What has God shown you lately? - The faithfulness of God.

[Brother Mark]

Here's a thread to post something that God has shown you in the scriptures lately. But, let's please try to limit it to something that is helping you in your inner man. It doesn't have to be lately. It can be something the Lord showed you a long time ago but is bringing up fresh in your life, or simply something He revealed to you a long time ago, you appropriated it to your inner man and you think it would encourage someone else.

This week, the Lord reminded me of 2 passages He gave me back in 2000. That started a very difficult time with me in my walk with Him. I took it lightly at the time. But now, it is precious to me.

Ps. 33:4 For the word of the Lord is upright;
And all His work is done in faithfulness.

1 Thess 5:24 Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

The first, he gave to me one night as I was trying to go to sleep. Then He told me He wanted to fast the next day. In my youthful eagerness, I thanked Him that He was going to keep all his promises to me and agreed to fast starting the next day. Then I told Him good night and went to sleep. A wise man would have spent time with the Lord right then to ask His counsel. But I was young. So the next day, I found out they were shutting my workplace down. The company tried to get me to move elsewhere, but in my fasting the Lord directed me to another location. Needless to say, it was the beginning of a long wilderness experience.

The second verse, was given to me that day by another person that had no idea I had already received a passage from God the night before. I had told him about the mill being shut down and that was the verse he gave me. Both passages say something similar don't they. That was no co-incidence.

So during this time, I felt that God had abandoned me and it led to great sin. Yet, all that was in me before the trial. The Lord wanted me to see it. He knew it was there. I did not. And through it all, through every moment, He was faithful. Eventually, I can to know and understand the difference between feeling abandoned and being abandoned, with the help of the Psalmist:

Psalms 77...
7 Will the Lord reject forever?
And will He never be favorable again?
8 Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?
Has His promise come to an end forever?
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Or has He in anger withdrawn His compassion?
Selah.
10 Then I said, "It is my grief,
That the right hand of the Most High has changed."
11 I shall remember the deeds of the Lord;
Surely I will remember Thy wonders of old.

Just like the Psalmist, in our grief, we can feel abandoned. Or as the Psalmist said, our grief can speak to us. But He has not abandoned us. Joseph had a word from God and shared it with his family. Soon after he was sold as a slave. But God did not abandon him either. Jesus cried out on the cross "My God, my God, why hast Thou abandoned/forsaken me". But we know from the Psalms that God did not abandon Jesus to sheol.

So for me, this meant a LOT to me this week. Even though many things have not gone as I had hoped, I have learned that God has not, nor will abandoned me. And while I knew that in my mind, it has now crept into my inner man and that is far more peaceful than just having a head knowledge of it.

Your turn! Please post something the Lord has or is teaching you.

Grace and peace,

Mark

[Walls]

Here's a thread to post something that God has shown you in the scriptures lately. But, let's please try to limit it to something that is helping you in your inner man. It doesn't have to be lately. It can be something the Lord showed you a long time ago but is bringing up fresh in your life, or simply something He revealed to you a long time ago, you appropriated it to your inner man and you think it would encourage someone else.

...

I have been deeply (and painfully) exercised over the last 15 years or so to learn two lessons;

(1) I must realize that no matter what concepts we have of things, what happens to us has been ordained by the Lord to (i) achieve His goals with us, and (ii) profit us. It is all set forth in Romans 8:28-29, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."

(2) I must realize that no matter what we have, what we have been given, and what we think we can achieve for the Lord, HE DOES NOT NEED US - WE NEED HIM. God will, with a flick of His little finger, get what He wants. Whether we are there or not with all our perceived talent and zeal, God will still achieve His goals. We are superfluous. We must count it a privilege to do Him the smallest service. Psalm 103:14 says; "For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." And Luke 17:10 says; "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

[joyjoy22]

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Psalm 32:8

Life is a learning process, each day is created to acquire new knowledge.

[kyCyd]

Along with my listening to the word of God...I also do word searches in scriptures and in reading them will copy and paste scriptures that will jump out at me. I paste them on a word document and leave them there for review then will eventually clear them all and start fresh. Last year I was wondering just what the Lord thought of his people and in my searching came upon this scripture:
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

I looked up the meaning of “peace” and was just amazed at all it meant:
or shalom {shaw-lome'}; from 7999; safe, i.e. (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, i.e. health, prosperity, peace:—X do, familiar, X fare, favour, + friend, X great, (good) health, (X perfect, such as be at) peace(-able, -ably), prosper(-ity, -ous), rest, safe(-ty), salute, welfare, (X all is, be) well, X wholly.

I also found where the Lord wanted his people blessed with this, and again peace:
Numbers 6:24-26 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

As I continued my searching I found then this scripture as to how you can have this peace:
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Now this verse to me means it is something I need to do. So basically training the mind to be stayed on the Lord. There are many different things that help keep our minds stayed on the Lord. I try to be aware of these things in my daily walk, knowing too that the Lord wants us to stay in peace.

Well I looked these verses up again about a week or so ago, so once again they are on my word document that I often review. I am again being reminded to stay in peace, which is where the Lord wants us no matter what we are going through.

[Brother Mark]

I have been deeply (and painfully) exercised over the last 15 years or so to learn two lessons;

(2) I must realize that no matter what we have, what we have been given, and what we think we can achieve for the Lord, HE DOES NOT NEED US - WE NEED HIM. God will, with a flick of His little finger, get what He wants. Whether we are there or not with all our perceived talent and zeal, God will still achieve His goals. We are superfluous. We must count it a privilege to do Him the smallest service. Psalm 103:14 says; "For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." And Luke 17:10 says; "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

Growth doesn't often come without pain. As we use to say at practice "no pain, no gain". I really liked the 2nd one. God doesn't need us to accomplish anything. But He does want us! Knowing that He wants me to be a part of His family, even with all my baggage, is an amazing and encouraging though. He wanted me! Still haven't gotten over it.

Thank you for sharing brother.

[Brother Mark]

Along with my listening to the word of God...I also do word searches in scriptures and in reading them will copy and paste scriptures that will jump out at me. I paste them on a word document and leave them there for review then will eventually clear them all and start fresh. Last year I was wondering just what the Lord thought of his people and in my searching came upon this scripture:
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

I looked up the meaning of “peace” and was just amazed at all it meant:
or shalom {shaw-lome'}; from 7999; safe, i.e. (figuratively) well, happy, friendly; also (abstractly) welfare, i.e. health, prosperity, peace:—X do, familiar, X fare, favour, + friend, X great, (good) health, (X perfect, such as be at) peace(-able, -ably), prosper(-ity, -ous), rest, safe(-ty), salute, welfare, (X all is, be) well, X wholly.

I also found where the Lord wanted his people blessed with this, and again peace:
Numbers 6:24-26 The LORD bless thee, and keep thee: The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

As I continued my searching I found then this scripture as to how you can have this peace:
Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Now this verse to me means it is something I need to do. So basically training the mind to be stayed on the Lord. There are many different things that help keep our minds stayed on the Lord. I try to be aware of these things in my daily walk, knowing too that the Lord wants us to stay in peace.

Well I looked these verses up again about a week or so ago, so once again they are on my word document that I often review. I am again being reminded to stay in peace, which is where the Lord wants us no matter what we are going through.

Oh what encouragement!!! Thank you for sharing this. What stood out to me is that Jer. 29 verse. God was getting ready to chastise his people in a very severe way. Yet, what He really wanted for His people was to give them peace. He knew that peace would come as the result of the chastisement.

As how fitting with what Brother Walls posted above in #1! That ultimately, God has our good in mind no matter what He allows to happen in our lives.

[Brother Mark]

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.

Psalm 32:8

Life is a learning process, each day is created to acquire new knowledge.

Oh I love this too... He teaches us the way to walk in. "Whether you go to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice behind you saying, this is the way, walk in it".

What encouragement from these replies!

[keck553]

My brother in Law has been neglectful of his wife for some time...not totally neglectful, but specifically in terms of maintaining their home. It could just be a perception on his part, but I realized a few things praying and consulting the council of God regarding husbands. I will post it here:

Considering obedience to Christ, I submit that obedience covers a huge bandwidth - and considering we are told to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), that covers pretty much everything. This is the character issue central to not conforming to the "world," but to be transformed by renewing our minds (Romans 12:2). While this is a life long pursuit, it is also a sign if spiritual maturity.

All people are born carnal and self centered, so self centered in fact, that the command to love God and others is embraced by the two most weighty commandments of God. This is a positive commandment implemented through Moses, but Jesus made the mandate central to a Christian's life, and without any work-arounds.

Although the negative commandments (thou shalt not) are easily discernable, many of the positive commandments have been a challenge to my own spiritual growth - and growth as the man Jesus would have me be. And there is one specific command given to men that will challenge all men - spoken to me in this form:

"Husband, love your wife"

"Love" is used as a verb here. It means God demands that I do things in obedience to Him. Even some things I don't feel like doing.

Having just purchased our new house, I felt led to re-evaluate the importance of making it a home - specifically for my bride. Because Biblically, that is a bridegroom's duty, and it was also exemplified by Jesus as the Bridegroom of His church:

"And if I go and prepare a home for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also."

Jesus was building on the Jewish tradition of a bridegroom preparing the dwelling to bring his bride to.

And if this is built on that tradition, I asked myself - what kind of dwelling place will this be that Jesus prepares for us? Will it be on a solid foundation? Will it's walls, structure and comforts stand the test of time? Will it lack anything? Fall in disarray? Will it glorify our Lord?

To personalize it, Paul instructs husbands in Ephesus - "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."

A husband is commanded to labor for the holiness of his bride. It is said that a wife's appearance (or countenance) is a reflection of her husband's love. How humiliating then is it for a man to present his neglected and uncared for wife to the church body? This is not a thing we can "throw our wives under the bus" for if we men get embarrassed. This is a heart issue that is on us husbands; for if our wives are neglected (or their workspace - home - is not cared for and maintained), it will show up. The crown of any wife is her husband and her ability to carry out the positive attributes of the woman of Proverbs 31 is a direct measurement of her husband's stewardship and obedience to God's command to love his wife.

Our Bridegroom Jesus promised that as our Lord, His yoke would be easy and His burden light. How much more of a yoke and a burden is a husband to bear on his wife's shoulders than what Jesus presses on us? Perhaps we should view this in terms of what context Jesus was speaking to. Perhaps He sees a husband who lays a heavy yoke and burden on his wife not much differently than He saw the Pharisees who laid heavy burdens on those Israelites who were trying to obey God.

What kind of burdens would this be? Well...it could be an oven range that does not work correctly and my wife struggles with it. Or it could be part of the house structure that is left in dis-repair and a burden on my wife's ability to operate in her workspace. How would a man like it if the "A" key on his keyboard didn't work consistently and his job performance depended on it?

Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that they were a wicked and adulterous generation for these things. They probably responded with "No way - we don't serve Ba'al..." or "we are legalistically obedient to God - we even to to the extreme of giving a tithe from our herb pots." "How dare you call us wicked and adulterous....."

But what did Jesus say?

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tithe of your spices, mint, dill and cumin (a good thing). But you have NEGLECTED the more important matters of the Law - justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former."

Neglect is abuse. For the Pharisees, it was an abuse of the blessings of the presence of God in their lives. In a marriage, it is the abuse of the blessing of the presence of his wife. Performing the minimum positive commandments to please our wives is no more pleasing to our wives than the Pharisees performing the minimum positive commandments to please God.

Therefore it is incumbent on me to attend to my wife's need to have a home that shows her groom's love toward not only her, but toward God. The love that enables her to fulfill the commandments of God. The love that allows her to be sanctified and presented spotless and blameless as Paul speaks to in his letter to the Corinthians.

Peter tells husbands to respect their wives because both are joint heirs in the Kingdom of God. God has bought my wife for a great cost and then presented her to me as a blessing from His own Hand. How should I receive that?

No matter where we are in our married life, or how much we have neglected God's weightier commands to love, we who are convicted are not left without hope, nor are we without the opportunity for redemption. The consequences might seem overwhelming to us. It may take a much greater sacrifice and much greater expense to tend to those things we allowed to go untended to, but there is no comparison to the joy and peace of moving our house from a foundation of sand to a foundation of rock.

And we have this assurance. God provides for those who humble their pride and come to Him in repentance. Yes, the exasperation will set in when we discover how much real work and sacrifice it takes, and we can be sure the enemy of our marriage will bend our thoughts and zap our motive and remind us of our weaknesses we don't wish to be faced with. That is when we turn to God who is strong in our weakness.

And this is what separates real men from hopeless blobs of flesh in a make dirt suit. It is not to a man's shame to admit his failures and confess his sins, but it is to a man's demise and to satan's delight for a man to stumble over his pride and fall into a snare.

[Deade]

I have been deeply (and painfully) exercised over the last 15 years or so to learn two lessons;

(1) I must realize that no matter what concepts we have of things, what happens to us has been ordained by the Lord to (i) achieve His goals with us, and (ii) profit us. It is all set forth in Romans 8:28-29, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."

Amen brother. God has put me through the grinder also. We want to take Romans 8:28 to mean only good things will happen in our lives. No, it means the good and the bad works for our overall spiritual good. We are to even feel good about the trouble coming into our lives.

(ESV) James 1:2, 3*"Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,*for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness."

I challenge anyone to think they would grow mature in Christ without trouble. Jesus even promised us such.

(ESV) John 16:33*"I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”"

(2) I must realize that no matter what we have, what we have been given, and what we think we can achieve for the Lord, HE DOES NOT NEED US - WE NEED HIM. God will, with a flick of His little finger, get what He wants. Whether we are there or not with all our perceived talent and zeal, God will still achieve His goals. We are superfluous. We must count it a privilege to do Him the smallest service. Psalm 103:14 says; "For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust." And Luke 17:10 says; "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do."

In my experience, when we become more mature in Christ that God backs away His Spirit on guiding us with specific instructions. I noticed other mature Christians saying the same thing. They were in open communication with the HS early in their walk with Christ, but then it stopped.

We now have experience and we know how God would decide on most things. He backs away from us so we will exercise the faith He gave us. Until we are able to put that faith to work, it is just faith knowledge. If God held our hand every step of our journey, there would be no trial by fire.

[Aviyah]

I'd rep this thread but I have to pass some around.

Last year for me was a flood of blessings and trials, sometimes I felt like I would end up highlighting my whole Bible. But there were a few verses/passages that I kept coming back to and have become engrained in my thinking. One of my favorites is:

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 43:5)

Whenever I'm faced with a new struggle, I always think about what God did in the past and how I should have felt "had I known" the future. I believe I've grown a lot in how to approach tests, I now try to apply this Psalm to every circumstance. It may be discouraging now, "but I will again praise Him." This goes well with the promise:

Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us ... Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. (Hosea 6)

And then also when dealing with sin:

The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (Psalm 34:22)

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's .... He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103)

The Psalms really went from being my least favorite book to my favorite! What I'm dealing with now is how (or if) I can prevent future failures from happening, because I'm afraid of making critical mistakes that could ruin my life.

I'd rep this thread but I have to pass some around.

Last year for me was a flood of blessings and trials, sometimes I felt like I would end up highlighting my whole Bible. But there were a few verses/passages that I kept coming back to and have become engrained in my thinking. One of my favorites is:

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 43:5)

Whenever I'm faced with a new struggle, I always think about what God did in the past and how I should have felt "had I known" the future. I believe I've grown a lot in how to approach tests, I now try to apply this Psalm to every circumstance. It may be discouraging now, "but I will again praise Him." This goes well with the promise:

Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us ... Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. (Hosea 6)

And then also when dealing with sin:

The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (Psalm 34:22)

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's .... He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103)

The Psalms really went from being my least favorite book to my favorite! What I'm dealing with now is how (or if) I can prevent future failures from happening, because I'm afraid of making critical mistakes that could ruin my life.

[kyCyd]

Oh what encouragement!!! Thank you for sharing this. What stood out to me is that Jer. 29 verse. God was getting ready to chastise his people in a very severe way. Yet, what He really wanted for His people was to give them peace. He knew that peace would come as the result of the chastisement.

As how fitting with what Brother Walls posted above in #1! That ultimately, God has our good in mind no matter what He allows to happen in our lives.

It did encourage me. I did not realize that about Jer 29 so that is interesting. To me the whole thing was keeping my mind stayed on the Lord. We can get so distracted, so it is a training to me that helps us do this. So many times when we are going through things we fail to see things that we can do to help. Keeping our minds on the Lord is one of them.

The other thing that happened last year was I also had another verse that really impacted me on something else we can do and that is this verse:
Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Praying for friends, this is something we can also forget when going through things as we tend to get a little more self centered. Then this verse comes to me:
Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The point is...have we “done all” if we have failed to do these 2 other things? Anyway it did shed some new light on things to me. So keeping my mind stayed on the Lord and praying for friends then becomes part of that whole armour of God.

Oh what encouragement!!! Thank you for sharing this. What stood out to me is that Jer. 29 verse. God was getting ready to chastise his people in a very severe way. Yet, what He really wanted for His people was to give them peace. He knew that peace would come as the result of the chastisement.

As how fitting with what Brother Walls posted above in #1! That ultimately, God has our good in mind no matter what He allows to happen in our lives.

It did encourage me. I did not realize that about Jer 29 so that is interesting. To me the whole thing was keeping my mind stayed on the Lord. We can get so distracted, so it is a training to me that helps us do this. So many times when we are going through things we fail to see things that we can do to help. Keeping our minds on the Lord is one of them.

The other thing that happened last year was I also had another verse that really impacted me on something else we can do and that is this verse:
Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Praying for friends, this is something we can also forget when going through things as we tend to get a little more self centered. Then this verse comes to me:
Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The point is...have we “done all” if we have failed to do these 2 other things? Anyway it did shed some new light on things to me. So keeping my mind stayed on the Lord and praying for friends then becomes part of that whole armour of God.

[Brother Mark]

My brother in Law has been neglectful of his wife for some time...not totally neglectful, but specifically in terms of maintaining their home. It could just be a perception on his part, but I realized a few things praying and consulting the council of God regarding husbands. I will post it here:

Considering obedience to Christ, I submit that obedience covers a huge bandwidth - and considering we are told to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), that covers pretty much everything. This is the character issue central to not conforming to the "world," but to be transformed by renewing our minds (Romans 12:2). While this is a life long pursuit, it is also a sign if spiritual maturity.

All people are born carnal and self centered, so self centered in fact, that the command to love God and others is embraced by the two most weighty commandments of God. This is a positive commandment implemented through Moses, but Jesus made the mandate central to a Christian's life, and without any work-arounds.

Although the negative commandments (thou shalt not) are easily discernable, many of the positive commandments have been a challenge to my own spiritual growth - and growth as the man Jesus would have me be. And there is one specific command given to men that will challenge all men - spoken to me in this form:

"Husband, love your wife"

"Love" is used as a verb here. It means God demands that I do things in obedience to Him. Even some things I don't feel like doing.

Having just purchased our new house, I felt led to re-evaluate the importance of making it a home - specifically for my bride. Because Biblically, that is a bridegroom's duty, and it was also exemplified by Jesus as the Bridegroom of His church:

"And if I go and prepare a home for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also."

Jesus was building on the Jewish tradition of a bridegroom preparing the dwelling to bring his bride to.

And if this is built on that tradition, I asked myself - what kind of dwelling place will this be that Jesus prepares for us? Will it be on a solid foundation? Will it's walls, structure and comforts stand the test of time? Will it lack anything? Fall in disarray? Will it glorify our Lord?

To personalize it, Paul instructs husbands in Ephesus - "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."

A husband is commanded to labor for the holiness of his bride. It is said that a wife's appearance (or countenance) is a reflection of her husband's love. How humiliating then is it for a man to present his neglected and uncared for wife to the church body? This is not a thing we can "throw our wives under the bus" for if we men get embarrassed. This is a heart issue that is on us husbands; for if our wives are neglected (or their workspace - home - is not cared for and maintained), it will show up. The crown of any wife is her husband and her ability to carry out the positive attributes of the woman of Proverbs 31 is a direct measurement of her husband's stewardship and obedience to God's command to love his wife.

Our Bridegroom Jesus promised that as our Lord, His yoke would be easy and His burden light. How much more of a yoke and a burden is a husband to bear on his wife's shoulders than what Jesus presses on us? Perhaps we should view this in terms of what context Jesus was speaking to. Perhaps He sees a husband who lays a heavy yoke and burden on his wife not much differently than He saw the Pharisees who laid heavy burdens on those Israelites who were trying to obey God.

What kind of burdens would this be? Well...it could be an oven range that does not work correctly and my wife struggles with it. Or it could be part of the house structure that is left in dis-repair and a burden on my wife's ability to operate in her workspace. How would a man like it if the "A" key on his keyboard didn't work consistently and his job performance depended on it?

Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that they were a wicked and adulterous generation for these things. They probably responded with "No way - we don't serve Ba'al..." or "we are legalistically obedient to God - we even to to the extreme of giving a tithe from our herb pots." "How dare you call us wicked and adulterous....."

But what did Jesus say?

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tithe of your spices, mint, dill and cumin (a good thing). But you have NEGLECTED the more important matters of the Law - justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former."

Neglect is abuse. For the Pharisees, it was an abuse of the blessings of the presence of God in their lives. In a marriage, it is the abuse of the blessing of the presence of his wife. Performing the minimum positive commandments to please our wives is no more pleasing to our wives than the Pharisees performing the minimum positive commandments to please God.

Therefore it is incumbent on me to attend to my wife's need to have a home that shows her groom's love toward not only her, but toward God. The love that enables her to fulfill the commandments of God. The love that allows her to be sanctified and presented spotless and blameless as Paul speaks to in his letter to the Corinthians.

Peter tells husbands to respect their wives because both are joint heirs in the Kingdom of God. God has bought my wife for a great cost and then presented her to me as a blessing from His own Hand. How should I receive that?

No matter where we are in our married life, or how much we have neglected God's weightier commands to love, we who are convicted are not left without hope, nor are we without the opportunity for redemption. The consequences might seem overwhelming to us. It may take a much greater sacrifice and much greater expense to tend to those things we allowed to go untended to, but there is no comparison to the joy and peace of moving our house from a foundation of sand to a foundation of rock.

And we have this assurance. God provides for those who humble their pride and come to Him in repentance. Yes, the exasperation will set in when we discover how much real work and sacrifice it takes, and we can be sure the enemy of our marriage will bend our thoughts and zap our motive and remind us of our weaknesses we don't wish to be faced with. That is when we turn to God who is strong in our weakness.

And this is what separates real men from hopeless blobs of flesh in a make dirt suit. It is not to a man's shame to admit his failures and confess his sins, but it is to a man's demise and to satan's delight for a man to stumble over his pride and fall into a snare.

Wish I could rep you again. This is exactly the kind of thing I started this thread for. Thank you for sharing Keck. One of the biggest mistakes in my life was spending too much time conquoring the world (i.e. subduing it) and not enough time keeping the garden. Both were instructed of man at the beginning. Very good word!

My brother in Law has been neglectful of his wife for some time...not totally neglectful, but specifically in terms of maintaining their home. It could just be a perception on his part, but I realized a few things praying and consulting the council of God regarding husbands. I will post it here:

Considering obedience to Christ, I submit that obedience covers a huge bandwidth - and considering we are told to take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), that covers pretty much everything. This is the character issue central to not conforming to the "world," but to be transformed by renewing our minds (Romans 12:2). While this is a life long pursuit, it is also a sign if spiritual maturity.

All people are born carnal and self centered, so self centered in fact, that the command to love God and others is embraced by the two most weighty commandments of God. This is a positive commandment implemented through Moses, but Jesus made the mandate central to a Christian's life, and without any work-arounds.

Although the negative commandments (thou shalt not) are easily discernable, many of the positive commandments have been a challenge to my own spiritual growth - and growth as the man Jesus would have me be. And there is one specific command given to men that will challenge all men - spoken to me in this form:

"Husband, love your wife"

"Love" is used as a verb here. It means God demands that I do things in obedience to Him. Even some things I don't feel like doing.

Having just purchased our new house, I felt led to re-evaluate the importance of making it a home - specifically for my bride. Because Biblically, that is a bridegroom's duty, and it was also exemplified by Jesus as the Bridegroom of His church:

"And if I go and prepare a home for you, I will come again and take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also."

Jesus was building on the Jewish tradition of a bridegroom preparing the dwelling to bring his bride to.

And if this is built on that tradition, I asked myself - what kind of dwelling place will this be that Jesus prepares for us? Will it be on a solid foundation? Will it's walls, structure and comforts stand the test of time? Will it lack anything? Fall in disarray? Will it glorify our Lord?

To personalize it, Paul instructs husbands in Ephesus - "Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by washing of water with the Word, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish."

A husband is commanded to labor for the holiness of his bride. It is said that a wife's appearance (or countenance) is a reflection of her husband's love. How humiliating then is it for a man to present his neglected and uncared for wife to the church body? This is not a thing we can "throw our wives under the bus" for if we men get embarrassed. This is a heart issue that is on us husbands; for if our wives are neglected (or their workspace - home - is not cared for and maintained), it will show up. The crown of any wife is her husband and her ability to carry out the positive attributes of the woman of Proverbs 31 is a direct measurement of her husband's stewardship and obedience to God's command to love his wife.

Our Bridegroom Jesus promised that as our Lord, His yoke would be easy and His burden light. How much more of a yoke and a burden is a husband to bear on his wife's shoulders than what Jesus presses on us? Perhaps we should view this in terms of what context Jesus was speaking to. Perhaps He sees a husband who lays a heavy yoke and burden on his wife not much differently than He saw the Pharisees who laid heavy burdens on those Israelites who were trying to obey God.

What kind of burdens would this be? Well...it could be an oven range that does not work correctly and my wife struggles with it. Or it could be part of the house structure that is left in dis-repair and a burden on my wife's ability to operate in her workspace. How would a man like it if the "A" key on his keyboard didn't work consistently and his job performance depended on it?

Jesus told the scribes and Pharisees that they were a wicked and adulterous generation for these things. They probably responded with "No way - we don't serve Ba'al..." or "we are legalistically obedient to God - we even to to the extreme of giving a tithe from our herb pots." "How dare you call us wicked and adulterous....."

But what did Jesus say?

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tithe of your spices, mint, dill and cumin (a good thing). But you have NEGLECTED the more important matters of the Law - justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former."

Neglect is abuse. For the Pharisees, it was an abuse of the blessings of the presence of God in their lives. In a marriage, it is the abuse of the blessing of the presence of his wife. Performing the minimum positive commandments to please our wives is no more pleasing to our wives than the Pharisees performing the minimum positive commandments to please God.

Therefore it is incumbent on me to attend to my wife's need to have a home that shows her groom's love toward not only her, but toward God. The love that enables her to fulfill the commandments of God. The love that allows her to be sanctified and presented spotless and blameless as Paul speaks to in his letter to the Corinthians.

Peter tells husbands to respect their wives because both are joint heirs in the Kingdom of God. God has bought my wife for a great cost and then presented her to me as a blessing from His own Hand. How should I receive that?

No matter where we are in our married life, or how much we have neglected God's weightier commands to love, we who are convicted are not left without hope, nor are we without the opportunity for redemption. The consequences might seem overwhelming to us. It may take a much greater sacrifice and much greater expense to tend to those things we allowed to go untended to, but there is no comparison to the joy and peace of moving our house from a foundation of sand to a foundation of rock.

And we have this assurance. God provides for those who humble their pride and come to Him in repentance. Yes, the exasperation will set in when we discover how much real work and sacrifice it takes, and we can be sure the enemy of our marriage will bend our thoughts and zap our motive and remind us of our weaknesses we don't wish to be faced with. That is when we turn to God who is strong in our weakness.

And this is what separates real men from hopeless blobs of flesh in a make dirt suit. It is not to a man's shame to admit his failures and confess his sins, but it is to a man's demise and to satan's delight for a man to stumble over his pride and fall into a snare.

Wish I could rep you again. This is exactly the kind of thing I started this thread for. Thank you for sharing Keck. One of the biggest mistakes in my life was spending too much time conquoring the world (i.e. subduing it) and not enough time keeping the garden. Both were instructed of man at the beginning. Very good word!

[Brother Mark]

I'd rep this thread but I have to pass some around.

Last year for me was a flood of blessings and trials, sometimes I felt like I would end up highlighting my whole Bible. But there were a few verses/passages that I kept coming back to and have become engrained in my thinking. One of my favorites is:

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 43:5)

Whenever I'm faced with a new struggle, I always think about what God did in the past and how I should have felt "had I known" the future. I believe I've grown a lot in how to approach tests, I now try to apply this Psalm to every circumstance. It may be discouraging now, "but I will again praise Him." This goes well with the promise:

Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us ... Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth. (Hosea 6)

And then also when dealing with sin:

The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned. (Psalm 34:22)

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's .... He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103)

The Psalms really went from being my least favorite book to my favorite! What I'm dealing with now is how (or if) I can prevent future failures from happening, because I'm afraid of making critical mistakes that could ruin my life.

I love Ps 42 and 43! It is one of my favorites for the very reason you have mentioned Aviyah. And the Psalms show us how we can talk to God about our feelings. This fits in well with what the Lord is showing me. My grief will often question Him, but He is faithful anyway. Also, I love how your entire post flows...

From being downcast...
to being healed...
to trusting God with the future...
to dealing with sin...

and isn't it interesting that sin, can be the root of the first 3. Yet, with the Lord, he often does the 1st 3 while He is dealing with us about our sin. Love this post!

[Brother Mark]

It did encourage me. I did not realize that about Jer 29 so that is interesting. To me the whole thing was keeping my mind stayed on the Lord. We can get so distracted, so it is a training to me that helps us do this. So many times when we are going through things we fail to see things that we can do to help. Keeping our minds on the Lord is one of them.

The other thing that happened last year was I also had another verse that really impacted me on something else we can do and that is this verse:
Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Praying for friends, this is something we can also forget when going through things as we tend to get a little more self centered. Then this verse comes to me:
Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The point is...have we “done all” if we have failed to do these 2 other things? Anyway it did shed some new light on things to me. So keeping my mind stayed on the Lord and praying for friends then becomes part of that whole armour of God.

I am convinced, that the safest way to get through a trial, is to worship God and pray for others. We see that pattern over and over in scripture. When Job's trial started, the first thing he did was worship. Before it ended, he prayed for his friends.

Awesome reminder and one I needed this morning. Thank you!