Watching Daily At Wisdom's Gates

  But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/heb.3.13.ESV As Keith Green sang as though speaking the words of God, 'to obey is better than sacrifice, I want more than Sundays and Wednesday nights'! God doesn't want part time lovers. He wants wholehearted devotion to Him. Naturally, we drift away from God. We need to encourage each other daily to stay faithful to the Lord. We need to stay soft hearted towards Him. Sin naturally hardens our hearts against God. It makes us question God's goodness, and promises the pleasure of drugs, drunkeness, pornography or whatever else. Illegitimate forms of pleasure are sugar coated poison pills. Sin is deceitful. It wraps itself up like a sweet, when in reality it is toxic. It's like a Venus fly trap that might look inviting, but is ultimately deadly. 'Our Heavenly Father, please help us to ...

  The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24‭-‬26 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/num.6.24-26.ESV Some people dismiss these verses as being exclusively for God's people. Officially it was a priestly blessing for the children of Israel. Does that mean we can't apply it to ourselves, or to the world? In Christ, all the promises of God are 'yes and amen'. So we can claim these verses for ourselves if we belong to Jesus. Yet I don't think we even need to stop there. God wants to bless the world, not just those who profess faith in Him. God so loved the world that He send His Son, not just the elect. It's the elect's job to call others to seek election into God's Kingdom. The Lord isn't willing that any should perish. He wants us all to trust in Him and to enjoy eternal life with Him. If we don't have faith we can ask ...

  Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Psalm 42:11 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.42.11.ESV As my old pastor would say, talking to yourself isn't a sign of madness. Not talking to yourself is a sign of madness! This verse illustrates his point. If we're depressed like the Psalmist was, we need to talk ourselves out of it. If we don't dialogue with ourselves, we're not going to get out of the pit of depression so easily. Instead of being governed by our feelings, we should question them. The Psalmist questioned his depression and gave himself a positive alternative: to hope in God. Ultimately, hope in anything other than God is likely to disappoint. God will never let us down however, even if it sometimes might feel like it. Even if we don't feel like praising God at a certain point, we can encourage ourselves that we will again praise Him. God is worthy o...

  For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 2 Timothy 3:2 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/2ti.3.2.ESV This sounds uncomfortably like British, maybe even Western culture in general! Most people are defined by self-love/selfishness. Greed is seen to be a good thing: it is assumed that everyone would want to be rich. Pride is celebrated as a good thing. Biblically, arrogance is the original sin that got satan kicked out of heaven. Evil is lauded as good, and good condemned as evil. If anyone dares to question this messed up world system, they get abused. Children dishonour their parents as brainwashed by the education system. People are ungrateful to God for all His goodness. God calls us to be holy as He is holy. Sadly, most of us are defined by unholiness. We need to turn from our sins and trust in Jesus for salvation. 'Sovereign God, we're sorry that we're so often defined by that gr...

  For his anger is but for a moment, and his favour is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30:5 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.30.5.ESV Some people see God as completely benign. The Bible is honest about the fact that He sometimes gets angry. Thankfully He's slow to anger, and doesn't stay that way for long. Thankfully, God's favour lasts a lifetime. Ultimately, His favour outlasts the grave and abides with us for eternity. He doesn't give up on us part way through our earthly pilgrimage. Sadly, tears may fall in the darkness of this life. We might feel physical or emotional pain that causes us to weep. We may be bereaved or separated from loved ones. Thankfully, sadness doesn't have to be the end of our stories. A final morning will dawn. It might seem like a scary prospect: the final judgment. Yet if we trust in Jesus, we can rejoice in Him and His salvation. 'Dear God, we're grateful that Your ...

  for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 2 Timothy 1:7 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/2ti.1.7.ESV The fear that Paul here condemns isn't the fear that Solomon commends. The fear of the Lord that Solomon says is the beginning of wisdom is that of a child who's afraid to displease our Heavenly Father. The fear that Paul condemns here is the terror that runs away from God. God wants us to run to Him, not away from Him. He gives us the power to stand before His majesty and to stand for Him in the evil day. He gives us the power to make His goodness known to the world, in Christ crucified. Christ crucified is God's supreme demonstration of His love for us. Jesus bore God's penalty for our sins upon the cross. Through faith in Him, we too can be defined by love. God's love should motivate us to say 'no' to ungodliness and 'yes' to holiness. We shouldn't just animalistically give in to our fleshly passions and...

  And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken. Ecclesiastes 4:12 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/ecc.4.12.ESV This is a beloved verse at Christian weddings. Yet when professing Christians are about as likely to divorce as unbelievers, is it even true? We're not just to profess faith in Christ without putting it into practice. An interpretation of this verse is that God Himself is the third strand in a Christian marriage. Instead of being a twofold cord that's easily broken, we have God to hold us together. It's not enough to just tick 'Christian' on surveys however. I've heard that Christians who pray together stay together, with statistically few exceptions. If we regularly pray with our spouses, we're consciously weaving a third strand into our relationship: Almighty God. God loves marriage, and He doesn't want to see us fail, so let's call on Him to make our marriages s...

Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! Psalm 34:8 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/psa.34.8.ESV We can't literally taste God of course. Yet Jesus describes Himself as the Bread of life. He is to be our staple diet spiritually. He blesses those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. God isn't some hard taskmaster, waiting for us to mess up. He's a loving Heavenly Father who wants to lay on a feast for us when we return to Him. His goodness is exemplified in Christ's body, broken for us, and His blood, shed for us. Jesus bore God's punishment that we deserve upon Himself. Even though God is good and we are not, we can be justified through faith in Him. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Happiness is taking refuge in God from the wrath of God. We anger God by our sins. Yet if we come to Him for mercy, He graciously receives us, because of Christ crucif...

  Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. Ecclesiastes 1:2 ESV https://bible.com/bible/59/ecc.1.2.ESV 'God wants you to be healthy, wealthy and happy' says the charlatan. 'Meaningless' says the Biblical preacher. This worldly life is ultimately meaningless. It doesn't matter whether we're healthy or sick, rich or poor, happy or sad. This life is meaningless without God. We can try, like the preacher, to find meaning in all sorts of other things, but we will inevitably fail. The preacher tried and failed to find meaning in all sorts of things that conveniently begin with w. Wine, women, wealth, work and even wisdom are all vain outside of God. Thankfully, the preacher discovered true meaning. The meaning of life is to worship God, whether we're healthy or sick, rich or poor, happy or sad. He is worthy of our worship, for He sent His Son to give His life for us. He is eternally worthy of our worship and in Him we find me...

Focus. It's not all it's cracked up to be.  What we focus on is more important than whether we focus in the first place. If we only focus on what we can see, we'll be short sighted. We focus on what matters to us. If we like gaming, we focus on gaming. If we like gardening, DIY or sports; you guessed it: we focus on those things. There's not necessarily anything wrong with hobbies and leisure activities, but I would argue that they shouldn't be our focus. Neither, in my opinion, should weighter things like money, sex and power. None of what I've mentioned is intrinsically wrong, but they shouldn't be our primary focus. There was a very wise man, the second wisest ever after God incarnate, who dabbled in lots of foci to try and find meaning. He even tried wine as a focus for his life, and of course ended up with a regretful hangover as he overindulged. Solomon, as he was named, was famed for focusing on women. Nothing wrong with a wife, but Solomon overdid it...