Coffee With The Lord

I just read a wonderful Proverb this morning in the Bible… So very true, and a healthy reminder…

“In their hearts humans plan the course of action for their lives, but it is the Lord that establishes their steps!”  (Proverbs 16.9)

Are you a planner – a person who lives with a sense of mission, casts vision for the future, and then develops strategies to achieve your goals?  Most of us admire that kind of person and attempt to be like them to some degree.  They’re goal oriented people who do more than just talk about what they’d like to do it life – they take concrete steps to achieve their goals.

And then there are the other folks… they don’t have a clue!  Every day for them is just getting up in the morning, putting in the hours, and attempting to react to whatever happens.  The scope of their planning rarely moves beyond the next hour or the 24-hour period immediately before them.  Planning a week ahead?  That’s really pushing it!!

I have to say, I really want to be more like the first kind of person!!

As we get older, my wife and I have engaged in some serious conversations about plans for the next couple of years.  We’ve come up with some conclusions about things we were going to plan and do – and the steps we’re going to take to fulfill those goals and plans…  And then I get up this morning and read Proverbs 16.9!!!

I think before we do a final “sign off” of the strategies Sharon and I have agreed upon, we should probably do what the Bible says, and remember “it is the Lord that establishes our steps!”  Seems to me I recall a few verses in James (more or less the “Proverbs” of the New Testament) that are important here… “Now listen, you who say ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’“ (James 4.13-15)

I heard someone say these words one time about another person in a very frustrated voice… “They won’t listen to anyone!  Why waste your breath!”  What a sad and tragic assessment of a person!  I was reminded of that this morning as I read these words from Proverbs…

“If you listen to constructive criticism, you will be at home among the wise.  If you reject discipline, you only harm yourself; but if you listen to correction, you’ll grow in understanding. The fear of the LORD (i.e. “reverence”) teaches wisdom; humility precedes honor.” (From Proverbs 15:31-33 NLT)

My prayer today?  Lord may I always be willing to listen to constructive criticism and correction!  And may I especially exhibit humility rooted in my reverence for You!!  I never want to anyone (including You) to say of me, “Why waste your breath… they won’t listen to anyone!”

Just rejoicing today in the fact that God has given us a compassionate Savior – One we can identify with – A Helper who is “like us” in every way – but without our sin and failings!!

Here’s how the Bible puts it in Hebrews 2…

“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what He suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family! … Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death He might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death… For this reason, He had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that He might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because He himself suffered when he was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted. “ (From Hebrews 2.10-18)

I don’t think there is any perfect analogy for what this Biblical passage describes (and I’m grateful for that)! Perhaps an “organ donor” comes close – someone from the same family, with the same blood type and other similar characteristics, who selflessly provides a life-rescuing organ… I don’t know, you may be able to think of other examples…

I know this; I am surely grateful that our Heavenly Father sent His Only Son to earth as a human, to live a sinless life, to offer Himself to die for our sins, to conquer death, and make His resurrection power available to all who believe! Thank You! Thank You!! Thank You God!!!