On this Sunday, I would like to introduce you to another of my favorite authors—James Montgomery Boice.   Very few authors wrote on the deeper concepts of faith as clearly as Boice did.  I remember reading the book, Foundations of God’s City and being inspired to live a life honoring to God.  This certainly is easier said than done, but God’s grace is sufficient for all of us.  I highly encourage you to read any books from James Montgomery Boice and take the time to digest his thinking.  I promise it will enhance your faith and increase your hunger to improve.  Here is just a sample of Montgomery Boice’s thinking out of a book called Foundations of the Christian Faith.   James describes how God takes the evil actions of others and overrules them for good in a believer's life.  As you enjoy this Sunday, stop and think about how God’s Providence has turned evil into good in your life?   Please share your thoughts after reading this article.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward 

There is probably no point at which the Christian doctrine of God comes more into conflict with contemporary worldviews than in the matter of God’s providence. Providence means that God has not abandoned the world that he created, but rather works within that creation to manage all things according to the “immutable counsel of His own will” (Westminster Confession of Faith, V, i). By contrast, the world at large, even if it will on occasion acknowledge God to have been the world’s Creator, is at least certain that he does not now intervene in human affairs. Many think that miracles do not happen, that prayer isn’t answered and that most things “fall out” according to the functioning of impersonal and unchangeable laws.

The world argues that evil abounds. How can evil be compatible with the concept of a good God who is actively ruling this world? There are natural disasters: fires, earthquakes, and floods. In the past, these have been called “acts of God.” Should we blame God for them? Isn’t it better to imagine that he simply has left the world to pursue its own course?

Such speculation can be answered on two levels. First, even from the secular perspective, such thinking is not as obvious as it seems. Second, it is not the teaching of the Bible.

A Universe on Its Own?

The idea of an absentee God is certainly not obvious in reference to nature, the first of the three major areas of God’s creation discussed earlier. The great question about nature, raised by even the earliest Greek philosophers as well as by contemporary scientists, is why there is a pattern to nature’s operations even though nature is constantly changing. Nothing is ever the same. Rivers flow, mountains rise and fall, flowers grow and die, the sea is in constant motion. Yet, in a sense everything remains the same. The experience of one generation with nature is akin to the experience of generations that have gone before.

Science tends to explain this uniformity by the laws of averages or by laws of random motion. But that is not a full explanation. For example, by the very laws of averages it is quite possible that at some time all molecules of a gas or solid (or the great preponderance of them) might be moving in the same direction instead of in random directions, and if that were the case, then the substance would cease to be as we know it and the laws of science regarding it would be inoperable.

Where does uniformity come from if not from God? The Bible says that uniformity comes from God when it speaks of Christ “upholding the universe by his word of power” (Heb. 1:3) and argues that “in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). The point is that the providence of God lies behind the orderly world that we know. That was the primary thought in the minds of the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism when they defined providence as “the almighty and ever-present power of God whereby he still upholds, as it were by his own hand, heaven and earth together with all creatures, and rules in such a way that leaves and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and unfruitful years, food and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, and everything else, come to us not by chance but by his fatherly hand” (Question 27). Remove the providence of God over nature, and — not only is all sense of security gone—the world is gone; meaningless change would soon replace its order.

The same thing is true of human society. Once again, there is great diversity and change. But there are also patterns to human life and limits beyond which, for example, evil does not seem permitted to go. Pink argues along such lines in his study of God’s sovereignty:

For the sake of argument, we will say that every man enters this world endowed with a will that is absolutely free, and that it is impossible to compel or even coerce him without destroying his freedom. Let us say that every man possesses a knowledge of right and wrong, that he has the power to choose between them, and that he is left entirely free to make his own choice and go his own way. Then what? Then it follows that man is sovereign, for he does as he pleases and is the architect of his own future. But in such a case, we can have no assurance that ere long every man will reject the good and choose the evil. In such a case, we have no guaranty against the entire human race committing moral suicide. Let all divine restraints be removed and man be left absolutely free, and all ethical distinctions would immediately disappear, the spirit of barbarism would prevail universally, and pandemonium would reign supreme.1

But that does not happen. And the reason it does not happen is that God does not leave his creatures to the exercise of an absolute autonomy. They are free, yet within limits. Moreover, God in his perfect freedom also intervenes directly, as he chooses, to order their wills and actions.

The book of Proverbs contains many verses on this theme. Proverbs 16:1 says that although an individual may debate with himself about what he will say, it is the Lord who determines what he actually speaks: “The plans of the mind belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.” Proverbs 21:1 applies the same principle to human affections, using the dispositions of the king as an example. “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.” Actions are also under the sphere of God’s providence. “A man’s mind plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps” (Prov. 16:9). So is the outcome. “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will be established” (Prov. 19:2 1). Proverbs 2 1:30 sums up by saying, “No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel, can avail against the LORD.”

In the same way, God also exercises his rule over the spirit world. The angels are subject to his express command and rejoice to do his bidding. The demons, while in rebellion against him, are still subject to God’s decrees and restraining hand. Satan was unable to touch God’s servant Job until God gave his permission, and even then certain bounds were set: “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only upon himself do not put forth your hand” (Job 1:12); “Behold, he is in your power; only spare his life” (Job 2:6).

Playing by God’s Rules

The point of major interest for us is not in the area of God’s rule over nature or the angels, however. It is how God’s providence operates with human beings, particularly when we decide to disobey him.

There is, of course, no problem at all with the providence of God in human affairs if we obey him. God simply declares what he wants done, and it is done — willingly. But what about those time when we disobey? And what about the great number of unregenerate people who apparently never obey God willingly? Does God say, “Well, I love you in spite of your disobedience, and I certainly don’t want to insist on anything unpleasant; we’ll just forget about my desires”? God does not operate in that fashion. If he did, he would not be sovereign. On the other hand, God does not always say, “You are going to do it; therefore, I will smash you down so you have to!” What does happen when we decide we don’t want to do what he wants us to do?

The basic answer is that God has established laws to govern disobedience and sin, just as he has established laws to govern the physical world. When people sin, they usually think that they are going to do so on their own terms. But God says, in effect, “When you disobey, it is going to be according to my laws rather than your own.”

We see a broadly stated example in the first chapter of Romans. After having described how the natural man won’t acknowledge God as the true God or worship him and be thankful to him as the Creator, Paul shows that such a person is thereby launched on a path that leads away from God which causes him to suffer grim consequences, including the debasement of his own being. “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man or birds or animals or reptiles” (Rom. 1:22-23).

Then comes a most interesting part of the chapter. Three times in the verses, which follow, we read that because of their rebellion “God gave them up.” Terrible words. But when it says that God gave them up, it doesn’t say that God gave them up to nothing, as if he merely removed his hand from them and allowed them to drift away. In each case it says that God gave them up to something: in the first case, “to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies” (v. 24); in the second case, “to dishonorable passions” (v. 26); and in the third case, “to a base mind and to improper conduct” (v. 28). In other words, God will permit the ungodly to go their own way, but he has determined in his wisdom that when they go, it will be according to his rules rather than their own.

If anger and tension go unchecked, they produce ulcers or high blood pressure. Profligacy is a path to broken lives and venereal disease. Pride will be self-destructive. These spiritual laws are the equivalent of the laws of science in the physical creation.

The principle is true for unbelievers, but it is also true for believers. The Old Testament story of Jonah teaches that a believer can disobey God, in fact, with such determination that it takes a direct intervention by God in history to turn him around. But when he does, he suffers the consequences that God has previously established to govern disobedience. Jonah had been given a commission to take a message of judgment to Nineveh. It was similar to the great commission that has been given to all Christians, for he was told to “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me” (Jonah 1:2). But Jonah didn’t want to do God’s bidding, as Christians today often don’t. So he went in the other direction, taking a ship from Joppa, on the coast of Palestine, to Tarshish, which was probably on the coast of Spain. Did Jonah succeed? Not at all. We know what happened to him. He ran into trouble as God took drastic measures to turn him around. After God let him sit in the belly of a great fish for three days, Jonah decided he would obey God and be his missionary.

The Flow of History

Thus far, our study has revealed several uniquely Christian attitudes toward providence. First, the Christian doctrine is personal and moral rather than abstract and amoral. That makes it entirely different from the pagan idea of fate. Second, providence is a specific operation. In Jonah’s case it dealt with a particular man, ship, fish and revelation of the divine will in the call to Nineveh.

There is something else that must be said about the providence of God It is purposive; that is, it is directed to an end. There is such a thing as real history. The flow of human events is going somewhere as opposed to being merely static or without meaning. In Jonah’s case, the flow of history led to his own eventual, though reluctant, missionary work and then to the conversion of the people of Nineveh. In the larger picture, history flows on to the glorification of God in all his attributes, primarily in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. That idea is captured in the definition of providence found in the Westminster Confession of Faith which reads, “God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will, to the praise of the glory of His wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and mercy” (5, i).

The flow of history leading to the glorification of God is to our good also. For “we know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). What is our good? Obviously, there are many “goods” to be enjoyed now, and this verse includes them. But in its fullest sense, our good is to enter into the destiny we were created for: to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ and thus “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.” The providence of God will surely bring us there.

To speak of the “good” introduces the subject of the “bad.” And since the verse in Romans says that “in everything God works for good” to those who are the called ones of God, the question immediately arises as to whether or not this includes the evil. Is evil under God’s direction? It would be possible to interpret Romans 8:28 as meaning that all things consistent with righteousness work to good for those who love God, but in the light of Scripture as a whole that would be an unjustified watering down of the text. It is all things, including evil, that God uses in accomplishing his good purposes in the world.

There are two areas in which God’s use of evil for good must be considered. First, there is the evil of others. Does this work for the believer’s good? The Bible answers Yes by many examples. When Naomi’s son, an Israelite, married Ruth, a Moabitess, the marriage was contrary to the revealed will of God and hence was sin. Jews were not to marry Gentiles. Still the marriage made Ruth a daughter-in-law of Naomi and thus enabled her to be exposed to the true God and eventually come to the place where she made a choice to serve him. “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). After Ruth’s husband died, she married Boaz. Through her new husband, Ruth entered into the line of descent of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah (Mt. 1:5).

David was a person who undoubtedly suffered greatly through the sins of others against him, including even the sins of his sons. But as God worked in him through these experiences, he grew to see the hand of God in his suffering and expressed his faith in great psalms. The psalms have been an immeasurable blessing to millions.

Hosea suffered through the unfaithfulness of his wife Gomer. But God used his experience to bring forth one of the most beautiful, moving and instructive books of the Old Testament.

By far the greatest example of the sin of others working for the good of God’s people is the sin which poured itself Out against the Lord Jesus Christ. The leaders of Christ’s day hated him for his holiness and wished to eliminate his presence from their lives. Satan worked through their hatred to strike back at God by encouraging merciless treatment of the incarnate Christ. But God turned this to good, working through the crucifixion of the Lord for our salvation. In none of this was God responsible for evil, though human sin and the sin of Satan were involved. In none of this was God made a partner in sin. Jesus himself said, in reference to Judas, “The Son of man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed!” (Mt. 26:24). Earlier he had said, “It is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the man by whom the temptation comes!” (Mt. 18:7). Nevertheless, without himself being a party to sin, God worked through it to bring forth good in line with his own eternal purposes.

The other area in which God’s use of evil for his own purposes must be considered is our own sin. This point is somewhat harder to see, for sin also works to our own unhappiness and blinds our eyes to God’s dealing. But there is good involved anyway. For example, Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him because he was their father’s favorite. So they conspired and sold him to a group of Midianite traders who took him to Egypt. There Joseph worked as a slave. In time, he was thrown into prison through the unjust accusations of a rejected woman. Later he was brought to power as second only to Pharaoh and became the means by which grain was stored during seven years of prosperity for the subsequent seven years of famine and widespread starvation. During that period his brothers, who were starving along with everyone else, came to Egypt and were helped by Joseph.

They were helped by the one they had rejected! And the outcome was in God’s control, as Joseph later explained to them.

I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. (Gen. 45:4-8)

After the death of their father, the brothers thought that Joseph would then take vengeance on them. But he again calmed their fears saying, “Fear not, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen. 50:19-20). There had been great evil in the hearts of the brothers. But God used their evil, not only to save others, but even to save their own lives and those of their wives and children.

Patience and Gratitude

There will always be some who hear such a truth and immediately cry out that it teaches that Christians may sin with impunity. This accusation was made against Paul (Rom. 3:8). But it teaches nothing of the kind. Sin is still sin; it has consequences. Evil is still evil, but God is greater than the evil. That is the point. And he is determined to and will accomplish his purposes in spite of it.

The providence of God does not relieve us of responsibility. God works through means (the integrity, hard work, obedience and faithfulness of Christian people, for example). The providence of God does not relieve us of the need to make wise judgments or to be prudent. On the other hand, it does relieve us of anxiety in God’s service. “If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?” (Mt. 6:30). Rather than being a cause for self-indulgence, compromise, rebellion or any other sin, the doctrine of providence is actually a sure ground for trust and a spur to faithfulness.

Calvin has left us with wise advice on this subject.

Gratitude of mind for the favorable outcome of things, patience in adversity, and also incredible freedom from worry about the future all necessarily follow upon this knowledge. Therefore, whatever shall happen prosperously and according to the desire of his heart, God’s servant will attribute wholly to God, whether he feels God’s beneficence through the ministry of men, or has been helped by inanimate creatures. For thus he will reason in his mind: surely it is the Lord who has inclined their hearts to me, who has so bound them to me that they should become the instruments of his kindness.2

In such a frame of mind the Christian will cease to fret in circumstances and will grow in the love and knowledge of Jesus Christ and of his Father, who has made us and who has planned and accomplished our salvation.

Francis Schaeffer is one of my favorite all time authors.  His books will make you think, stretch and grow.   I have read nearly every book Schaeffer has written.  I would highly recommend them to anyone wishing to learn about worldviews and how they affect a person’s actions.  I believe that before we can change the world, we must understand it.  Francis Schaeffer’s books taught me to get involved and not just hide in a Christian environment.  We must be in the world, but not of the world if we plan on changing the world!  The following article is from a speech given in 1982 and is a great example of how he makes a person think.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

Now, moving from public schools to private schools, what is the priority? Notice I am not saying Christian schools, but all private schools, including Christian schools. If you are really going to do something here, you have to think larger than your own interest. What we must do in the private schools, including the Christian schools, is to stand against those who have done so much to ruin our public schools in not allowing them to get a hold on the private schools, and specifically, the Christian schools, through a control of the curriculum. What we should be doing is struggling to see that the Christian school's curriculum is not controlled by those who have with their world view ruined the public schools.

This does not mean that the state does not have a legitimate interest in the safety of the pupils in such a thing as a firedoor. There are Christian schools that have said the state has no right even to tell them not to have a fire trap. That is not so. The state has a responsibility to say that a group of people meeting in a building like this we are meeting in have exit signs around the room, so that if there is a fire you will not all burn to death, and that is equally so for the kids in school. So the issue is not something like fire doors. The issue is that they must not begin to bring the same destructive teaching into the private schools by the back door of curriculum control that they have brought so dominantly into the public schools. We must not allow them to bring in through the back door a control of the curriculum and especially at the very point where the Bible's content is denied and contaminated. Therefore, the protection of the Christian school curriculum is another one of the priorities, which Christians ought to be consciously and intelligently standing for.

However, let me say another side of this question of the Christian school and our protection of it. While we are saying that the Christian school is not to allow its curriculum to be corrupted, we must also say that the private school, and specifically the Christian school, should give a good education.

We are to say we are going to control the curriculum. We are not going to let the state bring in the materialistic view as the final reality through the back door. But if we are going to say that with any validity the Christian schools must be giving a really good education. It should not just be a matter of not teaching what is wrong in a twisted education that rules out a Creator. Our Christian schools should not primarily be negative oriented. It is to be positive.

It is not just to be negative. It should be a superior education, if you are going to really protect the Christian school. It should certainly teach the students how to read and write and how to do mathematics better than most public schools enjoy today. It should do that but it should also appreciate and teach the full scope of human learning. Christian education is indeed knowing the Bible, of course it is, but Christian education should also deal with all human knowledge. We can think of what I said previously about the humanities. Christian education should deal with all human knowledge - presenting it in a framework of truth, rooted in the Creator's existence, and in his creation. Real Christian education, if we are going to protect our Christian schools, is not just the negative side, it is positive, touching on all human knowledge; and in each case, according to the level of the students, showing how it fits into the total framework of truth, the truth of all reality as rooted in the Creator's existence and in His creation. If the Judeo-Christian position is the truth of all reality, and-it is, then all the disciplines, and very much including a knowledge of, and I would repeat, an appreciation of, the humanities and the arts are a part of Christian education. Some Christians seem absolutely blind at this point.

If Christianity is not just one more religion, one more upper story kind of thing (as I speak of it in Escape From Reason and in my other books) then it has something to say about all the disciplines, and it certainly has something to say about the humanities and the arts and the appreciation of them. And I want to say quite firmly, if your Christian school does not do this, I do not believe it is giving a good education. It is giving a truncated education and it is not honoring to the Lord.

If truth is one, that is if truth has unity, then Christian education means understanding, and being excited by, the associations between the disciplines and showing how these associations are rooted in the Creator's existence. I do not know if you know what you are hearing or not. It is a flaming fire. It is gorgeous if you understand what we have in the teaching and revelation of God. If we are going to have really a Christian education, it means understanding truth is not a series of isolated subjects but there are associations, and the associations are rooted in nothing less than the existence of the Creator Himself.

True Christian education is not a negative thing; it is not a matter of isolating the student from the full scope of knowledge. Isolating the student from large sections of human knowledge is not the basis of a Christian education. Rather it is giving him or her the framework or total truth, rooted in the Creator's existence and in the Bible's teaching, so that in each step of the formal learning process the student will understand what is true and what is false and why it is true or false. It is not isolating students from human knowledge. It is teaching them in a framework of the total Biblical teaching, beginning with the tremendous central thing, that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. It is teaching in this framework, so that on their own level, as they are introduced to all of human knowledge, they are not introduced in the midst of a vacuum, but they are taught each step along the way why what they are hearing is either true or false. That is true education. The student, then, is an educated person. I just say in passing, John Harvard understood that when he founded Harvard University. It was founded with this whole thing in mind. The student, then if he is taught this way, is an educated person, who will have the tools to keep learning and enjoy learning throughout all of life. Is life dull? How can it be dull? No, a true education, a Christian education, is more than the negative, though that is there. It is giving the tools in the opening the doors to all human knowledge, in the Christian framework so they will know what is truth and what is untruth, so they can keep learning as long as they live, and they can enjoy, they can really enjoy, the whole wrestling through field after field of knowledge. That is what an educated person is.

In short, Christian education should produce students more educated in the totality of knowledge, culture and life, than non-Christian education rooted in a false view of truth. The Christian education should end with a better educated boy and girl and man and woman, than the false could ever produce. Protecting the Christian school must carry with it more than the negative; it should produce a superior education in all areas of. knowledge, and notice I am saying all areas of human knowledge.

I found this article while researching for a post on the Proverbs.  I felt this had some good information for all of us.  I love learning truth principles and applying them to life.  I feel I have learned more truth applicable to life since 1997, (when I became Christian) than the 30 years of life prior to 1997.  Enjoy the article and please share the Biblical principles you have learned and applied to your life.  God Bless, Orrin Woodward

As with the rest of Scripture, whatever is written in the book of Proverbs is reliable and trustworthy. More than that, it is authoritative and binding in all of life. Yet being proverbs (inspired and reliable though they are), there are some characteristics which people tend to forget.

Take as an example the fact that proverbs often deal with isolated dimensions of life. In "real life," there are many dimensions (not just one) that affect a person's life. As a result, the full impact of the proverb will not always be immediately visible.

Consider a proverb that shows a contrast between two opposing ways of life. Usually, the proverb will describe the one way of life as bringing beneficial consequences, and the other as bringing harmful consequences. Now, these two contrasting results (from the two contrasting ways of life) are accurately described. And if there were two people who were the opposite in this one specific area yet identical in every other way, they would receive opposite consequences (at least within the scope of this one area). Yet since so many other factors are involved in life, these contrasting results are not always visible in full force.

Such factors include more than just our own consistent obedience (or disobedience) to other proverbs and teachings found in Scripture. People do not normally live in total isolation from each other. And the sinfulness or righteousness of the community (or nation) in which one lives will also have an influence on the extent to which he experiences God's blessing. There is also the dimension that we could call "temporary inconsistencies." (See Psalm 73 or the book of Job.) All of these factors (which we could perhaps call "environmental factors") must be taken into consideration.

In this life, one will not always be guaranteed that what is mentioned in any specific proverb will occur to the full extent that is stated. The multiplicity of factors that are part of one's life - both controllable and uncontrollable - will prevent this. But the likelihood or probability of such an outcome will increase, within the context of the other factors. The more a person follows the authoritative guidelines of the book of Proverbs, the more likely he will reap the beneficial consequences. The more a person goes against them, the more likely he will experience the destructive consequences that are warned against.

There are other items to consider when examining the sayings in Proverbs. For instance, the proverbs themselves have a strong emphasis on one's present life. They were written to teach us how to live now, not merely how to live someday in the distant future. To be sure, the future aspect of reality (which we call "eternity") is not denied by the Proverbs. It sometimes directly referred to, but it is not the primary emphasis.

A consequence of the emphasis on the "here and now" is that even those who do not know God can experience some of the benefits of following the proverbs! This is due to the graciousness of God, who gives good gifts to both the righteous and the unrighteous. Quite sadly, however, the good benefits are only temporary for such a person (they cease at his death, when he finds himself standing before his judge).

Another issue is that of the "time factor." People often want immediate results. (Where is their concept of "patience," or "perseverance?") The Proverbs (the rest of the Bible, for that matter) do not guarantee instant results for impatient people. (Impatience would more represent the one who does not live according to the Proverbs, than one who does!)

Not all proverbs are promises or show the best way of living. Some are nothing more than observations. They merely describe aspects of life - "the way it is" - whether or not that way is good or worthy of practice. We live in an evil day, and some proverbs merely describe what we should expect in the world around us, or why certain things happen. They are in no way endorsing the evil they describe.

"Temporary inconsistencies" are just that. Even if (in the extreme) they would last a lifetime, they cease at death for the child of God. (Remember that "death" for the Christian is nothing like death for the non-Christian!) As we read in the prophetic sections of the Bible, a wonderful day is coming for those who belong to God! On that day, everything that is in any way related to the presence of sin and evil will be forever removed. And all the "temporary inconsistencies" of life will be gone forever. (In the meantime, however, while such things exist in our lives, we know that they are there for a purpose. And we know that the purpose is good.)

For those who do not submit to God and his Word, there are also "temporary inconsistencies." This includes everything that can be called "good" or "pleasant" - the blessings of God. And the same day that the child of God eagerly awaits for will be a day of terror and distress for this group of people. For on that day, the blessings of God will be forever removed.

The blessings of the disciple of Christ are not limited to "physical" blessings. The true Christian is blessed (as it says, in Psalm 1) in all he does, under all circumstances. There may (and will) be temporary inconsistencies, as far as physical blessings are concerned, but the "spiritual" blessings in Christ cannot be altered by outward circumstances. In fact, even times of persecution can be looked on as a context for receiving the blessings of God! It has been said that it is better to be a Christian under the worst of circumstances in life, than to be a non-Christian under the best of circumstances in life. To us, the bad is temporary; to them the good is temporary.

The Proverbs of the Bible are not merely "good suggestions" or "antiquated opinions." They do not have the fleeting value of man-made sayings, clichés, or maxims. On the contrary, they are unchangeable and inescapable wisdom. (Man-made sayings have authentic, lasting value only to the extent that they agree with the proverbs of the Bible.)

We cannot "pick and choose" among the Proverbs - accepting some and disregarding others. Remember that the Proverbs found in the Bible are not man-made; they have their origin in God. To ignore them is folly. To act as though they were not true is to choose to be a fool.

The Proverbs are life. To disregard them is death.

Proverbs 1:20-22

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,

How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Today is Sunday and Christians all over America will attend church and hopefully learn more wisdom from the preaching of God’s word.   Next to the message of salvation through Jesus Christ—I would state wisdom as the greatest value to gain from Bible reading.  Wisdom encompasses so many areas—wisdom with people, money, family, community, government etc.  I look back on my own life and realize what a fool I was in the area of wisdom.  I was hungry to learn, but to paraphrase an old song—I was looking for wisdom in all the wrong places.  I had read over 500 books by my mid 20’s and had never read the Bible.  Imagine a young man wanting to learn about the world and reading all these books, but never bothering to read the one by God Himself?   If you would have asked me if I was wise; I would have told you about all the books I had read.  But deep down, I knew I was unhappy and incomplete and yearned for inner peace.  Augustine stated, “Our hearts are not at rest until they find their rest in you my Lord and my God.”   God had watched me break myself against the rocks of life and in His mercy rescued me from my foolish thinking.  The wonderful thing about Christ is he is no respecters of persons.  All of us must humble ourselves to receive the free gift of peace and mercy Jesus has bought for us.

According to verse 20 and 21, wisdom is crying out to be heard in the streets, concourses, gates and city.  I stopped attending church at eighteen and did not attend for the next eight years.  I think about how many Godly messages that faithful pastors shared during this period of time.  Wisdom was crying out in these churches and yet I was too prideful to humble myself to seek answers there.  How many churches did I drive by on a Sunday morning on my way to fish or watch football games?   I was looking for answers; frustrated about the lack of peace in my life; yet refused to seek Wisdom from the source of all true peace.  Think about your life.  Are you attending a place of worship where God’s word is proclaimed?  Do you attend church at all?  If you do attend a church, what is the specific reason that you attend?  Is it because they have great music?  They have children’s activities?  They have skits and plays to entertain people?  My only question is: Are they teaching God’s word to you so you can develop a hunger for wisdom?   We have always taught in our leadership business to keep the main thing the main thing.   The main thing in a church should be its faithful exposition of God’s word.  All the others issues are just icings on the cake.  If there is no cake, then the icings are worthless. 

Wisdom is crying to be heard.  Are you attending a church to gain this wisdom or to be entertained?  Our culture has bought into the entertainment trap and must return to the discipline of Bible study and Bible exposition.   Wisdom is gained through applying Biblical principles to life’s situations.  The wisest man is the one who knows and applies his Bible consistently to life.  This is why I respect Pastor Robert Dickie so much.  I have watched his life for over a decade and have been inspired by his consistent application of Biblical principles to life.  Do you live your life by Biblical principles or the latest: Oprah show, radio shock jock, agnostic professor, pragmatic boss, self-made philosophy?   Today is Sunday and somewhere in your area is a faithful minister expositing God’s word.  It does not have to be a big church to be teaching truth, but it does have to be teaching faithfully from the Bible.  Find a Bible believing church and hunger for the wisdom that only the Bible and Holy Spirit can teach you.    

Verse 21, ask how long will you love simplicity, or scorn or be a fool?  The simple ones never ask the deeper questions: What is my purpose and why was I created?   The simple are ignorant and ignorant of the ignorance.  The scorners are hardened in their sins.  They mock the truth because they wish to live their life independent of God’s law.  Although they can choose to reject God, they cannot choose the consequences of this rejection.  How many broken lives have I seen from this sinful rejection of truth and wisdom?  The fools know they are ignorant, but choose to remain so.  They continually keep themselves occupied through entertainment, sports, music and association with other fools.  Fools will purposely avoid asking the deeper questions because they choose to remain fools rather than be accountable to an Almighty God.  The problem is that fools lead empty lives—devoid of purpose and direction.   If you are in any of these three groups, then today is the day to change!  Turn from your ignorance, scorning or foolishness and seek wisdom!  Pick up your Bible and read today.  Find a local Bible believing church and attend.  Living a life without wisdom is like playing in the NFL without pads—you are bound to get hurt, it’s just a matter of time.  The wisdom is available, but you must discipline yourself to read, associate and pray for God’s guidance.  Wisdom is a major for anyone aspiring to be a leader.  The Team has much to do and we need leaders with wisdom to accomplish the Launching a Leadership Revolution!  God Bless you on your journey to wisdom.  Orrin Woodward