Wisdom to Age and to Die Well

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die.” –Ecclesiastes 3:1-2

We get excited when a baby is born. There is fresh celebration when we’re newly wed, entering a new job, or buying a first home to raise our children in. When something is new, our imaginations run wild with future memories made and the hope of life getting better. But babies grow old and die. Newlyweds endure a lifetime of two sinners living together. Jobs turn into careers that we work until our bodies fail, and we retire. Houses age and children move out. Hopes and dreams excite us, but living out life drags us. We aren’t prepared for the fight. The world does not prepare us to age and to die.

The world only knows how to celebrate what is fresh. That’s why fads are so quick to come and go. We are pressured to discover a “new you,” to find what makes our hearts flutter afresh each day. Youth culture is celebrated far more than wisdom from a life well lived and a life prepared to die well. But the freshness of new things is not better than the end. Ecclesiastes 7:8 reads, “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning, and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.” Arrogance keeps us impatient. A humble faith in God gives us patient endurance to age well and die well to the glory of God.

I learned something from lying in a hospital bed for 3 days last week: our existence is a fragile mortality. Wisdom comes from aging well; that is growing in Christ-likeness. Wisdom is found in dying well; that is trusting that the celebration of things in the end is better than the beginning. God is sovereign, and I know I gained more wisdom in 3 days than I could in 3 weeks at a Bible conference. My folly is more than an information problem; deeper still, it is a relationship problem. The course of our lives has phases, but then we die. Has eternity with Jesus been displayed as my highest joy while aging and walking toward my death on earth?

Wisdom to age well and die well must be Spirit gifted wisdom in the Word received with humility and a dependence upon God’s sovereignty even when I am left confused and my “why” questions are left unanswered. O for grace to trust Him more!

Grant us grace, O Lord, to trust You and depend upon You even if it means temporary pain in this temporary life. Give grace to our eyes of faith to see eternity with You as far greater, far more satisfying than even our wildest dreams on earth. Teach us to age well and to die well, displaying Your glory through us to a world that is dying. Amen.

Knowing and Loving God

“I have stored up Your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against You.” -Psalm 119:11

We humans are in desperate need of correction. The Bible tells us that our minds are corrupt and bent toward evil constantly (Genesis 6:5) and that we need the Bible to renew our minds so as to not become like the world around us (Romans12:2). How well do you know the Bible? Do you store up the wisdom from the Word in your heart?

I sense an awkward hesitation from some to attend our Bible studies and discipleship groups, and I am curious if it is our pride being intimidated. We are intimidated by what we don’t know, especially if we walk into a room filled with people who do know the Bible well. Let me teach you a proverb I took up many years ago: do not be ashamed about what you do not know, only from an unwillingness to learn.

The Scripture is God speaking of Himself; His infinite, eternal, everlasting, beauty never fading Self. None of us would know God without Him revealing Himself. And the Lord says to worship the Lord our God with all our minds. Have a desire, a willingness, to learn from His Word. We are to know God well to love God well. Do you know Him well?

I encourage you and your family; do not be content with the label “Christian” without knowing and loving God well. We learn in community as a local church. God made us to need Him and to love Him, and we learn by renewing our minds with Scripture together. Join our Bible studies, discipleship groups, and for our worship gatherings. But don’t leave it there. Take your Bible and learn from God at home. Learn the God you love. He will instruct and correct you, discipline and convict you, to renew your mind to love the Lord will all your mind. Our Lord teaches us His revealed Word that His complete joy may be in us (John 15:11).

Heavenly Father, forgive us for any idle thinking and grant us Your mercy a yearning to receive Your instruction, storing up Your Word in our hearts. Grant us repentance, O Lord, and teach us that Your joy may be in us. We praise You for Your steadfast love given through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Pray for those in High Positions

The United States of America has a new President. This news has met an increasingly sensitive and contentious American culture with either anger or jubilee. Social media is filled with name calling from all sides, and anger has driven crowds to riot in the streets. I am curious of any Bible verses being mentioned in this sort of cultural climate. One that has stood out comes from I Timothy 2:2 which says, "Pray for kings and all who are in high positions."

In verse 1, we read a "therefore," which should tell us that chapter 1 is informing this word from God to pray for those in government power. In chapter 1, Paul urged the young pastor Timothy to "wage the good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience." Don't be like Hymenaeus and Alexander who shipwrecked their faith by not holding the faith in Jesus Christ with a good conscience.

Since pastor Timothy holds the faith with a good conscience, fighting the good fight of the faith, Paul's urgency to pray is then given. We are commanded to pray to keep the faith and a good conscience in our fight for the faith, seeing our dependence on God (faith) as our desperate need, and submitting to God as above all people, including kings and those in high positions.

Paul was writing this letter at a time when people in high positions were hard to pray for. Paul says to pray for Nero, Herod, even Pilate. People in high positions were hostile to the faith, persecutors of Christians, and power hungry individuals. So, the command to pray for government leaders is not based on whether or not we agree with them and their lifestyle.

Jesus told Pilate that the Roman prefect had no authority but what God has given him. Paul says in Romans 13:1 to submit to governing authorities because God put them there. Paul was fully aware of the weight of the command to pray for government leaders. Pray for ALL kings and government leaders. Paul doesn't tell us to pray only for my government leaders, but ALL. Not just the US President and congressperson and mayor, but also for Kim Jong-un, Ayatollah Khamenei, and Chairman Xi Jinping.

Why all leaders around the world? God desires all people from every nation to be saved. The overwhelming majority of Christians on planet earth right now doesn't even speak English, even more is not American. Our prayers are not to be exclusive, nor is the aim a prosperous and comfortable life. The aim is a quiet life that is kept on a global, disciple-making mission.

What specifically are we to be praying for our government leaders? Paul says we pray for government leaders "that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way." God is sovereign over all government authorities. He has placed all governments on the shoulders of Christ our Lord (Isaiah 9:6), and all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to our King Jesus (Matthew 28:18). By His authority, Jesus commands His church to make disciples of all nations. Paul commands to pray for earthly government authorities, both good and evil, to free us to live peacefully and godly. Paul adds that God is pleased by our prayers for earthly government leaders because God is our Savior "who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." Paul's focus is on Christ Jesus. We are to pray for government leaders to leave the church free to continue our disciple-making mission on earth, because God desires all nations to be saved.

Do you pray and so speak on social media and in private conversations displaying a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way? I am troubled by comments online, not from unbelievers, but those in the name of Jesus displaying an angry and name calling Christianity. We are to pray for our leaders to free us to live peacefully; this includes our interactions with the culture around us. My fellow Christians, be slow to speak (James 1:19), and when we do speak (James 1:26), let our speech display a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

Christian: pray for governing authorities around this world, both good and bad, to free us to live our lives in a godly way and to continue Christ's mission to make disciples of all nations. Continue in your good fight of the faith and celebrate your dependence upon Christ Jesus, the King of kings, Prince of peace. Let us pray and let us labor in His mission knowing we have no abiding city here, but we look to the city yet to come of which God Himself is the Architect and Builder. Meanwhile, let us display for a dark, unbelieving world that a life trusting in King Jesus is a life lived peacefully and quietly, godly and dignified...in every way.

What to do with negative people this year

Each New Year, we sing the old 18th Century Scottish poem for Hogmanay, "Auld Lang Syne" with these words:

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?

This New Year has many people storming to social media with resolutions to keep negative people and negative vibes in 2016, resolved to keep 2017 positive and happy; resolved to forget old acquaintances. This type of self-righteous, judgmental thinking sounds so enticing to us. To think we deserve only comfort and positivity, and that negative people should be ignored and discarded is what our flesh desires, but it goes against walking in the Spirit.

Consider our Lord's words here: "If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" (Matthew 5:46). To only love those who give us positive vibes and positive thoughts is what worldly folks do. The Christian is to love differently than this broken world. We are commanded to love as Jesus loves.

In Matthew 22, our Lord gave a parable. There was once a great king whose son was getting married, so the king organized a great banquet. The king invited many to come to the banquet, but those who got the invite had other plans and refused to come. The king became angry and rejected the people who had turned down his invitation, calling them unworthy. The king sent his servants everywhere and invited everyone, both good and bad, positive and negative. The king's banquet hall was full.

Jesus came to a cold, broken world of sinners. Jesus saves "whosoever comes." Jesus knows our thoughts and our deeds, yet loves us anyway. He dined with sinners while the elites of this world only surrounded themselves with people they chose to make them feel good. The world calls this, "self love;" yet, it involves self-righteous hatred of others. This is how the Bible defines love: loving the unlovable with God's love to God's glory.

Jesus said that tax collectors (you know "bad people") only love those who love them. We are commanded to give the invite to the King's banquet to all (Matthew 28:19-20). There is not one person too ugly, too negative, too sinful to love with God's love. This does not mean accepting their sin, but to love and serve them despite their sin. God's grace has invited ugly, negative, hateful sinners like you and me to this banquet.

If Jesus took the world's advice and discarded negative people or anyone who gave negative vibes, you and I would have no hope. We need to be shown the way to eternal life, we ourselves need an invite to the king's banquet. So does everyone else! They will not know the way to enjoy God forever if we cast off and ignore people we don't like. My beloved, Jesus is the way.

Yes, unlovable people are hard to be around and serve and love and care for. I get that. I know my Savior was a suffering servant for me! But I also see in Matthew 22 that we need clothes to be in the king's banquet (Matthew 22:11-12). We ourselves don't get to come to the banquet just as we are. Whose perfect goodness am I clothed with? Jesus' righteousness alone. Same for all of those negative people out there. They, too, can enjoy God forever if they are clothed in Jesus' wedding garments.

We do not have the authority or the right to declare who is in our life, who we love and serve, who deserves to be around us. That is God's authority and right. Jesus has declared that our loving service and gospel call goes to ALL. To only allow positive people in our lives puts ourselves and our feelings at the center. To cast off negative people makes us the judge. A church that teaches this self-righteousness is unsalty salt.

Let us followers of Jesus be a city on a hill, a light for those in darkness to hear the invitation to the king's wedding banquet, to find sinners saved by grace who love and serve like Jesus. 

If you are reading this and you find God's love contradicting your view of love, but knowing full well that this condemns you as a hate-filled, judgmental, self-righteous, self-worshiping sinner, I have good news for you. Whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have everlasting life. Don't cast off negative vibes to feel good about yourself. That's a false peace. Cast off your thinking that you have the self-righteous authority to judge others and compare your goodness to the world. Seek the Lord while He is near. Jesus is Immanuel, "God with Us," and He is near. The "whoever" means you. Jesus invites you to the banquet, and He gives you the wedding clothes of His goodness. Jesus has proven this by taking your cross, dying your death, and defeating death by raising again.

The kind of negativity you need in your life

Our culture promotes selfish pride to the point that any confrontation of error or wrongdoing is immediately thrown into the category of the unloving, rude, and judgmental. Even non-believers quote, "Judge not, lest ye be judged."

Little do people realize that in Matthew 7, as Jesus is ending His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is teaching His disciples how to judge! Not as hypocrites, but in repentance. "Remove the log in your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of other people's eyes."

This goes with what Paul taught in Galatians. "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently." Jesus and Paul taught that Christians confront one another in our sins, both in repenting from sin ourselves AND with the heart of reconciliation, restoring people in error or wrongdoing gently.

When Jesus confronts me in my feeble attempts to manipulate others so I can maintain a sin, He does so out of love. He won't let me get away with living in the comfort of my own make-believe world when He has true happiness in His mercy for me. Sure, my flesh feels the pain and misery of it, but Jesus confronts me for His glorious purpose.

When Jesus sends others to confront me in my error or wrongdoing, I need to remember that I am a sinner, that I don't know everything nor do I have everything figured out, and that Jesus confronts my sin because He loves me.

Why would Jesus and His followers confront me in my error and wrongdoing?

1) That I may have happiness in being conformed to His image.
You will never be satisfied and happy having things your way. You will always want more and more.

True happiness is not found where I naturally look for it: pursuing the endless cravings of my flesh, looking in dark corners for love, peace, and happiness. True happiness is found resting in my Savior, surrendering my all to Him and trusting His steadfast love, peace, and joy.

Being more like Jesus means God confronts our error and wrongdoing so that we turn away from our sin and having things our own way, trusting that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

2) That I may have discernment to see splinters in other sinners' lives; not as a judge, but as a wretch who loves the gospel, the gospel of Jesus who came into the world to save sinners, whom I am the foremost.

The local church is a gospel community to display the love of God as Spirit-filled people. Christian maturity is not a road where it is just me and my Bible. I am confronted by Jesus and His church in my error and wrongdoing, not only for myself, but that I may make mature disciples of others who in turn will also make other mature disciples.

The local church is a family of sinners saved by grace. Jesus made us to need Him and to need one another for encouragement and the building up of one another as mature followers of Jesus.

3) To avoid the negativity of continuing on in sin without repentance, mistaking my comfort for being in God's favor. We find ourselves comfortable away from God's presence when hiding sin, living in a make-believe world we have created for ourselves that tells us that independent strength and words of empowerment is a sign of spiritual maturity. In reality, this isn't strength but a lie.

We broken sinners have the amazing ability to deceive ourselves into comfort with sin. We make-believe that it is strength that we can handle our sin in private, away from God's means of grace in His gospel community of a local church. We hear the echoes of demonic advice from the world: "You don't need that kind of negativity in your life."

We hide our sin, thinking we don't need to learn anything from God nor do we need to be exposed as broken as we truly are. When the prophet Isaiah was confronted by God's awesome presence in Isaiah 6, he immediately yelled out, "I am a man of unclean lips!" When Peter realized that Jesus is the Messiah of God, he cried out, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!"

We don't want that kind of negativity in our lives! We have enough stress than to be concerned with the holiness of God. We exhaust ourselves by trying to find things in this world to empower us to continue on in life without Jesus, but in the end we are ruined and leave a wake of ruined relationships behind us, including our relationship with God.

Truth is, you do need that kind of negativity in your life. Jesus' exposure of our sin and brokenness is not out of cold rudeness and a strange delight in embarrassing us, but as holy light to reveal who we truly are. Jesus has grace to heal what He exposes in us, with a commitment to love us even though we are unworthy and ugly.

How should we as followers of Jesus handle being confronted in error or wrongdoing?

1) Don't get angry and outraged at the people confronting your sin. Rather, get angry and outraged at sin. In our make-believe world where we have strength and don't need others, we will label the goodness and love of God in a faithful, healthy church that teaches us God's Word which confronts our pride and hidden sin as "church hurt."

I do know "church hurt" is real. Pastors who teach false doctrine, unchallenged sin in churches that feud, gossip, and actively splitting people into groups. People get hurt from such churches. That's not the type of "church hurt" I'm referring to here.

If a Christian gently but firmly tells you the truth of God's Word with a desire to restore you to God and calling for you to turn from your sin, that's love not "church hurt." When our make-believe world gets surrounded by God, we feel threatened and want to get angry and outraged at others in order to justify our sinful life. We don't want God to invade the fortress we have built around our hearts, lest we be exposed as broken and sinful.

Fight for joy by being angry and outraged by your own sin. Be thankful to God for the light of His Word that reveals the dark spots of error and wrongdoing in your heart. Turn from those things to find true happiness in the Lord Jesus.

2) Be teachable. This requires the humility of being a good listener. You don't know everything about God, about holiness, about your own life and what's best for you. God does, and He sends folks in His gospel community to help us for our good and His glory.

Pride is such the evil that in our make-believe world we do not need to be taught or confronted about anything. Our culture says nothing is wrong, so no wisdom is needed and no sin is left to be confronted. Wrongdoing and the lack of wisdom is what other people need.

The follower of Jesus has the humility to realize we lack wisdom and need to be taught God's truth.

3) Remember grace. With new eyes of faith, we see clearly the fierce chaos of life. We must remember that all of life, including our faith in Jesus becoming more and more mature, is in the merciful, sovereign hand of God. Remember His faithfulness when you feel the sorrow and guilt of your faithlessness. Remember His steadfast love when your love is cold and failing.

Dear reader, my prayer is that your heart is pierced by God's Word, not simply for pain, but for the joy of true healing in the good news message of Jesus our Lord. You must be a committed part of the fellowship of a healthy local church, a gospel community. The teaching of God's Word, reminder of His grace and faith to His promises, and yes gently confronting of error and wrongdoing in each others' lives is exactly the kind of negativity you need in your life.

Do Not Be Surprised at the Fiery Trial

“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (I Peter 4:12).

Recent shifts in our culture have many Christians concerned about how we will be treated. However, the Bible tells us that when cultural shifts occur and the church of Jesus Christ is mistreated, this is an opportunity and not a time to panic. The church of Jesus Christ is mighty in seasons of comfort and seasons of discomfort.

The early church went through several generations that experienced fierce, bloody persecution. However, in this time, the global church grew exponentially. When Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the 4^th Century, the church became comfortable. The church became internally focused. Discipleship waned. The clever, devilish enemies of the church is not discomfort and trial, but comfort and internal focus.

When the culture around us begins to see following Christ as a freakish thing, let us not cower and panic, but seize the opportunity to show what the powerful grace of God in Jesus Christ does to a person. We are here on earth to be on mission to make disciples of Jesus. Don’t be surprised that the world finds Jesus and His Word to be disgusting and wicked in their worldview. 

The very next verse, Peter says to “keep on rejoicing.” Why? “That you may also rejoice and be glad when (Jesus’) glory is revealed.” Rejoice now so you will rejoice in eternity. When the culture shifts, when Caesar issues new decrees, when judges make unjust decisions, God has not lost anything. He is still just as sovereign as yesterday. His return and completion of His eternal Kingdom has not lost any days or any joy. Therefore, we Christians are to keep on rejoicing! Our joy is not lost in trials, and we are not to think that trials and insults are strange things.

Let us remember to rejoice in the Lord always. Not in how agreeable our culture is to the church, not in how comfortable I am; we rejoice in the Lord. Always. Keep on rejoicing. We will rejoice when His glory is revealed. His joy is in us, and our joy will increase and be completed on that day. Rejoice in the Lord.

Causing Division and Creating Obstacles

In the closing of his epistle to the Romans, Paul writes, "I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them" (Romans 16:17). Paul is not appealing that Christians avoid any division, but those divisions contrary to the truth of the Scripture. Paul is appealing for Christians to unite in the truth of Scripture and to separate from those challenging the Word of Truth.

Unity in Truth is True Unity
This is not the post-modern message in the West, which defines unity as avoiding any and all division in tolerance of all beliefs and doctrines as equally valid and acceptable. For the apostle Paul, unity is found only in "the doctrine that you have been taught." Christ perfects, equips, and gifts His people through the Word "divided accurately" (II Timothy 2:15) until "we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes" (Ephesians 4:13-14). Paul contends that the saints are not brought to "the fullness of Christ" and perfected by smart preachers or human wisdom, but by Christ Himself through His perfect Word.

In Colossians 3, Paul commands the local church to have hearts ruled by the peace of Christ and put on love, "which is the perfect bond of peace" (Colossians 3:14-15). Our understanding of true unity and peace and love of Christ are not to simply take verses out of context and redefine the meaning. Paul finishes in verse 16 with, "Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all teaching and admonishing one another..." Our peace and love of Christ is ruled ultimately by Scripture, which so abundantly takes up residence in our hearts that we teach and admonish one another. Christ washes His local church with His Word (Ephesians 5:26), and Paul commends the God-breathed Scripture for "teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness," which equips us for every good work (II Timothy 3:16-17).

Unity in the truth of Scripture is the only true unity Christ graces for His church. Unity in the truth means not to have a problem with authority of Christ in His perfect Word, but to have problems with authority from any other source, including a self-distrust.

The Singularity of Truth
Paul consistently speaks of the truth (singular, not plural) of Scripture. Paul states that unashamed believers can "rightly divide the Word of Truth," claiming Scripture to be one, cohesive, consistent, non-contradictory revelation of truth. Paul supposes that, although difficult to understand at times, the Scripture is clear and speaks of truth, giving full authority to the Word's Author and no authority to the reader. In other words, the reader is not permitted to suggest truth into Scripture that is not there, but the Author reveals truth to the reader that did not know. For instance, Paul commands the local church in Ephesus to "Speak the truth in love." Not truth(s), or kindly suggest an opinion and happily agree that everyone has their own opinion or "personal interpretation", or be kind and "lovingly" never confront anyone with the truth of Scripture, but speak the TRUTH.

The singularity of truth in Scripture contends that God is sovereign; in other words, God is in full control and fully capable of revealing truth to us in a clear manner. Our reading of Scripture must be of an attitude of complete dependence and trust in God to reveal truth to us, lest we claim partial or complete sovereignty of truth. Remember, Scripture tells us that without Christ we are blinded by Satan (II Corinthians 4:4), not dimly seeing. Without Christ we are dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), not merely sick or wounded. To challenge truth with our opinions or to suggest parts that we do not like are antiquated or contradictory challenges God's sovereign authority in His Word, which causes divisions and sets up obstacles in the church.

Avoid Division
Paul goes so far as to command the local church in Rome to avoid those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the truth of Scripture. Avoid them. Paul suggests that in order to serve Christ and not be a people-pleaser, we are to be united in the gospel (again, singular) and reveals that if anyone including angels preaches another gospel contrary to Scripture, that person is eternally accursed (Galatians 1:6-10). Paul handed false teachers "over to Satan" for spinning a different teaching of the gospel.

To remove people from congregation in church discipline or to correct others with the Scripture seems intolerant or divisive in this day and age. However, biblically speaking, we are to unite in the truth of Scripture alone, and avoid and separate ourselves from those teaching otherwise. Some might suggest that Christians can unite with others to get work done. However, to compromise truth for pragmatism sets the church up for human cunning and deceitful schemes, placing what we do above the truth.

However, Paul does command the local church to be "eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" (Ephesians 4:3). We must yearn for unity, but unity is something the local church maintains (guard, keep) not creates. Unity in the truth of the Word of God is given to us by Christ, not made up by groups of people in our own opinions and suggestions while leaning on our own understanding. We must be eager, with gut-gripping yearning for the saints to be unified in peace bound by Christ's love and provided by His Word of Truth.

Praying for Power to Distrust Self

Today in my quiet time, I read from The Valley of Vision prayer entitled "The Infinite and the Finite." This line captivated me:
"Let me live a life of self-distrust..."
This prayer parallels Jeremiah 17, where the LORD says, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind" and "the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick" (Jeremiah 17:5, 9). Our Savior instructs us, "out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders" (Matthew 15:19).

This worldview opposes what we are taught by our culture. Disney character Cinderella teaches us to "just follow your heart." The late Steve Jobs told college graduates that the "most important" thing to do is "have the courage to follow your heart and intuition." Yet, God tells us that our hearts are untrustworthy and wicked.

Self-distrust does not come naturally to sinful people. Such trust and such leaning on our our way of thinking and feeling about the world, people, and self is the corruption of our nature. The Word of God demands us to lay this trust entirely aside and be renewed in by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:22-24). Such a renewed mind is the good news of Jeremiah 17:7-8:

Blessed is the man who trusts in
     The LORD
And whose trust is the LORD.
For he will be like a tree planted
      by the water,
That extends its roots by a stream
And will not fear when the heat
      comes;
But its leaves will be green,
And it will not be anxious in a year
      of drought
Nor cease to yield fruit.

By grace through faith in Jesus Christ, we are blessed to trust not in our own heart nor be tossed by the winds of wisdom of this corrupt world, but our trust will be found in God. Our trust must not be found in the imperfect and temporary, but in the perfect and eternal. A heart that trusts in our majestic God trusts His eternal Word. As Isaiah 40:8 says, "The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever." The wisdom of this world dries and shifts over time, but the Word of God is trustworthy and eternal.

May our gracious God renew our minds and hearts with His Word, not trusting in our own hearts nor allow us to reign over ourselves, but "teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12).