As we have begun the New Year many have made resolutions and
are striving to change their lives in some way.
During the next few days we will look at ways we need to acknowledge God
in the New Year. The principles are
taken from Proverbs 3.
Proverbs 3:1–4 (NKJV) 1My son, do not forget my
law, But let your heart keep my commands; 2For length of days and
long life and peace they will add to you. 3Let not mercy and truth
forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your
heart, 4And so find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and
man.
We need to acknowledge God’s direction or learn God’s truth. The challenge in verse one is “do not forget
my law”. To forget would mean that I am
not mindful or I do not have a proper response to God’s law. The first step in not being forgetful is to
know, to be “increasing in the knowledge of God” (Col 1:9-10) and His
Word. God reveals his law, which is His
will, in His Word. Practically I
acknowledge God’s law by reading His Word, putting myself under the teaching of
His Word, working to memorize His Word. (Psalm 119:11) The positive side of this challenge is “Let
your heart keep my commandments.” When
our heart, that is our mind and will, is set on being obedient to God’s
commands we will want to know these commandments by heart. Our desire to obey will drive us to want to
know God’s Word.
In verse two the writer continues “do not let loyal love and
faithfulness leave you.” This “mercy” or
“loyal love” is “fidelity to obligations rising from relationships.” And “truth” or “faithfulness” is that which
can be relied on because of stability.
But when these words are put together they are “faithful love” combined these
individual words give us a further meaning.
The “binding” and “writing” is stressing that the teaching become second
nature, a regular part of the life. The
ramifications of this terminology are that the disciple is actually subject to
the Lord, not the teacher, and that the requisite “discipline” is respect and
obedience for the Lord and his teaching and not merely for a human instructor[1]
With these principles come some promises which are
length of days, long life, and peace.
One does not have to talk with too many individuals to realize that
people desire long life, but even more than that they desire the life they have
to be peaceful, yet how many are willing to get to know God’s Word so that they
might experience it? The second promise
is to have favor and a good name by God and man. An individual may have a good reputation
before man, but this goes beyond that to having a life of integrity before God
and being pleasing in His eyes. These
blessings are in opposition to the individual who is not faithful who is
promised in Prov. 13:15, “The way of the unfaithful is hard.”
Our hope is that you might Acknowledge God’s
Direction in this New Year!
The video version of this is available at www.youtube.com/user/churchoflittleton FW # 57
[1] Allen P. Ross, "Proverbs"
In , in The Expositor's Bible Commentary,
Volume 5: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, ed. Frank E.
Gaebelein (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1991), 916.
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