spiritual, but it covers Everything!   God is not interested in opinion; He is focused on the heart, the motivation.   Why do we think, do, and pursue what we do?    

If God has the heart, the motivation becomes pure.  To assume He has our hearts is a mistake.  Can we depart from a pursuit or pattern of thought, or do we insist (God said or promised)? What if He didn’t? What if it is us convincing ourselves? He said Because we want something.

Proverbs 23:3-7 provides a powerful but challenging revelation. The power of desire.   In verse 4, we are warned about obsessive craving for wealth. (These tie back to what we just said.)   We convince ourselves that what we want is God’s promise. Is it? Does He have our whole heart?

Proverbs 24:27 – “Prepare your work outside and make it ready for yourself in the field; afterwards, then, build your house.”   First, do the assignment given to you, focus on your purpose, not your palace.

Proverbs 26:2 – “A curse without cause (legal ground) does not alight.” Consider that in this light. If you are self-deceived and calling your way, hope, dream, God’s promise, but it is based on self, not Him, that gives legal ground for the enemy to steal, kill, and destroy.

1 Peter 2:8 gives powerful insight. “For they stumble because they are disobedient to the Word.”   In Proverbs 28:19, we read, “He who tills his land will have plenty of food, but he who follows empty pursuits will have poverty in plenty.”

Even if they obtain their fantasy, it will be empty and leave them empty.  The chief goal of life is not what we desire or dream, but what He purposes. Paul’s revelation is important. In everything, I have learned to be content. Why? Total trust!

Does God have our whole heart?   Lord, help us to surrender our whole hearts to You!

Proverbs 12:1          “The one who loves discipline loves knowledge, but the one who hates reproof is stupid.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, the heart, faith, words, and thoughts gripped my consciousness.   Proverbs 11 begins with the destructiveness and power of Pride.  Pride is a mysterious thing, shaping the thoughts, feeding the lust of covetousness and envy, and thereby bringing us down in destruction.

Because of Love, God disciplines us. Proverbs 12:1 is a difficult pill for many to swallow. “Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge.”  Is that saying we long for discipline (punishment)?   No, that would be a misunderstanding of discipline and its purpose.   

Discipline is correction, which enables us to learn a principle that brings us peace and productivity.  The one who craves knowledge (especially the knowledge of God) understands that discipline opens the door to truth and liberates.

God desires to develop pure hearts that are yielded to His purposes.  The blessings of God are often realized in the midst of a trial.  The gist of Proverbs 14:4 could be summed up this way – “No milk without some manure.”   Trials are fertilizers for faith.

God desires to bring us to a place where we are not “two-hearted” or “double-minded.”  He wants to bring us to the place where we have learned to trust Him totally.   Proverbs 12:5-8 reminds us that righteous thoughts open the door to deliverance and give access to insight that leads to victory.

The heart is the key.   If we give God our whole heart, He will guard it and guide it.   If we allow pride, envy, jealousy, lust, covetousness, or develop the idea of fairness and entitlement, we will become ensnared by our thoughts, which will imprison us and prevent us from accessing God’s fullness.

What fills our thoughts holds our hearts and determines our destiny. The heart is the key.

Lord help us to desire knowledge to the point we are willing to receive discipline!

Hebrews 8:8-12 – “For finding fault with them, He says,  “Behold, days are coming, says the Lord, When I will effect a new covenant With the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; 9 Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers On the day when I took them by the hand To lead them out of the land of Egypt; For they did not continue in My covenant, And I did not care for them, says the Lord.  10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds, and I will write them on their hearts.  And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.  ¹¹ “And they shall not teach everyone his fellow citizen, And everyone his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ For all will know Me, From the least to the greatest of them.  ¹² “For I will be merciful to their iniquities, And I will remember their sins no more.”   NASB

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God, persistence, patience, and perseverance kept echoing in my heart and mind.  I read challenging and encouraging things in Proverbs, but one account of one person in Hebrews 11 held my focus.  

Hebrews 11:8-10, the account of Abraham, challenged and encouraged me.   Abraham received a promise and a call that would be a challenge for anyone, and more than many could have embraced.   He was promised an inheritance that was almost too good to be true.   That inheritance was in a land he had never seen and would require leaving everything behind.   His possessions, position, and even his acceptance, and become a nomad with no position or assurance of acceptance.   

In verse 9, we read that he lived as an alien in the land of promise.   Imagine living surrounded by what God said was yours, only to find it was a dream, not an earthly reality.  He knew God said it, but he possessed nothing but a dream (hope).  He waited and waited and waited, living in tents, not owning an inch of the inheritance!  

God said, but it remained only a dream.   That required faith, persistence, patience, and perseverance.   If he stops believing even for a moment, it is over!   He died without possessing the promise in the natural.   He died in Hope!  Yet, the Bible treats it as though it were a present reality.   His descendants occupied the place of promise centuries later, having confidence that they were occupying the land Abraham owned. 

No matter what, do not cast away your confidence!   Persistence, patience, and perseverance are always a choice.   We can go back.  (Hebrews 11:15-16).   That would mean death spiritually, but that option is always there.   But if we press on and press in, we will reap the reward of obedience and faith.

Hebrews 11:6 – “And without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God, FOR He who comes to God MUST believe that He IS, and that He IS a rewarder of those who seek Him.”   This life is not lived by willpower or fleshly ability but by Trust in God.  It is trusting Him to do in and through us what we cannot do.

So, persist in patience with perseverance, and you will see the promises!   Your persistence and perseverance guarantee that the promises will be realities.  Maybe not your lifetime, but they are as sure as God Himself.

Never stop, God doesn’t.   LORD, help us to persist and not just live in a Dream but live the Dream.

Psalm 139:7             “Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Or where can I flee from Your presence?”

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God today, something in Psalm 138 captured my thoughts.   On February 6, 1996, at 12:09 a.m., God spoke peace to me through verse 8.   I know this because there is a note in my Bible to that effect.

In (verse 7), the Psalmist said, “Though (although or even though) I walk in the midst of trouble, Thou wilt revive me…”   Then in (verse 8), “The LORD will accomplish what concerns me; Thy lovingkindness is everlasting; Do not forsake the works of Thy hands.”

Accomplish means to bring to completion.   God’s Covenant Promise is to Never leave and Never forsake us.   Psalm 91 is our Covenant guidebook. Whatever you are facing now, no matter how dark it may look, hold to that word – The LORD will accomplish what concerns you. (Both what troubles your mind and that which you are enduring).

Several keys are found in Psalm 139.

• God knows and sees everything.
• Nothing catches Him by surprise.
• He created us and wraps us in His blanket of hope.
• He is everywhere.
• He created us uniquely and fitted us perfectly for our assignment.

Therefore, our response should be the response of (verses 23-24). Total surrender. “Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my anxious thoughts; AND see if there be any hurtful way in me AND lead me in the everlasting way.”

God is ever present, always aware, and actively working on our behalf.  Our responsibility is total surrender and swift obedience.  He will accomplish that which concerns us. He never fails.

LORD, help us to fully embrace the truth that Nothing ever catches You by surprise and we are KEPT!