How our circumstances seem at times to gather about us, to climb upon our head or shoulders and to weigh us down so that we cannot even contemplate taking another step!  So many things in life may cause us that “heaviness of heart” to which the text refers.  Such “heaviness” is an experience that we share in common with one another.

There is that heaviness of heart which exists because of sin.  The soul lying under the weight of unconfessed sin cannot in any way uplift himself.  There is that heaviness which comes because of a hope that has been long deferred until the heart is sick.  When hope in the salvation of a loved one, hope in the coming of revival, hope in the fulfillment of some promise, hope in alteration of some intolerable situation is not satisfied, then the heart can stoop very low to the ground.  There is that heaviness that comes because we are seeking the Lord to reveal His will unto us; yet we cannot see the way clearly, though long we wait.  The resolution to such “heart stooping” is “a good word.”

There is no better word than God’s Word, applied unto our stooping hearts.  That will make us glad as nothing else can.  The good word of the cleansing for us provided by the blood of Christ is enough to gladden our sin burdened heart.  The good word that God will keep all His promises to us is enough to gladden our heart when other hope is gone.  The good word that He will guide us every step of our pilgrim journey is enough to gladden our heart when we cannot see the way before us. When our hearts stoop we see only the earth, and earthly things.

When the “good word” comes home to our souls, we are lifted up to behold our God, who still reigns; our Christ who saves, who keeps, who intercede; and our Holy Spirit, who comforts and instructs. Is your heart stooping today because of some heaviness?  Let this be the uplifting of it. God’s “good word” is for you.  Christ, the Loving Word; the Bible, the written word; the promises, the applied word are all for you today.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice

 

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. …

Proverbs 3:5,6

No relationship between two people will survive without trust.  Trust in the marriage, among friends, and in business partnership, is fundamentally necessary.  Our spiritual life is exactly the same.  Our relationship with God begins and proceeds upon the basis of trust.  We must proceed in the certain confidence that God has not, is not, and will not deceive us.  God wants us to trust Him and is keen to assure us that our trust in Him is never misplaced.  He exhorts us to trust in Him with our whole heart, forsaking confidence in our own reasoning, guaranteeing that He will infallibly guide us.

There is the very act of trust, which is where we begin.  We trust that God is, that God has revealed Himself, that His Word is true, the Gospel is accurate, and that Christ is the Savior of not only all who believe but of us in particular.  We rest in these things, rely upon them, and use them as the very foundations of our life.

What we truly trust is what we rely upon totally.  “The LORD” is the object of our trust.  If I described to you a dependable automobile, computer, or tool, and was attempting to convince you that it was trustworthy, I would point out to you all the features which proved that it is reliable.  In describing God as the object of our trust, the list would be endless.  His absolute trustworthiness is inherent in the very idea of His God-hood.  This is the God that you can trust. Halfway measures are not for us.  He would have all our dependence. The great enemy of your trust is your own inclination to “lean. . . unto thine own understanding.”  So long as you are certain that your understanding of what course to take is all that is necessary to safely guide you, you will not trust God as you ought.  The true-hearted saint of God knows that we are the owners of some very weak, inaccurate, and unreliable understanding.  The scope of your trust is that “in all thy ways acknowledge Him.”  There is no limitation to the areas of life wherein you can acknowledge your need of God’s direction.  Even the smallest things are prime candidates to be areas where we acknowledge God.  The result of such trust is that “He shall direct thy paths.”  This is a great security for our souls.  Our God will direct our paths.  He will show us the way we ought to go.  Acknowledge Him in every way every day. 

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice

 

One of the duties of fatherhood is to warn children away from things which will harm them.  We begin with the simple prohibition “No, No,” when the little hand first reaches for the wall plug or the sharp object.  Later on, we advance reasons for why we deny some request.  As our young mature we have to warn them of dangers which are not so tangible, such as the influences of the wrong type of people.

God our Father does the same sort of thing to us.  In the First chapter of Proverbs, Solomon is advising his son to warn him away from evil entanglements.  We ought to take the advice for ourselves.  As the sons and daughters of the Great King let us heed His warning to turn away from those who would tempt us to evildoing.  One good reason why we should hearken to these words is that we are the children of the Great King.  He calls us His “sons.”  Our noble heritage, our royal standing, our high privileges, our honourable name, all of which are ours on the basis of the merits of Christ our elder Brother, argue forcible for our refusing enticements to sin.

Because we are the sons of God by adoption we will be the special targets of Satan and his minions. They will seek to bring reproach to the Name of Christ by gaining our complicity in some evil work. They will offer to make us partners with them, will swear their allegiance and promise their approval, but it is all to no good end.  Our Father the King knows the dangers of all these things. Christ our Brother has endured the greatest of temptations from the most artful of tempters. Therefore He gives to us the best advice, “My son, if sinners entice thee consent thou not.”  He goes on to add in verse fifteen that we ought to even refuse to abide in their company or to walk on their path with them. Perhaps you have found that temptation has come your way, and even now you are turning over the offer of some sinner who is inviting you into some evil enterprise.  Listen to good advice from your Heavenly Father and “consent thou not.  “No” is a powerful word.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice

 

We observe it over and over again.  The person who lays a trap or devises to harm another gets caught by the very device he sought to use.  As the writer of Proverbs puts it, “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein:  and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.”  The amusing antics of the coyotes and road runner in the children’s cartoons are a humorous demonstration of the very point under discussion.  The coyote will dig a pit to catch the bird, only to fall into it himself.  He will stand upon a hill with a boulder, launch the boulder down the slope to crush the bird; the bird will escape, and the rock will hit a distant ramp only to land behind the coyote and shortly thereafter roll over him. We laugh at the poetic justice as the cartoonists’ drawing it out before us, but the Scripture also shows us, in a very serious way, the spiritual truth regarding this phenomenon.

There are many who devised to harm others and got caught in their own trap.  Haman is perhaps the foremost of them all, in the Scriptures.  He planned the extermination of the Jews in general and built the gallows for Mordecai in particular.  He “dug the pit” and “rolled the stone.”  In a most humanly amazing turn of events, Esther, the newly installed queen, intercedes for her people, Mordecai preserves the King’s life, receives his honor.  Haman is first humiliated, and then hanged on the gallows prepared for Mordecai.  The Jews then destroy those who had thought to destroy them.

How is it that these remarkable events occur?  They happened by the hand of the sovereign God. The same God whose unseen hand guided the events of the life of Esther, and company, guides the events of your life as well.

This is both a warning to the deviser of schemes, and a comfort to the innocent person.  Live by the sword and you will die by it.  Dig pits for others, and you will fall in them yourself.  Roll a stone and watch out for it will be back to get you.  Live before God with humble, childlike trust in Christ, and you will see those who attempt your harm caught by their own devices, time and time again.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice

 

 

True friends are like the proverbial virtuous woman, their “price is far above rubies.”  We will have many acquaintances in life but few true, close friends.  The old saying “a friend is someone who knows all about you, and loves you anyway” is a good place for us to begin the consideration of our text today.  Our friends may at times do or say things that wound us in order to correct our faults; yet they do or say them in love.  A true friend does not always tell us what we want to hear.  If we have behaved badly, spoken out of turn, or adopted a wrong attitude, they may speak in such a way as to wound our conscience.  They may even break off fellowship with us for a while because of what we have done.  Christ is the greatest Friend any of us have ever had, and He at times does exactly what I have been describing.

By contrast, an enemy will often tell you exactly what he knows you want to hear because he is setting you up for a humiliation.  His “kisses. . .” are “deceitful.”  Satan is the great enemy of our souls who uses flattery to gain his ends.  He has no love for us.  By contrast, what our true friends tell us, they tell us out of love for us.  They perceive that if we continue on in some folly that we will come to real grief.  They do not want us to come to harm so they risk our wrath to do us good.  No one else loves us more than Christ.  When He chastises us, smites our conscience, or hedges us about with adversity, He is actively demonstrating His love for us.  If we will bear the wounding of our friends with a right spirit, we will benefit by it.  Paul wounded his friends in Corinth in his first epistle to them, but the second epistle reveals that he rejoiced at the benefits his scolding had done in the lives of the saints.    So if we will bear with good response the wounding of Christ, we will become more conformed unto His image.  He has wounded you to heal you, hurt your pride to help your soul.  Be thankful for the faithful wounds of a friend; especially your Greatest Friend.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice