Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

 Matthew 11:28 ESV Come to me, all who laboúr and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Life isn't easy. It's often laborious and burdensome. Jesus offers rest to those who come to him. To be honest, I don't think life necessarily becomes easier if we trust in Jesus. He does empower us though. Spiritually speaking, we no longer need to toil and be burdened. We don't need to earn God's acceptance. We just need to trust in Jesus. We simply need to come to him by faith. This is a powerful promise. If we come to Jesus, he assures us that he will give us rest. We can leave our burdens at the foot of the cross. 'Dear Lord, may we come to you, and so find rest for our souls. We ask this for your honour and praise, amen'.

 Galatians 6:2 ESV Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.  We all have burdens. They aren't only necessarily besetting sins. They could also include the concerns we carry for loved ones for example. We are to care for one another. It shouldn't be a 'dog eat dog' world in the family of God. As Jesus bore our burdens, so we are to share one another's burdens. The law of Christ in summary is to love. Love isn't just a mushy feeling. Love is action: to bear one another's burdens. Interesting, the Apostle Paul goes on to say that each one must bear their own load. We can only carry each other's burdens so far. There comes a point where we have to carry our own weights of responsibility. 'Dear Father God, please help us to carry each other's burdens as best we can, whilst learning to bear our own loads too. In Christ's name we ask this, amen'. 

 Hosea 10:12 ESV  Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you. Taken in isolation, the first half of this verse could sound like we have to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and earn our own righteousness and love. Even in the context of this verse, we see that isn't true. The Lord is the One who rains down righteousness upon our thirsty souls. In the new covenant, Jesus describes God as the Sower and his word as the seed. So we need to sow Gods righteous word in our hearts to reap a harvest of love. Righteousness and love aren't contradictory; if we're righteous we'll be loving. We reap what we sow. If we sow God's word, well reap a good harvest. If we sow to our fleshly, worldly desires, we'll reap weeds as it were. We need to break up old weedy habits and seek the Lord to make us fruitful and blessings to him and to others. Unfaithfu...

 Psalm 30:5  For his anger is just for a moment, and his favour is for a lifetime. Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning. God gets angry. We mustn't gloss over this truth. He's rightfully angry at all that is unlovely.  Thankfully, God's anger is momentary, and his favour is everlasting. He's like a loving father who gives his unruly son the rod for a moment, but then embraces him and welcomes him back into loving communion with him. We need God's discipline. If we're not disciplined ourselves, God will discipline us. He might drive us to tears through the night, but with the morning he will bring joy to us. Even if this life is a vale of tears, the next one is eternal joy. Thankfully, we can know much joy, even in this life. Every sunrise is pregnant with the promises of God. His mercies are new every morning.  'Dear Lord God, we're grateful not just for the joy you bring, but also for your discipline. Please help us to look for...

 1 Peter 5:6 ESV   Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,  God hates pride and loves humility. Even the Lord Jesus Christ himself is humble. He humbled himself from the throne of heaven to the cross for us, only to be exalted back to his rightful place. We deserve God's condemnation. Yet if we humble ourselves before him, we can be assured that he will ultimately exalt us. Even if it isn't until glory, God will raise us up. God is sovereign. If we're doing well for ourselves, we should give him the glory. If we're struggling, we should cry out to him to uphold us. If we don't humble ourselves, God may well do it for us. He can use life circumstances to humble us. Ultimately, if we reject him in the end, he will banish us to the ultimate humiliation of hell. 'Almighty Father God, please humble us, so that we can ultimately be exalted. Thank you for the example of Christ, in whose name we pray, amen...

 John 8:32 ESV and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”  Some people think the truth is unknowable. How they think they know that is beyond me! That idea seems like a convenient way of trying to avoid having truth to which we are accountable. Jesus is the Truth personified. He is knowable, through his word, by his Spirit. If we want to get to know him we can ask him to reveal himself to us. As Christ said elsewhere, 'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me'. If we want to know the truth of God, we need to look to the Lord Jesus. Truth isn't just some intellectual exercise. The Truth will set us free from the lies of the enemy of our souls who wants to keep us bound. By getting to know Christ, and him crucified, we find out how we can be liberated from our sins. 'O Lord our God, please set us free from our sins. Help us to get to know you and your Truth, for your honour and praise we ask this, amen'.

 Psalm 121:2 ESV  My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Helping others is humble. We might think it's better to be helped than to help. Yet it's more blessed to give than to receive.  A home help is basically a servant. The idea that God helps us seems almost blasphemous. Yet he isn't ashamed to help us. God created Eve to help Adam. Before we conclude that this makes woman subservient to man, we should bear in mind that God helps his people. A helper is a co-labourer in the work. The Lord made heaven and earth. Yet he isn't too proud. He doesn't refuse to help us. 'Sovereign Lord, we're so grateful for your help. We acknowledge you have made all things well. Please help us to help you redeem broken people back to you. For the glory of Christ, amen'. 

 Proverbs 1:7 ESV The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. We tend to think of fear as a negative thing. After all, there won't be any fear in the new creation. Yet fear of getting burnt for example makes us careful around fire. Our God is a consuming fire. He's able to cast soul and body into hell. He's fearsome. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the love of God is the heart of wisdom. Our fear of God should drive us to him for mercy, not away from him in terror. We should fear to displease him like a child fears to displease their father. We should be brave, but we shouldn't have bravado before the Lord God Almighty. We should reverence him as we ought. He deserves our awe. 'Almighty Lord, please help us to revere you as we ought, and so to gain hearts of wisdom. For the honour of your name, amen'.

 Galatians 5:22-23 ESV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  When we receive the Holy Spirit, we begin to change from seeking to gratify the flesh to wanting to bear the fruit of the Spirit. Fruit doesn't grow overnight. Nevertheless, we are to be increasingly defined by love, joy and peace etc. Jesus epitomises these virtues. If we want to know what love, joy and peace etc. look like, we need to look no further than him. His love look him to the cross; his joy enabled him to scorn the cross's shame as he anticipated his glorification; and he's at peace with Father God, in the centre of his will. Christ is patient with us: he doesn't expect to see fruit overnight necessarily. He's both strong and kind, as the song reminds us. He's good: we can trust him in the hardships of life. The Lord is faithful- he doesn't give up on us. He is gentle- ...