Lord’s Day, Vol. 10 No. 3
Walking with God in the New Year
Let us seek to walk with the LORD in the New Year. As we begin the New Year, may the word of God from the book of Proverbs grant us divine wisdom on the wherewithal for a blessed year. We are exhorted to seek God in His Word in order to find the path of God’s blessing. Let our hearts be quiet and hushed before God to listen to His still small voice. The voices of this world, its care and demands are often so overwhelming. Let us shut out all distractions and focus our hearts on the deep meditation and study of His Word.
Proverbs 2:1 (KJV) My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
Let us begin on the right footing, with a heart prepared, ready, and still before Him, to receive His teaching. Not only must we receive the Father’s words but we are to “hide” it in our hearts. There is the saying, “the half of knowledge is to know where to find it”, rather let us know the fullness of knowledge is to have it deeply ingrained in our hearts.
The word “hide” means to “treasure up”. Practical wisdom for the purposes of life must be carried about with us, and be ready for use anytime. When Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, He was physically, mentally, and emotionally strained. When we are in this condition, we often lose our sense of self-control, we let our tiredness take over and we compromise for want of self-control and consciousness of mind. But it is not so for our Lord. He thwarted the advances of the devil. May the Lord help us so that God’s instruction be written in the tables of our hearts.
When the Word of God stands written in the heart, we are able to use it at the call of the moment. The book of Proverbs, the book of wisdom for action, is written in a most condensed manner to aid our memory. And it expresses thoughts, similar and contrasting to show the good and the evil, blessing and cursing, the good path, and the way of death. May we take time to study it.
Proverbs 2:2 (KJV) So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
The word “incline” means to give attention, to set aside time, to free ourselves from the entanglements of this world that choke us.The word “apply” means “to stretch out”. To have the hunger and thirst for God’s Word, having an insatiable appetite to keep at it.This is how a hungry person eats or a thirsty person drinks, he stretches out his hands to make sure that he receives the nourishment he needs.
Proverbs 2:3 (KJV) Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
Receiving the wisdom of God can be a most “agonizing” affair. It is not received with ease but we are to call with utmost earnestness and there is that process of “agonizing” for the truth to be made plain to us – Proverbs 20:5 “Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.” The well of God’s wisdom may be deep but the earnest heart will be patient to and skill enough with help of the Holy Spirit through prayer to draw up the water even to the last drop.
We are to ask God in prayer to show us how His Words should be understood. The Word of God is to be studied with much prayer. It is often slow to progress, just like mining for precious minerals like silver and gold.
Proverbs 2:4 (KJV) If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
A lot of work, a little progress! That is why it requires much patience as one who searches for hidden treasures. It is well worth the time spent in the search. When we study the Bible, we will learn who God is and we learn to have reverential fear for Him. We exist because of His good pleasure. If He chooses, we can be cut off just like that the very breath in our nostrils is given by Him.
Proverbs 2:5 (KJV) Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
The fear of God is the beginning of knowledge, of the wisdom of God, brings us to God and to the knowledge of His salvation plan in Christ to pull us out of hell and to show us the good path to take on this pilgrimage to heaven. Showing to us the pitfalls, the traps that we are to avoid along life’s pathway that will ensnare and cripple us, may we receive His Word, meditate upon it, hide it in our hearts, internalize the principles so that at the moment’s notice, we are ready to give a godly response.
What we do now has repercussions and implications that last for eternity for ourselves and our loved ones! God has made us an eternal being! Life does not end when this earthen vessel perish. The decisions and the paths we take in this life have an eternal impact. We are faced with choices daily! To choose to go here or there, this way or that way! How do we know what is the right choice? How can we walk in the path of God’s blessing?
Proverbs 2:5 says if we diligently search the Scriptures we will understand “the fear of God and find the knowledge of God”. Let it be our prayer this New Year that the fear of God and the knowledge of His will help guide our choices. The fear of God is most lacking today in this world before our Lord returns. May we go back to basics and be connected with the mind of our Creator. The fear of God will keep us from evil (Proverbs 16:6), the knowledge of God will speed us on to the path of safety and we shall be quiet from the fear of evil (Proverbs 1:33).
When we study diligently the word of God, personalizing the lessons with much prayer, it will build in us a spirit of self-control, a restraining spirit, a resolute spirit to do what is right in the sight of God. It internalizes for us the reason for doing what we do so that it becomes a part of our way of life, a godly habit, and a godly heritage we pass to our children. It also internalizes the consequences of what we should not do giving to us that godly instinct to respond correctly each time when we are faced with a choice, that we may choose the fear of God (Proverbs 1:29).
May it not be said as the old saying goes that we have “no strong will against vices, yet we have none also for virtue.” We are simply indifferent! Just like the church in Laodicea, neither cold nor hot. But let us resolve by deep study and meditation upon God’s Word to build a heart fortified with sound principles and habits that will produce a rightly-governed will against the crippling effects of evil, that is deeply rooted in the core of our very nature because our first parents Adam and Eve chose wrongly when they partook of the “fruit of the knowledge of good and evil.” Let us read through the Bible this new year. May the Lord strengthen us. Amen.
Yours lovingly,
Pastor Lek Aik Wee