His Truth in Life  (11)

Truth of the Bible

The Bible is truth. After all the rain, It has never been disproved.  For example, there are those who debate the ages of the world.  The Bible says a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day to God.  Time is not the same to God, who created it all, as it is to us.  He created the means by which we tell time, the rotation of the earth and of the earth around the sun.  So was everything created is 6 days or 6 eons?  Does it matter?  The point is God created it.  Likewise, where did Cain's wife come from if God only created Adam and Eve? Again, there is nothing in the Bible that says God only created Adam and Eve.  It says He created them first.  The others do not matter.  They were killed in the flood anyway.  The Bible is not meant to be a complete history of the earth.  It is to give us what we need to understand our relationship to God and to understand how we got to be who, where we are and where we are going.  As Paul wrote, All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. “ (2Tim. 3:16)  We not allowed to cut out the parts of the Bible we don't like, like a man sleeping with another man as if he was a woman is an abomination to the Lord. (Lev. 18:22)  Or that there is no place in heaven for fornicators or homosexuals, among many others. (1Cor. 6:9)  Or that the only way to Father God is through Jesus, (Jn. 14:6)  We might not like the truth, but God’s truth is truth, whether we like it or not.  

Moths and Mothballs

Our pastor pointed out that no one is afraid of moths until they see the damage they've done. Yet, we need to be on guard against them.  In our walk with the Lord, like the moths, fear and doubt can eat away at our confidence and witness.  There are so many things to be afraid of or worry about, health, finances, the condition of the country, the world, unsaved family and friends.  Fear, worry can eat away and eat away us, like a moth eating away at cloth.  The moth ball, the preventative, of course, is the Bible and to trust God and His promises.  Like buying and strategically placing the mothballs, we must know and believe the promises in our Bibles.

Trust and Obey

         It is not for me to question why we are so blessed while so many others are suffering.  I found in two years of studying it, that there are 12 reasons why God lets us suffer.  I need to trust Him.  There's a great hymn.  "Trust and obey, there is no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey."  Obey? How do we know what He wants?  He has told us.  It is in our Bibles.  Start with the ten commandments. (Ex. 20:3)  add to it "Love you neighbor as yourself. (Lev. 19:18) "Love the Lord with all your heart" (Deu. 6:;5, 10:12 13:3; Matt. 22:37, Mk 12:3, Lk 10:27) and "Love one another as I love you." (Jn. 13:14, 15:12, 15:17),   Easy?  Not always.  But it is the way to be happy.   Trust an obey. 

In Our Own Eyes

I awoke yesterday morning pondering why people do bad things and feel no remorse, why they don't even think it is wrong.   It was possibly provoked by thinking about the court case my son, Jeremy, was on. A woman had repeatedly sued her neighbor and lost and was at it again. No reason,no grounds, just meanness. 

It led me to find answers in the Bible.  In Genesis 3, Adam and Eve eat forbidden fruit from the forbidden tree and then they hid from God.  They knew they had done wrong.  In Genesis 4, Cain killed Abel but did not hide from God.  Instead, when God asked him where Abel was Cain arrogantly asked, "Am I my brother's keeper?"  He had no remorse at all.  When God tells him his punishment, he does not ask forgiveness.   Rather, he is only interested in his own skin, worrying that he would be killed.

In Deuteronomy through Moses God told us all in 12:8, "You shall not do at all what we are doing here today, every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes."  

The commandment.

In Proverbs 12:15 says, "The way of the fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise." and Proverbs 21:12 "the way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts." And in Isaiah 5:20-21"Woe to those who call evil good and good evil...Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight."  

The warning.

In Judges 17:6 "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes."  And again, the last line of Judges, "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."

 The practice.

 Why do so many of  those who do wrong feel no remorse?  They are doing what is right in their own eyes.  In our own eyes, we are always justified in what we say and do. "He made me mad, so I...."  "She hurt my feelings, so I..."  "They were wrong, so I ..." "I really wanted it, so I..."  "I knew it would feel good, so I..."

The media today want us to think there is no absolute right and wrong.  For those of us who know that the Bible is Truth, that the commandments apply to us, not just some ancient people of the Old Testament, we have rules, and promises, to go by. We don't have to figure it out for ourselves, don't have to wonder what is right and what is wrong.  We have God's word. I am so very thankful we have Bibles written in our own language and live in this country where we are free to buy them, study them, and live our lives by them.