Watchword(Nehemiah 2.1-10; Matthew 14.1-12)
God said ‘Let there be light’ and there was light. Genesis 1.3
I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life. John 8.12
Proverbs 24: 9,10
Whoever plans to do evil
Will be called a schemer.
The devising of folly is sin,
And the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.
This proverb refers to “the adept planner who coldly effects strategies that are designed to further his own interest at the expense of the community.” (Waltke, 274)
This is the father who consciously leads his family down a path of foolishness or rebellion. Or even the deadbeat one who “just” lazily fails to lead them down the paths of wisdom. Or it refers to a mother who deliberately undermines the contentment and order of her home.
Or the kid who strategizes on how to make life difficult for his parents. And who sees their suffering at his wrongdoing and yet continues to rebel.
This proverb also refers to the Christian who knowingly lays himself open to wrongdoing. He makes it easy on himself to wander, to indulge in illegitimate desires.
Or, this is the person who thinks of how to hurt another: how to give them the silent treatment, or at least a calculated coldness; who plans NOT to fulfill his obligations; considers ways to out-perform a rival and let others know of his victory.
Such people get a bad name; they become known as schemers. “The loss of a good name and being saddled with a bad one reduce [such a person] to becoming a pariah.” - Waltke 274)
Instead of growing in strength and honor, this planning offends God and brings shame to the schemer. In other words, at the end of everything, scheming to do evil doesn’t work.
Instead, dear people: order your steps in godliness. Give up the complicated business of scheming, and instead expend yourself in serving one another. Make life easy! Find the path of honor.
Bible Reading: Romans 11: 34-35
Here are two quotations pulled from the Old Testament books of Isaiah and Job. What are the original contexts and how might those reflect on this passage?
“The quotation from Job 41:11 comes from one of the most astonishing biblical statements of the sovereignty of God over all creation. God is in nobody’s debt; nobody ever gives God a gift and stands back smug in the knowledge that God must now repay. All is of grace, and not only of grace; to think otherwise is not to forget merely some fine-tuned or subtle bit of theology, but rather to forget the meaning of the word ‘God’ in the biblical tradition” (Wright, 696)
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