Does Knowledge Come From Fear?

Bible Study Tools Bible Versions NAS Proverbs 1:7

7″The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Bible Study Tools Bible Versions MSG Proverbs 1:7

7 “Start with God – the first step in learning is bowing down to God; only fools thumb their noses at such wisdom and learning.”

If I am not being being stupid, then every day, all day, all the time, I will submit to God to learn and to do His will. (He loves me so much He will never mislead me or tell me to do the impossible without His power.)

Little Things Make a Difference

An extra “dot” in my e-mail address kept a friend from sending me an e-mail. Getting rid of the dot took care of it.

A comma in my User ID keeps me from “signing in.” Changing the comma to a period lets me in.

Tonight, a lack of corn meal and too much flour made flat-tasting corn bread and lack of tomato flavor made flat-tasting black beans. Adding barbecue sauce made by my son-in-law added delicious zest to the combination of beans and cornbread.

Little things do make a difference. I praise God that not one jot or tittle of His law and promises will pass away. His law says I have sinned. His promise says I am forgiven because I believe in Jesus Christ as Savior–and even that belief is a gift.

Has that belief changed your life? It can. Ask God for the faith to believe it. He will give it to you.

I D 10 T Error Explanation

I knew what it was, but I wanted to see what Wikipedia said about it. I laughed and laughed about the explanations for PEBKAC and PICNIC I can really understand it, because often I type in a bad user ID, just because my typing is not always accurate. At other times, I have done something incorrectly and simply cannot find my error.

According to Wikipedia:

“A user error is an error made by the human user of a complex system, usually a computer system, in interacting with it. Although the term is sometimes used by Human Computer Interaction practitioners, the more formal human error term is used in the context of human reliability.
User Error and related phrases such as PEBKAC (“Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair”), PICNIC (“Problem In Chair Not In Computer”) or ID-10T error are also used as slang in technical circles with a derogatory meaning.[1][2] This usage implies a lack of computer savvy, asserting that problems arisen when using a device are the fault of the user.”

Want more trivia about it? Go directly to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_error

There are several lessons from life through the ID10T Error which I want to share at a later time.

The first is “Little things make a difference.” (to be continued).

Fear and Dread

“1 God blessed Noah and his sons: He said, “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill the Earth! 2 Every living creature – birds, animals, fish – will fall under your spell and be afraid of you. You’re responsible for them. 3 All living creatures are yours for food; just as I gave you the plants, now I give you everything else.
(Genesis 9:1-3, from The Message).

The NIV uses fear and dread in the place of fear in this passage. I have found that respect and awe are also synonymous with fear.

I thought of how animals fear us. I understand that undomesticated animals are afraid of us at first.
They are likely to flee or fight when they realize we are near. I think it is only when they realize we are in dominion over them that they willingly submit to us out of respect and awe.
They will gladly obey us and even risk their own lives in fighting for us if they realize we love them.

My fear and dread of God is similar to that of animals for mankind. I was originally afraid of God, but I wanted positive relationship with Him. I eventually realized I could not please Him in my own strength. Only then did I see a need to me to trust Christ for my salvation. Now, in awe, I love and serve Him because He first loved me.

“8 But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.” (Romans 5:8, from The Message).
Now my fear is only when I know I have displeased Him. That is taken away when I confess my sins and realize He has already forgiven me because of the faith in Christ which He Himself gave me. As the old hymn expresses, “What a wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord.”

“I Worried and Was Afraid”

Was someone right about worry? “It must pay to worry. Most of the things about which I worry never happen.”

I have resolved to try to read and meditate every day in 2010 on at least one reference in the Bible about worry or fear. There are more than one for each day of the year.

I believe I read a story like the following in one of the daily jokes e-mailed me from “You Make Me Laugh” from crosswalk.com.

A pastor knocked on a church member’s door Saturday morning. No one answered the door. He wrote the reference, “Matthew 7:7”, on the back of his business card and wedged it between the door and the door jamb. That verse contains the promise, …”knock and it shall be opened to you.”
The deacons found the member’s business card in the offering on Sunday morning and gave it to the pastor. The member had written another reference on the back of his card, “Genesis 3:10”. That verse includes Adam’s reply to God when God asked him where he was after he ate fruit from the forbidden tree, “He said, ‘I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.’ “(Genesis 3:10, from “The Message”)..

That is the first reference to anyone being fearful or afraid in the Bible. Adam was afraid when he had sinned. I am also afraid when I realize I have sinned, but I also praise God. The death of Jesus Christ paid God’s just penalty for all of my sins in the past, the present, and the future. “Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing!” (Ephesians 2:8-9, from “The Message”).

Celebrate the New Year

Celebrate the New Year

Celebrate the new year as a new opportunity to glorify God with the rest of your life. We can not change the past. We can not guarantee tomorrow.
We only have this moment, today. Praise God! Today can be the day of salvation for eternity for someone to whom God leads us!
David Kesey often told me, “Trying to live the Christian life in our own strength is just the flesh dedicating the flesh.” Please pray with me that I will always be sensitive to trust and obey God’s Spirit, to love and serve Him in His power, and thus glorify Him every moment of every day of this next year. Please pray that when I often fail, I will soon realize it, confess it to God, thank Him for His already forgiving me, confess it to whomever I have wronged, and ask them to forgive me also.

Overdue Anniversary Date Correction and Confession

I posted “To the Only God” on May 12, 2008. The very next day, my son, Jonathan, very graciously corrected his first wedding anniversary date as being April 28, 2007.

It has taken me a long time to realize I could just post the correction instead of trying to figure out how I could correct the date in the post and make it look like I had never made a mistake, when Jonathan’s comment at the end did a pretty good job.

I have waited until I could get the correction posted to write anything more–and have been busy doing other things, as well. Ach! That is my natural human behavior! I make excuses for my sins until I finally realize I can do nothing to make them look good. I can only confess them, thank God He has forgiven me, and admit my wrong along and ask the forgiveness of whomever I have wronged.

To the Only God

A few days ago Jonathan and Laurie’s celebrated the first anniversary of their wedding, which was on March 28, 2007.  Time has passed much too quickly the past three years–but the past three years have been wonderful demonstrations of what God can do as we do or do not trust Him.  

I remember reading the one chapter book of Jude about the time of their anniversary.  The benediction or doxology is often said in churches.  I felt it very much described our lives in the past three years and one week (as of March 28) since our middle child, Amy Elizabeth, fell asleep on this earth and her spirit woke up in the arms of Jesus.  God got us through that rough time.  We still grieve and miss Amy, but we know where she is and that she is eternally home where we know we also will be with Christ because of His glorious saving grace which changes our sins from red as scarlet to white as snow. 

Our family has grown by a son and daughter since then.  Kara married her lifetime only boyfriend, Tim Ellcey.  Jonathan met and married the girl who answered his prayers as well as ours, Laurie Turner.  We do not have a new son-in-law and a new daughter-in-law.  We have a new son-in-love and a new daughter-in-love-plus all of our immediate families are one in Christ Jesus!    Jude 24-25 is more than just a benediction.  It is an affirmation of the wonderful grace and goodness of God, resulting in His “glory, majesty, power, and authority through Christ Jesus our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!  Amen.”  Jude 24-25 (NIV)

Check it out!  (double click on the reference) Jude 24 starts with “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy–(25) to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority through Christ Jesus our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!  Amen.”  Jude 24-25 (NIV)

Not only does God deserve all the glory, majesty, power and authority, He is “the one who is able to keep” us “from falling and to present” us “his glorious presence without fault and great joy!”  I do not know about you, but that will be quite an accomplishment for God in relation to me!  Hallelujah!  Praise the Lord! Amen!

It is good to give thanks…

 
 
This morning I read and was blessed again by Psalm 92.  (Verses 12-16 are similar to Psalm 1:3 and Jeremiah 17:7-8.

1 “It is good R2932 to give thanks to the LORD And to sing R2933 praises to Your name, O Most High; 2 To declare R2934 Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness R2935 by F999 night, 3 With F1000 the ten-stringed R2936 lute and with F1000 the harp, R2937 With F1000 resounding music upon F1001 the lyre. R2938 4 For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what F1002 You have R2939 done, I will sing R2940 for joy at the works R2941 of Your hands. 5 How great R2942 are Your works, O LORD! Your thoughts F1003 R2943 are very deep. R2944 6 A senseless R2945 man has no knowledge, Nor does a stupid R2946 man understand this: 7 That when the wicked sprouted R2947 up like grass And all who R2948 did iniquity flourished, It {was only} that they might be destroyed R2949 forevermore. 8 But You, O LORD, are on R2950 high forever. 9 For, behold, Your enemies, O LORD, For, behold, Your R2951 enemies will perish; All who do iniquity will be scattered. R2952 10 But You have exalted my horn R2953 like {that of} the wild ox; I have been F1004 anointed R2954 with fresh oil. 11 And my eye has looked R2955 {exultantly} upon my F1005 foes, My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me. 12 The righteous R2956 man will flourish F1006 like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar R2957 in Lebanon. 13 Planted R2958 in the house of the LORD, They will flourish in R2959 the courts of our God. 14 They will still yield F1007 R2960 fruit in old age; They shall be full F1008 of sap and very green, 15 To declare F1009 that the R2961 LORD is upright; {He is} my rock, R2962 and there is no R2963 unrighteousness in Him.”  [Psalm 92:1-16, NAS, from http://bible1.crosswalk.com/OnlineStudyBible/bible.cgi.  (The superscript numbers are Bible study helps which take you to related references from the Holman Study Bible if you “right click. on them on the crosswalk website.)]

  
For a joyful time of praise, sing most of the first four verses to the tune of “The Fiddler on the Roof” and repeat verses one and two at the end.“1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; 2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness by night, 3 With the ten-stringed flute and with the harp, With resounding music upon the lyre. 4 For You, O LORD, have made me glad… (Repeat)1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness by night..” Today is the five year anniversary of my father’s promotion into glorious eternal life with God our Father.  I rejoiced last night as I sang some of his favorite hymns and I rejoiced again today as we sang “How Great Thou Art” in church.  On Father’s Day, 2001, I asked Dad if he remembered the particular day on which he trusted Christ to forgive his sins, take control of his life, and received an eternal new life as a free gift from our Heavenly Father.  He said he did not remember the exact day, but that it was when I was quite small, because he was carrying me in his arms.  That decision was made in the Nebraska rural school near where Open Door, the “Little White Church ‘Mong the Pines,’ was founded at about that time by a group of farmers and ranchers led by an American Sunday School Union missionary.  We attended that church all of my life in Nebraska and Dad and Mom attended it all the years they lived on our farm about seven miles away from it.  Dad’s decision made a definite impact on our family’s life because Mom was the only Christian in our immediate family until then.  Since then, both of my sisters, my brother, myself and all of our children have ade professions of faith in Christ.  Most of our mature children who have married have married Christian spouses as well.  We know we are each a long way from perfect. We also know we have found forgiveness for our sins and strength and faith to trust Christ at all times, although each and all of us often fail to trust our wonderful Savior in numerous ways and still fall into sin.  “Hallelujah!  What a Savior who can take a poor lost sinner, lift him from the miry clay, and set him free.”  is the first line of one those hymns we used to sing at Open Door Church and have often sung since then.