One Year Bible, September 4

ECCLESIASTES 7:1 - 9:18                                                                                                  
"BETTER THAN...."  Wisdom is better than "supid".  It takes wisdom to navigate through a fallen world.  Things are upside down, but we don't live just "under the sun".   Enjoy the good times, and learn from the bad ones.  Better yet, learn from someone else's mistakes.

INEQUALITIES IN LIFE:  Life is full of injustices. The cynic says that even faith can't answer the problem of evil: good people suffer and wicked people have it easy. The world is upside down. 

CELEBRATE LIFE:  Life is a GOOD CREATION by a GOOD GOD.  Everything that is wrong with the earth was IMPOSED - it is not inherent in creation itself.  It was externally imposed.  Rom 8:19-21 says that GOD subjected creation to the frustration of bondage and decay.  Life is intended to be a divine gift which is to be enjoyed as good, and delighted in continually.  This is not just "eat, drink and be merry" - but be happy IN SPITE of the fact that the world is twisted and has gaps.

DIVINING THE FUTURE:  "Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning."  Things will be judged in the end.  We can enjoy life because God created it.  JOY AND FREEDOM of following our desires is controlled by our fear of God.  This Preacher believes in life after death and in the resurrection because God judges a resurrected man. 

RESPONSE:     Purpose is only found in being in relationship with God. We must oriented our lives around PLEASING GOD - because there is a final judgment coming.  That is a fact.  We never despair, because our knowledge of final judgment regulars our behavior here, with the happy look of expectation of being "delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.: (Rom 8:21)


2 CORINTHIANS 7:8-16                                                                                                    
REPENTANCE:   Repentance is not an emotion, but a change of heart.  Sorrow can lead to repentance, but it can also lead to regret.   Thoughts of our own loss, defeat, exposure, regret and humiliation lead to bitterness, not repentance.  Sin is a forfeiture and carries with it the sense of loss, but the sense of loss is still not repentance.  Sorrow bound by the selfish interests of the sinner and his painful consequences is "worldly sorrow" and leads to death.  Sorrow that leads to repentance is sorrow caused by God's judgment on our conduct, thoughts of God's holiness, and how we've wounded His love. This grieving heals.   Godly sorrow leads to repentance and a complete change of attitude. 

WHAT IS REPENTANCE?  Repentance is turning away from self-sufficiency and substitutes for God, and turning TOWARD God and re-connecting in a meaningful, submissive way.  I rely on God's grace (God's action toward me and for me): His strength, His power, and His sufficiency.  As we make it a habit to be in God's Presence, PURITY begins to work its way into our practical experience.  We learn to prefer God.  All my happiness, all my contentment, all my sufficiency comes from God.   JOY is not getting rid of all the hurts; it is coming through the hurt and finding Jesus to be enough.

RESPONSE:   Obviously REPENTANCE becomes a lifestyle.  I find myself repenting during the day - because I've gone too long without giving God a thought.  It takes effort to habitually center our lives on God.  It takes bringing Him into our activities and our thoughts as we go along.  Each time we turn ourselves back to Him is "repentance" - or a change of attitude and heart.   Instead of putting our efforts into trying to be good, we put our efforts into connecting with God, into staying in God's Presence.  The opposite of grace is earning, not effort.  So, don't let the word, "effort" throw you.

PSALM 48:1-14                                                                                                                    
MT. ZION:   It is "the mountain of His holiness."  I DEFER TO THE NT COMMENTARY for the best definition of "Mt. Zion" (Mt. Sion in the NT):

"But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." (Heb 12:22-24)

This tells us "where we go" when we pray!  We step through a veil and into God's Presence, or Mt. Zion, "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem".  Physically, Mt. Zion is a stronghold inside Jerusalem also called "the city of David".  Later it was the Temple mount.  Spiritually, it refers to God's Throne Room, the Presence of God, the place of being in God. This Psalm, more than any other, describes the spiritual aspects of Zion. It is the place where God has dominion (our hearts). 

PROVERBS 22:17-19                                                                                                          
HOW TO PROFIT FROM WISDOM:  (1) Give it your full attention. (2) Meditate and ponder what you learn. (3) As you do, it will give you satisfaction and pleasure. (4) Then you will actually express the wisdom in what you say and do. (5) Because you have instructed your heart to trust God.

RESPONSE:   This is how to profit from the Book of Proverbs.   We teach our hearts to trust God with what we TELL IT.  We know what to tell it by what the Word of God says.  The Word of God IS the wisdom of God.