Grace is Sufficient

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.(2 Corinthians 12:7-9)

There is speculation about what that "thorn" in Paul's flesh was, but we can agree that the Apostle's problem helped keep him humble. Paul pleaded with the Lord to have it taken away, but the Lord said, "My grace is sufficient for you..." Because the abundant grace we receive from God every single day will always be greater than all of the problems we encounter in our lives.

Self can get in the way of the flow of the grace of God, so the Lord allows problems to come into our lives in order to help keep us humble – to put us on our knees.

Psalm 23 Literary Elements

Imagery: When our imagination is activated by Psalm 23, the green pasture can form a mental image of the peaceful existence of the children of God as they are led by the Lord. The imagery, along with the understanding of Psalm 23, is comforting.

Metaphor: The green pasture represents: the grace of God because it is green, alive and plentiful; the peace of God because the sheep live in harmony – guided and protected by the Shepherd. "The Lord is my shepherd" is a clear metaphor.

Parallelism: Psalm 23 contains much parallelism:
(a) "I will fear no evil, for you are with me"
(b) "your rod and your staff, they comfort me"

Personification: The characteristics of the children of God are applied to sheep led by the shepherd through a green pasture. The sheep grazing to restore their energy; the children of God having their souls restored. The sheep rest near a silent body of water; the children of God live in peace and harmony in the presence of God.

Pride and Humility

In the account of king Nebuchadnezzar, we find the a great example of how a “haughty spirit [goes] before a fall”.(Proverbs 16:18) The Babylonian king proclaimed, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” After that, in order to fulfill the word of God: “He was driven away from people and ate grass like cattle. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.”(Daniel 4:30-33)

You can contrast pride and humility. When pride concerns self it puts man in a false position before God because it attributes the benefits of the grace of God to self. On the other hand, humility and meekness is a true position before God because it wisely acknowledges that man is nothing without God, and totally dependent on Him.

You can also consider pride and meekness as stages of a process. First, out of the abundance of his grace, God prospers a people, which can cause them to become haughty in their material splendor. The Lord then breaks their pride into pieces. They gain wisdom to become meek before God. Solomon said, “with humility comes wisdom.”(Proverbs 11:2)

Proverbs 16:18; Daniel 4:30-33; Proverbs 11:2

Deceitful Above All Things

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”(Jeremiah 17:9) God can.

God knows about all of the sin hidden in the heart of man - He can see it. The Lord can plumb the depths of the soul; He is able to understand the heart completely because He made it.

He has foreseen all sin, but He will search for it because that is how perfect justice works - just as angels were sent to the perverted cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to see the sin first hand. Only afterward were the Cities of the Plain incinerated.(Genesis 19) Even today physical evidence of the true justice of God can be witnessed there. Sulfur balls can easily be found by just about anyone who searches for them.

“The heart is deceitful above all things” because deception springs out of a sinful heart. A neighbor's tongue can drip with deceit. David wrote: “Everyone lies to his neighbor; their flattering lips speak with deception.”(Psalm 12:2) Has everyone always had kind words for their next door neighbor?

The deceitful heart is “beyond cure” because there is nothing any of us can do to completely cure it. Humanistic psychology thinks it has a cure for man; treatment is based on the premise that genes are the problem and modern medicine is the cure. But they have left the soul out of the equation - man is a spiritual being as well as physical. God loves us and is willing to heal our whole hearts:

“For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”(Matthew 13:15; Acts 28:27)

Wisdom Contrasted

A distinction can be formed between the carnal wisdom of the world, and the divine wisdom of God. When the mind is set "on earthly things", the person does not "have in mind the things of God."(Philippians 3:19; Matthew 16:23) When someone sets their mind to worldly wisdom, shadows of doubt enter their thinking. James said, "he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind." But the wisdom of God keeps people from becoming "double-minded" and "unstable" in all of their ways.(James 1:6,8) This is why a person "must believe and not doubt", because where there is doubt, there is a reliance on the wisdom of man - the cause of the doubt. There must be a total reliance on the wisdom of God.

James states: "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Good motives are aligned with the purpose and plan of God. "Wrong motives" are aligned with personal satisfaction, self-gratification and selfish desires.(James 4:3)

If the wisdom of God is pouring in through your eyes and ears, then demonstrations of such wisdom should come out through the mouth and the hands. James characterized divine wisdom: "But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere."(James 3:17)

If you are asking for wisdom from God, you are asking for true wisdom - comparatively, the "wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight."(1 Corinthians 3:19) The wisdom of God lines up perfectly with the will of God. The word of God will be taught in the kingdom of heaven, but the combined wisdom of men - the tons and tons of books - will be forgotten in the kingdom of heaven.

Philippians 3:19; Matthew 16:23; James 1:5-8; James 3:17; James 4:3; 1 Corinthians 3:19

Sign Language

A man might come across a passage that is like a riddle to him - something prophetically puzzling. He might stack some books on the side in order to decipher a single verse in his personal quest for understanding. But profound truths will only be revealed to man when revelation is sent - then he rightly understands.

Maybe the pastor at the church I attend made a mistake once, but would I even notice it? He is much more enlightened by the wisdom of God than any of us in the congregation. He was called and gifted by grace. We need such guidance of the rhema Word because the world keeps casting shadows of doubt at our feet; we are tripping over each other down here.

Christ is the light and life of man - light that reveals. Every time true spiritual understanding sparks to life in man, it is a sign of the infinite wisdom of God. Who could provide chapter after chapter of prophecy in a sequential order that leads to divine wisdom like stepping stones? What man could come up with such sign language? No man could ever do that!

Iron Mixed with Clay

"And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay."(Daniel 2:43)

That verse refers to the last confederation of nations that will invade Jerusalem - they will be controlled by the Antichrist.

The "legs of iron" represent the Roman Empire; the "feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay" represent the revived Roman Empire, which will occupy the area of the former empire.(Daniel 2:33) The nations we see there today represent many different peoples and levels of strength. They will not hold together like the original Roman Empire did.

Glorious Arm

It is easy for us to imagine Moses lowering his staff to part the Red Sea; a nervous man on the shore, with the army of Egypt headed straight for him and his people. If that account is nothing more than an epic myth to Hollywood, then that will be all they ever see.

The silver screen did not capture what went on in the spiritual realm: God Almighty "sent his glorious arm of power to be at Moses' right hand, who divided the waters before them, to gain for himself everlasting renown".(Isaiah 63:12) The "arm of power" that can split a sea, or move a mountain from one place to another was there with Moses. And the arm of mighty God protects us as well - the redeemed.

Pray Continually with Purpose

Prayer is something we should be doing a lot of, Paul told the Thessalonians to "pray continually".(1 Thessalonians 5:17)

Paul was praying for the church "constantly": "[we] pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ."(2 Thessalonians 1:11-12) The Apostle's prayers for the church were purposeful in nature, so that is how our prayers should be. If a friend has a ministry, pray for them. Pray that the Lord blesses your ministries, He desires to help you bear spiritual fruit.

We need to pray, making requests with the right motives. James said: "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."(James 4:3) One man prays, asking the Lord to empower him to "fulfill every good purpose". Another prays, asking the Lord to fill his bank account. But would a man blessed with a million dollars turn around and give it all to the poor?

We need to ask others to pray for us. Paul asked the Thessalonians to pray for him so "that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored". He also made a prayer request for protection from "wicked and evil men" because the early church was experiencing much persecution.(2 Thess 3:1-2) We also need to pray for protection from our real enemy - "the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."(Ephesians 6:12) When we are performing good works for the Lord, we are crossing enemy lines, so we need His protection.

1 Thessalonians 5:17; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12; 2 Thessalonians 3:1-2; James 4:3; Ephesians 6:12

women in authority

While I was walking toward the exit after church last Sunday, two women were walking in front of me; they were discussing their ministries with each other. While entering the parking lot, I heard "chapter 2 verse 12". My thumb was already in a small NIV Bible, so I read where the Holy Spirit spoke through Paul: "I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man; she must be silent."(1 Timothy 2:12) Take note that I do not have an anti-woman attitude in the church. But the verse stood out with authority in my mind - it jumped out. I understand that the verse is based on the established order of God, but I also see where women are fruitful in ministries that have been provided for them.

In the first verse where Deborah is mentioned, the Bible states: "Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time." It is made clear that Deborah is a woman. And שפט (shaphat) means to judge and govern. Verse 5 establishes the fact that Deborah was a Judge over all of Israel, and in Verses 6 and 7 she is receiving the word of God - the office of prophetess. The Almighty God stated that He will give the enemy into the hands of Barak, but Barak insisted that Deborah should come along for the battle; this indicates that the Judge was highly regarded by the commander of the army. Deborah responded: "I will go with you. But because of the way you are going about this, the honor will not be yours, for the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman." Perhaps because the office of Deborah was higher than Barak's, the honor then went to her. Also, the way in which Deborah responded to Barak indicated that she honored the established order of God.(Judges 4:1-16)

Based on the Bible, I believe, with many decisions that a woman makes, she is also presented with the responsibility of how she will honor the established order of God. In her relationships, in her position of authority, in her family, in everything.

Uzzah's Death

The account of Uzzah's death was written to "teach us" something - to warn us.(Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 10:11) That is where we have the advantage - learning a lesson from the drastic mistake of others. 

Something to take note of is how the oxen that pulled the new cart with the ark in it stumbled on a flat surface - a "threshing floor".(2 Samuel 6:6) This should raise a red flag in the reader's mind. If the oxen had stumbled on a rocky surface, we could consider the terrain as a cause. What is wrong with this picture? What does Scripture say? The ark was supposed to be covered in a specific way, and "the Kohathites" were supposed to carry it with poles.(Exodus 37:5; Numbers 4:5-6; Numbers 4:15) So their means of transportation was an act of disobedience against God because the instructions were written on the scroll. Look at the warning for the Kohathites in Numbers 4:15: "But they must not touch the holy things or they will die."

So where did the Israelites get the idea that they could transport the ark of the covenant on a cart in the first place? After the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant, they were afflicted with plagues of tumors and rats wherever the ark went - "the outcry of [Ekron] went up to heaven."(1 Samuel 5:12) It was decided that the ark should be sent back to Israel. According to the instruction of their "priests and the diviners", a "new cart" was built to transport the ark.(1 Samuel 6:2,7) The Israelites, who were bound by the law of God written on the scroll, should not have used the same means of transportation as the Philistines who acted in ignorance.

seemingly irrational arbitrariness

"Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind."(Ecclesiastes 1:17)

"Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king's successor do than what has already been done?"(Ecclesiastes 2:12)

"So I turned my mind to understand, to investigate and to search out wisdom and the scheme of things and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the madness of folly."(Ecclesiastes 7:25)

‎חכמה (khok·mä') - which was translated "wisdom" in that verse - refers to wisdom in the form of diversified knowledge. חכמה is used in the same sense in the following verse: "As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom...."(Daniel 1:17 NKJV)

Solomon applied his intellect to "wisdom and the scheme of things" - the grand design and the evidence of wisdom revealed in it. But he discovered a seemingly irrational arbitrariness that puzzled him. For example, he learned of "righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men who get what the righteous deserve."(Ecclesiastes 8:14) He came to the conclusion: "A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness".(Ecclesiastes 2:24-26)

The wisdom of man falls short of the wisdom of God. According to the Lord, human wisdom is not wisdom at all because it is "foolishness in God's sight" - a collection of silly notions.(1 Corinthians 3:19) The Lord said, "...the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."(Isaiah 55:9) And: "The Lord knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile."(Psalm 94:11) The nations "do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan".(Micah 4:12)

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, "Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?"(Matthew 9:4) Jesus can change our hearts so that our thoughts reflect his thoughts, so that our ways become his ways. Jesus is the only way.

Ecclesiastes 1:17; Ecclesiastes 2:12; Ecclesiastes 2:24-26; Ecclesiastes 7:25; Ecclesiastes 8:14; 1 Corinthians 3:19; Isaiah 55:9; Psalm 94:11; Micah 4:12; Matthew 9:4

Daniel 1:17

‎חכמה Strong's H2451