THE JOYFUL LIFE - THE BLESSINGS OF FORGIVENESS, PART 3

The Holy Spirit is our direct, or “wireless” if you will, connection to Almighty God our Father, and Jesus Christ- our Lord and Savior. Only the redeemed/saved/born-again of the Lord can testify to this Truth. So when sin and guilt reside in one end of this pipeline – the living, breathing Christian, there is a “clog” or glitch in the communication.

This glitch can only be resolved if the steps described in Parts 1 and 2 of this series on Psalm 32, are mirrored into the soul of the believer. Repentance comes before Restoration.

The Lord walked us through this process in His Word (Psalm 32) and now in verses 8 and 9, the Almighty Himself response to His servant David, and anyone who is serious about repentance and restoring the most important relationship we will ever have – the one with Jesus Himself.

Here is what the Lord Himself says:

Psalm 32

8   I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;

I will guide you with My eye.

9   Do not be like the horse or like the mule,

Which have no understanding,

Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle,

Else they will not come near you.

Here is what He literally means in His own original Hebrew language:

“I will instruct you” – The Lord is saying here “I will make you prudent and wise and give the ability to have the proper insight (you and I will need). The original word here is “Sakal”

“I will teach you” -  After God says He will provide insight and the proper view of things, He says here that He will guide and direct. The original word is “Yara”.

“I will counsel you” – Then, our great and Gracious God goes one step further in promising to give advice and provide the right counsel to His people. The original word is “Yaats”.

IT IS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED WE READ THOSE THREE STATEMENTS FROM THE LORD OVER AGAIN! Let this sink in for a moment. When we are given the ability to have the proper view (insight) and then God Himself takes a whole of the direction of our lives and we seek His counsel in many things, we could never go wrong!

What we should always hold near, daily, minute by minute even, is this truth – God loves us and only wants the best for us. When we mess up, He wants to give and forgive and then give again. He is the Lord Who welcomes us with open arms. He is more loving than our earthly parents and more forgiving than anyone every born, except the Lord Jesus Himself.

This is why He exhorts in Psalm 32:10 and says “he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness (grace and mercy on steroids) will surround him (her). 

This is why we rejoice, as in Verse 11 “Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous; and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!"

This is the true Joy than can only be found in Forgiveness.

(STUDY ON PROVERBS 1-7), PART 1 - GOD PROVIDES

When God told the first man ever on the earth - Adam - to go forth and multiply, Adam had no role model but God. It could get absolutely NO better than this, because our Creator and Heavenly Father is the most perfect Father ever.

Look at the Goodness of God the Father to Adam:

-  God created Adam. 

-  God gave Adam life.

-  God provided everything Adam needed to survive

-  God gave Adam a perfect home to live in, where everything was in harmony in the Garden of Eden.

-  God gave Adam a mission to accomplish, and a work to do

-  God gave Adam a beautiful wife for companionship, love and to help him oversee the Garden of Eden.

This was enough for any man to do. Yet Adam allowed his wife to negotiate with a snake, sin and then willingly went along with it. Later on, after they were expelled from perfection, Adam paid the price when one of this first sons, killed the other one. Cain murdered Abel over jealousy.

The Lord, our Good, Good Father, had to punish this original sin, which brought death, degradation and destruction into the world.  These continue until this day. God still provided for His now wayward people, in spite of the massive Flood from Noah times, which changed the atmospheric and living conditions so much, that  humans could no longer physically survive more than 100 years, down from 800-900 years pre-flood.

Even with the foolish, sinful and evil ways of all humankind since Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Paradise,  the Lord continued to provide for all people, of all nations. He has provided food and the rain to grow and produce. He has provide work, through the various tasks and effort needed to provide and maintain the daily, temporal needs of all humans – even those who hate or ignore Him. He has provided the ability to comprehend the workings of the human body, so medicine can help everyone, with a good lifestyle. He has provided Wisdom, through His Holy and Eternal Word – the Bible, which has, is now and will always provide, the solid underpinning for a life well lived.

This instruction can be found all through the Scriptures, the very Oracle of God. The Apostle Paul listed and rattled them off, in clear present tense, in the New Testament.  He gave the clearest of road maps to the Faithful about how we should conduct ourselves. 

The Book of Proverbs, in essence, provides the Wisdom required to comprehend these commands from Paul.  Without the ability to discern what is expected of us, following the teachings of the Apostle Paul (who was directly guided by Christ and the Holy Spirit to give them) would be simply an attempt at good works. Godly Wisdom is absolutely and 180 degrees in the other direction than Worldly Wisdom. Where do we find such a unique "wisdom"? The Bible directs us to start in the Book of Proverbs.  In this short series, we will look at the many times the Lord provides the reasoning, hence the wisdom, of certain life choices. This kind of teaching is in short supply, in these modern times. Let's spread the word.

Godly Wisdom begins with the "fear of the Lord".

Worldly Wisdom comes from the wisdom and confusing, contradictory philosophies of man.

Proverbs 1:5 "A wise man will hear and increase in learning and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.

Proverbs 1:7 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction".