GOLDEN WORDS

In her tongue is the law of kindness.  

(Proverbs 31:26 KJV)

She opens her mouth in wisdom,
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

Proverbs 31:26 (NASB)

She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.

Proverbs 31:26 (NIV) 




Someone said that simple courtesy seems to have been buried. No one bothers to be polite anymore. There's no time now to be civil. "Please" and "Thank you" have disappeared from our everyday vocabulary.

Pascal said, "Kind words produce their own image in men's souls, and a beautiful image it is. They soothe and quiet and comfort the hearer. They shame him out of his sour, morose, unkind feelings. We have not yet begun to use kind words in such abundance as they ought to be used."

Pat Nordman

Daily Meditations by Pat Nordman

February 3

"For he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust" Psalm 103:14; "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us" 2 Corinthians 4:7.

We are clay and dust, not very durable materials. Job in his agony lamented to God, "Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again?" Job 10:9. We are frail and lack vitality. But God does not condemn us. On such days, it might help us to remember that "...[our] strength will equal [our] days" Deuteronomy 33:25b.

There is another instruction in these verses and that is to grant to others the generous allowance that God grants to us and to have as much patience with the frailties of others as we have of our own limitations. We are all dust and prejudices and heredities that God knows and evaluates in both the present and final accounting. How can we judge another's formation when we must ask God daily for mercy for our own failures?

But we are also "fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalm 139:14. Who but the Creator could house within dust and clay such delicate organs as the brain and ears and eyes, or envision the uses of hands and feet, arms and legs? The study of the cell alone convinces us of the astonishing act of Creator and creation.

It is the spiritual operation of the mind that separates man from animal and makes us God's treasures. The mind is either helped or hindered by the condition of the housing, and it is with the body that we honor God: "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit...? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. Therefore honor God with your body" 1 Corinthians 6:19,20. From this, then, we must conclude that we are morally obligated to take care of our dust and clay.

Pat Nordman ©

February 4

"...Every branch that does bear fruit he [trims clean] so that it will be even more fruitful" John 15:2b.

It seems unfair that those who are already bearing fruit will be pruned but only God knows what needs to be removed at what season of our lives so we may bear more fruit for Him. Even the most saintly have sinned and come short of God's glory. He can see the beautiful and yet unnecessary blossoms developing that will hinder the growth of the fruit of the Spirit. The Vinedresser uses the pruningknife of trial and affliction that the branch may bear even more excellent fruit.
"Why should I start at the plough of my Lord, that maketh deep furrows on my soul? I know He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop." S. Rutherford, Daily Strength for Daily Needs, page 49. God desires a yield from each of us or He would not have created us.

Job's friends were positive that his afflictions came from unconfessed sins, but here in John 15:2 we have the suggestion that it is the very branch that is bearing already that feels the knife. Lest we become disheartened to the point of wanting to give up, it is because God sees something worth pruning. It is the unfruitful branch that is cut off. Good people are sometimes confused at the reasons and the means by which God cultivates His vineyard, His people.

Jesus was a tender shoot who was cut off at the prime of life. Many times it is the sensitive and the gentle who bear the brunt of the moral and emotional shocks of unexpected situations that seem to bear down on those who least deserve it. Yet the beauty lies in turning these experiences into God's glory and a beneficial use for others. God prunes us to get rid of our unproductive and ornate growth so that our dormant worth may flourish for His glory. If we remember this, we can accept the pruning more serenely and confidently

Pat Nordman ©

 

T H I N K A B O U T I T

DOES DADDY GO Daddy had a little boy,  His soul was white as snow.  He never went to Sunday School  Cause Daddy wouldn't go.  He never heard the Word of God.  That thrills the childish mind,  While other children went to class,  This child was left behind.  As he grew from babe to youth,  Dad saw to his dismay,  A soul that once was snowy white,  Became a dingy grey.  Realizing that his son was lost,  Dad tried to win him back.  But now the soul that once was white,  Had turned an ugly black.  Dad even started back to church,  and Bible study too;  He begged the preacher,  "Isn't there a thing you can do?"  The preacher tried, failed, and said  "We're just too far behind;  I tried to tell you years ago,  But you would pay me no mind."  And so another soul was lost,  That once was white as snow;  Sunday School would have helped,  But Daddy wouldn't go.  - Pulpit Helps

 

February 3 Leviticus 7:1 - 8:36  February 4 Leviticus 9:1 - 10:20  Linked to Bible Gaitway TM

 

 

Today's  Devotion

 

But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief. Job 16:5 (NIV) Enduring by Cathy Vinson   An art not readily taught is enduring. But in the life God has for us, it is of great value. Enduring is not easy or natural. It literally means to hold up against a thing, bear, suffer (ana-up + echo-to have, to hold). It is not difficult to understand why enduring is exercised with hardship... "the persecutions of you and the afflictions which you endure" (2 Th 2:4). But what else takes enduring? Believe it or not, the truth (that sets us free) is to be endured and learned to be endured..."endure the word of exhortation" (vs 22). It seems puzzling that we would have to be encouraged to bear up under and hold up under the very Word that builds us up and gives us an inheritance (Acts 20:32)! A runner will extend his run, a weightlifter will add more weights. Why is it that our capacity and length of hearing and enduring the very best is shrinking? "For there will be a time when sound doctrine they will not endure" (2 Tim 4:3). Then we must be learning now to bear with it. Hold still. Let it conform us and transform us. How we need the word of Life! Endure it. Sacrifice for it. Let the pace of the Word's transformation within be the pace our lives adapt to. Stay still, and fall in love. There is a great love to be entered. "because a love of the truth they did not receive to be saved" (2 Th 2:10,11,12)..."having not believed the truth, but having pleasure in unrighteousness." This is the day to explore the pleasures of the Word. And at the very least, to endure it! "endure the word of exhortation" " (Heb 13:22)   A runner will extend his run, a weightlifter will add more weights. Why is it that our capacity and length of hearing and enduring the very best is shrinking? Send a note to Cathy Vinson , the writer of this devotion. Other Whispers from the Wilderness Devotions are found HERE

 

 

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