Fear the LORD

This is how life works. You start out young and you don’t know anything but you learn quickly. Your brain is like a spounge you take in all this wonderful information, but it’s not fully developed until you are about 25 years old. While you are cramming your mind with all this useful information, your body is in peak condition. Have you ever tried to keep up with a toddler? So what you lack in wisdom, you have made up for in stregth and endurance… but then just as you get to know alot of stuff, your body starts to slow down.

So you know the least when you are the most able to do anything with that information and you know the most when you are the least able to do anything with what you know.

This sparks a fantasy… What if I could go back and tell my younger self this or that… to somehow slip that information into my hands then I’d be able to handle this situation or that situation… but then reality hits. I can’t go back… but I can do the next best thing which is pass it on to the next generation.

So we try and pass on this wisdom that we have gained in our lifetimes to others… We aren’t the first to do this!

Thousands of years ago men were training their young boys to become men. Women were training their girls. They were passing down information they had learned from their parents and grandparents before them. In the Eastern cultures these were eventually written down as proverbs or wise sayings.

I. START with the HEART (v.1-4)

A. Do Not FORGET the Law But KEEP it from the HEART

I’ve got a bad memory and a touch of ADD. I have to write things down. Sometimes even important things! There are things I don’t ever want to forget. I write post it notes and I write in a planners/ journal.

The Wisdom from God is one of those things you don’t want to forget! Solomon is telling us that this information is very important! We need to take drastic measures to remember it if need be.

The Plot line for the Movie “Momento” is about a guys who has short term memory loss. He doesn’t remember a lot, but he is looking for clues to his wife’s murder. The problem is that every time he goes to sleep his brain forgets all it learned that day and so his mind resets to right after when she was murdered. So he takes drastic steps to hold on to the memories he has gained each day. He takes video tape of himself telling himself what to do. he writes post it notes. He even gets information tatooed on his body… he is desperate to remember…

We should be desperate to remember and not forget the wisdom given to us here! But rather than tatooing it on our bodies, we need to Chisel it into our hearts! (v. 3)

*The reason we want to have this written onto our hearts is because it will bring us a FULL LIFE, MANY DAYS, WELL BEING!

Think of it like this. The commands that a parent give their children are for their protection. Imagine my son comes to me and says dad… I really want to play football in the middle of HWY 113. It’s good, level flat ground. And he goes on to tell me why he wants to play on 113? What am I going to say? No! Why? Because it’s dangerous… let’s imagine that he doesn’t take the command to heart and I’m out of the house one day and go goes and plays football on HWY 113.

Think of it This way… If Adam and Eve had listened to the Commands of God, they would still be alive today!

Look at Joseph who was a slave in a foreign land but he Trusted God even when it was difficult.

Look at Daniel.

Look at King David on the Run From Saul.

B. Let not MERCY and TRUTH Forsake You

These words are words that have to do with loyalty, faithfulness, and consistency. We are reminded that we are to be a committed people!

Is my heart fully committed to the Lord? Do I delight in his law and commandments as though they give life or do I feel like I’m missing out when I keep them?

How can I do this? I can’t give myself a new heart! Only God can transform my heart! I have to go to him.

[Eze 11:19 NKJV] 19 "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh,

[Eze 36:26 NKJV] 26 "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

[Psa 73:26 NKJV] 26 My flesh and my heart fail; [But] God [is] the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

[2Co 3:3 NKJV] 3 clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, [that is], of the heart.

Jesus is the only one who ever did these things perfectly. We see him listed in Luke 2:52 the only verse we get about what was Jesus like between the ages of 12 and 30? It says this…

Luke 2:52 ESV

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

II. God is Better at DIRECTING your path than you are (v. 5-8)

A. TRUST the LORD

Do you let the bible overrule your thinking? Do you merely agree with the bible or do you obey the bible? My dog sometimes agrees with me, but she never obeys me. If you merely agree with the Bible, then your response is not obedience but coincidence… But what do you do when the bible contradicts what you want to be true? (Ortlund, 64).

Do you let the bible overrule your thinking? Do you merely agree with the bible or do you obey the bible?

Ray Ortlund shares a story: One of my seminary professors told about his father crossing the Susquehanna River one winter’s day. His dad did not know how thick the ice was. So he was crawling along on all fours, gingerly feeling his way forward, when he heard some racket and clatter coming up behind him. He looked back, and here came a wagon pulled by four horses, and the driver was shipping them along at a pretty good clip right across the frozen river. The guy was local. He knew how thick the ice was. Too many Christians are like the man down on all fours, creeping along, way too cautious. Their trust in the Lord is halfhearted. Then along comes a wholehearted Christian, and he changes the tone for everyone around. (Ortlund, 63).

In work, in play, in everything you do, you recognize that God is in control and you seek him out. We recognize that God is in control of all things. We ask for his will and Guidance. Jesus taught us to pray this way…

[Mat 6:9-13 NKJV] 9 "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as [it is] in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

Jesus also demonstrated what it looks like to submit yourself to the will of God when he went to the cross…

[Luk 22:42 NKJV] 42 saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done."

To acknowledge God means that we understand that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. We know that God has a will for us and we submit our will to His will.

It is the height of arrogance to pretend or not care that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. James writes this…

[Jas 4:13-16 NKJV] 13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit"; 14 whereas you do not know what [will happen] tomorrow. For what [is] your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you [ought] to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that." 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

We should ask the question, “does this honor and glorify God?”

B. Do not be wise in your OWN EYES

1. There Shall Be Healing for your Body

Some of your translations might say navel here… That is your belly button. It’s a way of saying to your core, to your root, to your identity. This isn’t speaking of physical health necessarily, but of your spiritual and mental health. You don’t have to do a study to know that believing God’s word, trusting him and putting it to practice is generally healthy for you… but they have done those studies and it is very healthy. One study concluded that in a different way its about as healthy as going to the gym.

Jesus said it like this in Matthew 6:33:

[Mat 6:33 NKJV] 33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

There are two ways to go through life. Trusting God or Trusting myself. I can say I followed the Lord or I did it my way. One way leads to a life of blessing and one way leads to calamity. Jesus said it like this:

[Mat 7:24-27 NKJV] 24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 26 "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

The way of wisdom is to trust God.

The 1st Step is to Repent of doing things your way and commit your life to following Jesus. 2nd you make it public. You tell someone. 3rd you are baptized. 4. You begin to grow. Get involved in one of these small groups.

III. Don’t Let your POSSESSIONS Become Your OBSESSION (v. 9- 10)

A. Honor the Lord

There is a two-fold command here. We are to honor the Lord with out Possessions. We are to trust God with everything. We acknowledge that we are really just stewards.

We need to acknowledge that we aren’t going to live forever. We were made for more than stuff. We aren’t supposed to just sit here and accumulate toys. God has given you whatever you have for a purpose. Use it all for his glory. We should consider how God might be glorified by my vehicle, my house, my shoes, my food!

But we also need to note that we are not just to honor God with our possessions, but we are to give of our first fruits to the LORD. We give off the top. In an agricultural society they would have first fruits.

The first things on the vine weren’t always a guarantee of more, but that is what you gave… it is a way of trusting God and creating margin in your life. We encourage our kids to Save 10%, give 10%, and live off the 80%. As we get into Proverbs there is some practical money information like setting up an emergency fund so that when something comes up, you have money to pay for it.

If we’re going by man’s wisdom we’d say don’t give anything away… horde it. Spend it on yourself but no matter how much you gather, you won’t be really blessed. You’ll be discontent. Think of it this way.

You are designed to be conduit not a culdesac. We used to live near the end of a culdesac. I knew that if you came by our house, you would probably come back through because you can’t get anywhere.... So here is the thing if you’re a culdesac you might have money but you won’t have satisfaction. Your money has become your obsession. You’re never filling your barns because you keep building bigger barns. Your vats never overflow because you keep getting new vats… but no one enjoys the grain. You’re self centered… not God Centered

IV. God PROTECTS Those He CORRECTS (v. 11-12)

A. When We encounter God’s Correction

B. Correction is a sign of Fatherly Affection