Ours is the God of the graphic description.  When the Lord wants us to formulate a clear conception of what He is communicating, He often uses a picturesque means of getting the message across. Hence, we find the Lord Jesus using vivid illustrations in the Sermon on the Mount and an abundance of parables, metaphors, and similes in the rest of His public ministry.  Proverbs likewise abounds in literary devices which God employs to bring home truth to us.  We find such a simile before us today: “Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint.”

     An unfaithful person upon whom you depend will fail you when you need him most.  A broken tooth and a dislocated foot will both cause continual pain.  Whether it is the constant dull ache or the sharp stab which makes us wince when we apply pressure, both are intolerable.  Neither can be relieved without intervention.  To place confidence in an unfaithful person produces the corresponding emotional result.

     How it grieves us when someone we thought we could count on lets us down.  A broken tooth or a foot out of joint also makes normal activity extremely difficult.  Even a little walk or a normal meal becomes an ordeal under such conditions.  It is the same when we place confidence in unfaithful folk. These defective parts also impede progress and so do their human counterparts.  Either will fail you at the critical moment.  Just a little pressure is all it takes to reveal what they really are.  One thing is certain, these defective parts will never rectify themselves.  If there is to be wholeness, then you must address the problem.  A broken tooth wants a dentist and a dislocated foot wants a doctor.

     Two thoughts come to mind in this connection.  First, Christ is the Great Physician who can successfully deal with those who have betrayed our trust.  Second, whereas unfaithful folk may fail us to our grief, Jesus never fails.  He is the Most Faithful One.  Lean upon your Beloved today.  Trust your Great Physician to correct these defective ones who have caused so much hurt.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice

     Human events and circumstances often perplex us.  We see a situation unfolding, are aware that we are going to have to make a decision, know that the decision will have long-reaching consequences; but we are not certain how to proceed.  Unregenerate humanity proceeds on the basis of self-interested policy, a political expediency, or bandwagon conformity, but it cannot be so with us.  Our text today provides for us very practical, eminently spiritual advice.  “Commit thy works unto the lord, and thy thoughts shall be established.”  If we will consecrate our works unto the Lord, He will bring our consciousness into line with His own.  We find here a call for our personal commitment.

     There is for us the vital, necessary, intentional commitment of our works unto the Lord.  No one else can do it for us.  They may hope for it, pray for it, and advise us toward it; but they cannot commit our works unto the Lord for us.  We must ourselves render unto the Lord the works that we anticipate, whatever they are.  Incidentally, a work which we cannot so commit unto the Lord is a work in which we ought not engage.

     This text also indicates to Whom we should make this consecration.  We consecrate our works, not unto some blind fate, not to political machinations, not unto our denominational organization; but “unto the Lord.”  We commit our works unto Him in order that we might do that which is right in His sight.  We commit our works unto Him that we might by them honor His name and advance His kingdom.  We commit our works unto Him with the knowledge that He knows what we ought to do and what will be in the best interests of His glory, of ourselves and of others.

     The text finally assures us that if we will commit our works unto the Lord that our thoughts “will be established.”  God guarantees a clear, peaceful, purposeful mind to those who are prepared to commit their works to Him.  This peaceful, “established” consciousness is of great value in the face of any circumstance.  Let us commit the works of this and every day unto the Lord, knowing that He will establish our thoughts.

Where the Bush is Burning
Tomm Tice