Watchword
(Ezra 10.1-17; Matthew 13.31-46)
Depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. Psalm 34.14
Agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13.11
Proverbs 24: 5,6
A wise man is full of strength,
And a man of knowledge enhances his might,
For by wise guidance you can wage your war,
And in abundance of counselors there is victory.
Here, another proverb that will teach us how to live in strength. Here it is: Borrow it! Don’t rely solely on your wit, your understanding of the situation - gather counselors around you.
What alarms me about some people is that they are living without counselors. Smart people tend to do that - perhaps as they grew up people were wowed by their intellect, their accomplishments, their initiative. They were stellar without any extra help.
But that was then! On your own, you’re not strong enough for grown-up life! You need outside perspective.
Of course, this is an advantage to having a spouse, provided that in the home there is a culture of free speech including openness to receiving criticism.
But it’s wise also to have counselors outside of your family. Are your friendships filling this function? Well not necessarily. Some friendships are too glib, too dependent on flattery, to really be a source of wise counsel.
What we need are people that will disagree with us, people with this unusual combination of courage and tact.
Why not pray for these sort of people in your life? And for these people to fill our church? Strength is good.
Bible Reading: Romans 11: 30-32
This is deep. This has to be one of our answers for why the world is as it is. God has allowed all - Gentiles and Jews - to be stamped by disobedience, so He could have mercy “on all.” Why the fall? Why continual sin? So God could have mercy.
I know there is more to say about this, and it doesn’t at all answer everything, but it is at least part of it.
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