The Choices We Make

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. (Proverbs 3:5-8 ESV).

 

Sometimes I really hate making choices. I suppose it’s the “taking responsibility” of making choices that off-puts me. It can be little things or big things. It just seems better if somebody else is responsible. We’ve seen how that plays out in recent months in a very dramatic way with Covid-19. Regardless of our political affiliation, I think we can all agree there have been plenty of choices that have not turned out to be good ones.

 

Each of us has probably already made many decisions today. And for the rest of the day, we’ll continue to make conscious and not-so conscious decisions. The choices we make say something about who we are and whom we serve. Is life “all about me,” or am I aware that what I do is really my response to my Creator and Provider? Our reading from Proverbs today begins with a simple admonition, a choice to make: Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding (v. 5). That calls for trusting that God’s ways are good, and that following them leads to living life to the full, as God intends for us.

 

One of my favorite Old Testament passages is the story of the Exodus and ultimate settlement in the Promised Land. When Joshua challenged Israel, he said, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). He knew that his decision to serve the Lord shaped all his other decisions. When we trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, all our other decisions are based on following His teachings, example, and direction. We are not making a decision to rely on our own understanding. It becomes the guidance of the Holy Spirit and Scripture that we know what to do. We know that God’s Spirit will not tell us to do anything contrary to the Scripture. This kind of trust leads to obedience whatever the cost.

 

There is another part to this “choice” in our reading. Solomon also says, “… and lean not on your own understanding” (v. 5). That requires the decision to be a disciple, a student-follower. I’ve often heard people say, “I’m just trusting God to show me what to do.” Well, that’s partially correct. The part that’s left out is our responsibility to learn from Him. That can only happen as we actively seek the teaching of Jesus. That means reading the Scripture and interacting with other believers. We must continue to be students. That produces healing and refreshing to our lives! What’s your choice today?

 

Happy Birthday, Kyle!

My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding, if you seek it like silver and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 2:1-5 ESV).

Today, 46 years ago, our oldest son, Kyle was born. His career accomplishments are numerous. While searching the internet to see the lists of his patents I came across the following description from the University of North Texas College of Pharmacy, where he is now the Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Science:

 

I received a BS in chemistry from Texas A&M University in 1996 and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2001. I joined the Oncology Medicinal Chemistry group at GlaxoSmithKline in RTP, North Carolina in 2002. While at GSK, I was a member of multiple interdisciplinary drug discovery teams focused on the discovery of novel small molecule ATP-competitive kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer. In 2008, I joined the Vanderbilt University Medical Center as Research Assistant Professor and the Vanderbilt Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery as Associate Director of Medicinal Chemistry. While at Vanderbilt, I led several research efforts directed toward the design of novel small molecule allosteric modulators of G-protein coupled receptors for the treatment disorders of the central nervous system. I joined the faculty of the UNT System College of Pharmacy in July 2015.  In September 2018, I was promoted to Professor with tenure and accepted the position as Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.

 

Fortunately we don’t often talk about his specific work. I would need a translator for most of it! This whole train of thought was prompted because of his birthday today. It happens to coincide with our continued look at Proverbs. Solomon calls us to wisdom from the source of both the fear of the Lord and the knowledge of God (v. 5).  “Knowledge” has always been a priority in our family. I’m proud of all of the boys as they have sought to master their areas of life with information and study. This requires discipline.

 

It simply does not come naturally, especially in regard to spiritual knowledge. Storing up God’s commands and turning our ears to his wisdom doesn’t come naturally. It takes regular Bible reading and reflection. Living as disciples of Jesus Christ, we must make the effort to learn God’s Word. Make this your priority today and in the future.

 

Happy Birthday, Kyle! While you have many accomplishments, I love you because of who you are, not merely the things you’ve done!

 

Wisdom

To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight, to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity; to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the youth— Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance, to understand a proverb and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:2-7 ESV).

 

It seems as if it was a lifetime ago when I found myself in my first seminary class at Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary. I was much more than merely “green.” I had been a Christian for just a few years and preached even less. I was both terrified and exuberant. During those years I was privileged in many ways. I met so many great servants of the Lord. One of them, Bill Tolar, then the professor of archeology, was a wonderful influence in my life. He has now gone on to be with the Lord, dying in 2018.

 

I still remember one of the things he often said about preaching. His caution was not to preach from the book of Proverbs too early in the ministry. His warning was based on the belief that we all needed to have more “seasoning” in order to bring its spiritual insights to our congregations. Since he was from South Louisiana and very familiar with “seasoning” I took that to heart. While I have preached from many of the books of the Bible through the years, I still am not sure I can tackle the complexity of Proverbs. I do know it has been a vital source through the years in my life.

 

So, today we will look at selected portions of this wonderful book. At the outset of Solomon’s writing he simply says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (v. 7). Often we are taught that “the fear of the Lord” means submitting our lives to Christ’s lordship and applying his Word to every situation. The trouble is that we more often don’t know how to do that wisely. We have so many examples of that in our culture. It is often “right” to pursue a particular course of action. However, the real question is not whether the action is right or not. It should also be wise.

 

Living in a world with information at our fingertips, we must learn that the knowledge we need is really wisdom applied with the compassion of Christ. It includes an awareness of God’s laws and a concern for life calling for obedience and discipline even when doing so may be difficult. Jesus showed the way by submitting to his Father’s will. He is our example. Look at our meme again today. There is good advice in that common proverb too!

 

Pay Attention

And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” (Mark 5:25-34 ESV).

 

I’m late! For those of you who have come to expect the Morning Devotional first thing in the morning, I am sincerely sorry for the delay today. I wish that I could offer a legitimate excuse. However, in the absence of that, let me just say I have been “busy.” Those who told me that “retirement” would be busier than when I was working full-time were correct. Although I often wonder is my “busy” is really necessary most of the time. Mary has often remarked that I need to sit down. Her reasoning is that my behaving like the energizer bunny is not good for me or her. My life is busy, but is that an excuse for not listening to those around me or the people God brings into my journey each day? Well, our reading today makes that answer crystal clear.

 

Even though most of us feel like we need more hours in a day, more days in a week, and we have too little time for sleep and relaxation, we must find a way to slow down to truly listen to others. Jesus provides the example. He was very busy too. In just over three years, he healed the sick, trained followers, taught a whole new understanding of the Old Testament, saved human­kind from sin, and set in motion events that will one day make all things new. And yet, he took time to listen to a sick woman tell the whole story of her illness.

 

It was astonishing to those who were with him. Yet he asked, “Who touched my garments?” It was a way of saying, “Stop. Listen!” I wonder if we were to follow the example of our Redeemer if things wouldn’t be much simpler. Somehow I think the answer to that is so obvious and yet so difficult that we fail more times than not. Join me and slow down a bit today. Listen to the people around you.

 

Overcoming Evil

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:19-21 ESV).

 

Today’s introduction to the devotional is not intended to be a commentary on current events. It is not a political statement of any kind. It is offered as a means of illustrating the principle found in our reading today. I actually came across it “coincidentally” as I was doing some research for today’s writing. It is one of those stories that are a bright light in the dark ugliness of our world. Carol Robinson, a writer for the Birmingham Real-Time News, covered the story which took place in December, 2016. Helen Johnson and five family members lived together in Tarrant, Alabama. At the local Dollar General, Ms. Johnson realized she did not have enough cash to buy a dozen eggs and her family hadn’t eaten for two days. She stuffed three eggs into her pocket, and they broke. An employee called the ­police, but the store decided not to press charges. Instead of arresting her, Officer William Stacy bought a dozen eggs and gave them to her.

 

As the story unfolded, Officer Stacy said he remembered going hungry himself as a child because his mother didn’t always have the money to feed him and his sister. When Ms. Johnson asked Officer Stacy how to repay him, he told her not to shoplift again. He went on to say to the reporter, “Sometimes the best route is to not arrest.” That, in itself is remarkable, however, it got even more so. Officer Stacy discerned that Johnson’s hunger, not her theft, was the evil that needed to be overcome with good, and God multiplied the good he did. A bystander recorded the incident and posted it on Face Book. Offers to help Johnson’s family came pouring in to the Tarrant police, who were able to provide enough food for them to stock their pantry.

 

Perhaps we all need to examine our path to overcoming evil.  The apostle is clear when he says, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (v. 21). My Dad used to say, “Two wrongs will never make a right.” He was correct, both philosophically and Scripturally. The only way to fix a wrong thing is with a right thing. I am aware there is much room for conversation about what the “right thing” needs to be. However, we must start with the wisdom and desire to overcome evil with good in our love for others through Jesus Christ. Join me in that commitment today.