The RIGHT Way to Go

 

Wednesday, February 15, 2023

My child, listen to what I say, and treasure my commands.  Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding.  Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.  Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures.  Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord, and you will gain knowledge of God.  For the Lord grants wisdom!  From his mouth come knowledge and understanding.  He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest.  He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.  He guards the paths of the just and protects those who are faithful to him.  Then you will understand what is right, just, and fair, and you will find the right way to go.  For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will fill you with joy.  Wise choices will watch over you.  Understanding will keep you safe.  Wisdom will save you from evil people, from those whose words are twisted.  These men turn from the right way to walk down dark paths.  They take pleasure in doing wrong, and they enjoy the twisted ways of evil.  Their actions are crooked, and their ways are wrong.  Proverbs 2:1-15

These words, usually accepted as written by Solomon, come from a lifetime of a wise man seeking the right way to live a meaningful life.  Solomon’s methodology was not much different from yours or mine; we learn through trial and error’s school of hard-knocks.  In Ecclesiastes Solomon wrote:

So I set out to learn everything from wisdom to madness and folly. But I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind.  Ecclesiastes 1:17

Here was a wise man who wanted to investigate every part of how people live on this planet.  What he found was most of it is empty, like a dog chasing his own tail…an overly-glorified exercise in passing the time.

Yet, in this morning’s text, Solomon’s Proverb, instructs his own son to spend his life absorbing wisdom, to chase understanding like the brass ring on the merry-go-round.  And, of course, he’s pointing to God’s commands, the words of life, which will teach his heart, soul, and mind all it needs to know so he will know how to fear (reverence) the Lord. 

At the last of his instructions, Solomon reveals the purpose of it all, keeping on the right path in this world’s quagmire of cultural madness.  The wisest of men points to the craziest of human mayhem, and gives his son the key to living a life that will not leave him ashamed at the end; he points his child to serving God’s light in the midst of a great darkness.  No matter what crooked, twisted ways of evil present themselves, one who trusts in God can walk confidently in the Lord’s care and love.

Perhaps Solomon was well beyond his time, knowing what the madness of 21^st century earth would be like, pandemics, violence, earthquakes, scams, political havoc, crumbling families, and news cycles that never make genuine sense.

For You Today  

The choices are endless.  Among them, you can follow the news on CNN, Twitter, FOX, or whatever other cultural high makes you too buzzed to see clearly…or tune-in to God’s wisdom and light.  It all depends on whether you want to have your eyes open to eternity’s understanding.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Finding Wisdom  and  A Treasure of Common Sense 

Images:  Title Pixabay.com   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

When You Are Not Sure

Monday, February 13, 2023

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.  He will not rebuke you for asking.  But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone.  Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.  Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.  Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.  James 1:5-8

When it comes to difficult choices which harbor a nagging conflict, a strong pull on two (or more) sides, how can you be sure?  King Solomon had that on a scale none of us would ever want.  Two women were hauled before the king for a decision.  The infant child of one of them had died, and she was claiming it wasn’t hers, but the other woman’s, who was claiming it as her own.  What to do?  It’s a very familiar passage in 1 Kings 3.  Solomon calls for a sword and declares the child must be cut in two.  The real mother of the child is horror-stricken, and pleads for the child’s life…don’t kill the child…she can have him.  Only the real mother would give her child to another, if it meant life for the baby. 

End of story.  

But what of the backstory that explains how Solomon knew what to do?  The story before the story of the women with a dilemma, helps us understand how the king, with a child’s life in his hands, and an unknowable fact to be decided, uncovered truth.  It’s found in the prayer of a young, new king who felt overwhelmed:

“Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father, David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around.  And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted!  Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong.  For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”  The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom.  So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies—I will give you what you asked for!  I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or ever will have!  1 Kings 3:7-12

Recognizing his calling was too great, too demanding, and too important for relying only on his own strength, Solomon called on God to bless him with an understanding heart.  God responded to the open-mind and heart, with blessings of wisdom and great resources. 

He does that a lot!

For You Today  

Consider the warning of James, when you contemplate praying like Solomon for wisdom and understanding…you need not be certain about a lot of decisions you’ll need to make in life, but you must certainly be sure about the ONE whom you will trust to lead you through all of them.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Divided Mind  and  Difficult Choices 

Images:  Title via Wikimedia Commons   Images without citation are either personal property of the author, or in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

The Glorious Needle in the Unfathomable Haystack

Thursday, September 29, 2022

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!  Your glory is higher than the heavens.  You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies and all who oppose you.  When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—the moon and the stars you set in place—what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?  Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor.  You gave them charge of everything you made, putting all things under their authority—the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals, the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.  O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!  Psalm 8:1-9

The Psalmist (in a big stage whisper) wonders aloud about how God could possibly be concerned about us humans.  Calvin, the precocious (some would say “obnoxious”) kid proclaims he’s SIGNIFICANT, just before allowing he’s quite small, compared to the universe.

Calvin and Hobbes is one of my many favorite cartoon strips.  That may be due to the author’s[1] theological bent which always catches my eye, and most often my admiration. 

I admire (and often envy) the way the creator of this ‘toon can present a complex Biblical theme on the meaning of life, with just four-panels and a precocious, self-absorbed six-year-old.  That may be because the creator, Bill Watterson, modeled the main characters, the boy, Calvin, and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes, after a preacher and a moral, wondering cynic.  You gotta love it!

In the first and third panel, Calvin looks into the sky’s East, then West, as if he’s searching the whole of the heavens.  In the second panel he announces with certainty his significant place (as only a six-year-old can proclaim from his sandbox).  In the fourth, and final panel, Calvin concludes, and allows that he might be just a piece, a speck of dust in the big pile of the puzzle, and not the magnificent centerpiece his first statement demanded.

This is the ongoing human struggle for identity and perspective on the significance and purpose of life.  I suppose if I had Bill Watterson’s ability to get to the nub in so short a presentation (it only takes eight seconds to read), I guess my sermons would be a lot shorter, and my congregation would always beat the Baptist brethren to the local restaurants on Sunday.

For You Today

There will never be a test to pass on Sunday’s sermon.  So, here’s a delicious short-thought to ponder:  When the sermon is spoken this Sunday, whether you take notes, or not, take note of just one salient, provoking, life issue your pastor presents, and contemplate, think-deeply, and measure it against your life.  Take it home and see what God says to you in prayer that day, or the rest of the week.  And then find some way to put into action whatever God brings into your life that next week.  You may not have a stuffed tiger that will talk back to you like Calvin’s Hobbes, but the Holy Spirit will lead those who seriously seek the Lord.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

We Mortals and How to Cure a Cosmic Headache  and When a Child Speaks

[1] Images:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©  

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[1] ©Bill Watterson named the characters Calvin (for John Calvin, 16^th century theologian) and Hobbes (for 17^th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes).  For much more background information see Wikipedia here.

Speaking in Tongues; Lesson from a Paralyzed Shih Tzu

 

Monday, January 24, 2022

On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place.  Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.  Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them.  And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.  Acts 2:1-4

This is our resident human manager, Wellie.  You can understand Wellie’s language…if you’re listening.  His bark and stare are both loud and piercing.  His eyes stare a laser-hole right through you; it bellows and slashes-out messages: 

·       are you not wearing your hearing aids, Russell, boy…or are you just plain dumb?  I want to eat NOW…not 4 minutes from now. 

·       Hey, human…put me up on that chair…NOW.

·       I KNOW there are treats in your pocket…they belong to ME!

At times Wellie “says” things with those eyes which I don’t quite understand.  He gets a little louder at those times.  This past week I finally began to understand some of what Wellie has been trying to teach me.  When he wants something, he exhibits the most persistence I’ve ever seen.  He can be irritating to an impatient human, who would rather have quiet for his reading and study.  He’s not the “cuddly” sort of hound, unless he’s been fed (enough), and would sleep it off hanging upside-down in a windstorm at the North Pole.  Sometimes, when he’s calm, he’ll even let you pet him, or scratch his itch under the chin…just a little further up, and over to the left, please.  Sometimes an insistent bark is not about food; it’s a warning to get him to the outside business area before it’s too late. 

We’ve had to learn a whole new set of dog language; Wellie’s back legs don’t work much, so his needs push us in different ways than having a pet who can fend for himself.  The language of an old, partially-paralyzed Shih Tzu has Biblical implications for the family of God.

The people that heard the disciples speaking in tongues that first Pentecost Day didn’t get what was being said, they simply figured the disciples were drunk.  Like humans trying to take care of a disabled Shih Tzu, they were missing something about what God had been saying to them for ages.  The message was this:

No matter the differences between you and the next guy, the fact that I love both of you, should tell you I want you to love each other, get along, and stop figuring-out ways to control each other; just do what’s best for the other guy!

Wellie’s been trying to get through to his dense caretaker for nearly 7 years now.  And while I’ve learned a lot about what he’s telling me, I realize, when it comes to speaking in Shih Tzu language, I’ve still got much to learn.  And that realization is 99% of the work of developing patience with the differences between us.

For You Today

In the human family, we have just as many communication-fails as when you try to understand Shih Tzu-ese.  But when you develop a little patience with each other, the joy of the journey comes back.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title and Other Images: Russell Brownworth (own work)   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©    

A Misunderstanding

 

Friday, March 19, 2021

Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong.  For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”  1 Kings 3:9

God had promised Solomon a request.  The newly ascended king prayed for an understanding heart so he could govern in a way God would approve, and would be a blessing to the people.  God was pleased.  There is nothing better than power used correctly in Heaven’s eyes.

The difficulties associated with a heart mis-understanding are legion.  My grandmother, a sweet, and normally tender-hearted person, is an example.

My father was introduced to my mother by her brother.  Dad and Uncle Marlen played ball together, and Elwood fell hard when he first saw Cecilia…who, at first, wanted nothing to do with that boy.  (But that’s a story for another time).

Back at the ballfield, Marlen was the pitcher, and Elwood the catcher.  Uncle Marlen’s Mom, Carrie, didn’t attend ball games, except for one time; it was the time signals got mixed and misunderstanding happened.  Here’s how.

In between innings, when teams switch from offense to defense, the pitcher will normally take some practice-throws to warm-up his arm before facing the first batter.  When he makes his last throw, he will step to one side while the catcher throws the ball to second base.  The ball will then be thrown around the infield as something of a ritual.  On that last pitch it was Uncle Marlen’s habit to step to the left side of the pitcher’s mound, and Daddy Elwood, the catcher, would throw the ball to second base slightly to the right.  Pitcher steps left (always); catcher throws right (habit).  Step left, throw right.

One day Grandma Carrie came to watch her son, Marlen, pitch.  At the beginning of an inning Uncle Marlen began his warm-up pitches.  After several tosses he nodded to Daddy Elwood that the next would be the last, and the ritual would begin, pitch…step left…catcher throws right.  Only this time Marlen stepped right, and Elwood, a creature of habit, fired the ball…also right, and right into the middle of my Uncle Marlen’s back.  It is Brownworth family lore that there were two screams that broke the air in that strange moment….Marlen’s scream of surprise pain, and Grandma Carrie’s oath that Elwood must die!

It was probably more than 25 years later I first heard that story (and I’m certain it grew more colorful each time it was retold, both before and since).  But Dad’s punch line to telling that story was always consistent, that Grandma Carrie never really forgave him for assaulting her sweet, innocent baby boy. 

We always laughed about it.  It’s easy to do that in the comfortable seat of time having passed, along with pain long ago healed.  But, in real time, it was something of a discomfort for Elwood, who was at a distinct disadvantage after that fateful baseball day, trying to court Marlen’s older sister, Cecilia.  My brother and I are living proof that he was successful, despite Grandma Carrie’s conspiracy theory that that boy was plotting murder on the family.

A lesson I learned from this little bit of family history is that misunderstandings happen because of many reasons, but often there are two culprits that regularly are present in the mayhem.  The first is poor communication.  In the case of Uncle Marlen and Daddy Elwood, step-left, throw-right was the habit.  The failure in communication was, depending on which side of the family tells the story, the pitcher, or the catcher.  Marlen didn’t tell Elwood he was going to step right.  Elwood assumed it would be left…he just threw where he always threw.  The second culprit is Grandma Carrie’s jumping to conviction.  When the ball game ritual “went ugly”, her immediate judgment was mama lion-like.  Nobody was going to do that to her son! 

For You Today

Politics, family, church things, and friends…hold off on the judgment…someday it might just be you stepping right instead of left

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  Brownworth Family photo    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©