5:20 AM
When I was very young, my mom pointed out that Proverbs has 31 chapters -- one for every day of the month (yes, Martha, even those months with 30 or 28 days). I've been in the New Testament for the past long time, so today I decided to add a chapter of Proverbs to what I was reading in Philippians.
When I got to the end of Proverbs 5 (which is not really a G-rated chapter) this morning, I read this:
For the Lord sees clearly what a man does,
examining every path he takes.
An evil man is held captive by his own sins;
they are ropes that catch and hold him.
He will die for lack of self-control;
he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
(Proverbs 5:21-23, NLT)
I imagined what it would've been like under the old covenant; before Jesus had come and before believers had received the Holy Spirit. There is the fact that a believer is to resist the devil, and to run away from temptation, but because we have the Holy Spirit living in us, those of us post-Christ really had an advantage. We have the same choices to make as those who lived under the old covenant, but with an Ace in the hole, and I thought about what a great blog post that would make.
I began to ponder other Scripture that would address this kind of situation, and I thought about common objections that might come up. Had to be prepared for contingencies, you know.
Before very long, the Holy Spirit pointed out to me what it was that God wanted to tell me this morning. And here's what He said:
For the Lord sees clearly what a man does,
examining every path he takes.
An evil man is held captive by his own sins;
they are ropes that catch and hold him.
He will die for lack of self-control;
he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
(Proverbs 5:21-23, NLT)
Sometimes going for "deeper" truth is a worthy and excellent thing. However, sometimes that urge is a tool the enemy uses to obscure the plan and simple meaning of Scripture.
When I got to the end of Proverbs 5 (which is not really a G-rated chapter) this morning, I read this:
For the Lord sees clearly what a man does,
examining every path he takes.
An evil man is held captive by his own sins;
they are ropes that catch and hold him.
He will die for lack of self-control;
he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
(Proverbs 5:21-23, NLT)
I imagined what it would've been like under the old covenant; before Jesus had come and before believers had received the Holy Spirit. There is the fact that a believer is to resist the devil, and to run away from temptation, but because we have the Holy Spirit living in us, those of us post-Christ really had an advantage. We have the same choices to make as those who lived under the old covenant, but with an Ace in the hole, and I thought about what a great blog post that would make.
I began to ponder other Scripture that would address this kind of situation, and I thought about common objections that might come up. Had to be prepared for contingencies, you know.
Before very long, the Holy Spirit pointed out to me what it was that God wanted to tell me this morning. And here's what He said:
For the Lord sees clearly what a man does,
examining every path he takes.
An evil man is held captive by his own sins;
they are ropes that catch and hold him.
He will die for lack of self-control;
he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
(Proverbs 5:21-23, NLT)
Sometimes going for "deeper" truth is a worthy and excellent thing. However, sometimes that urge is a tool the enemy uses to obscure the plan and simple meaning of Scripture.
