The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing. The way of the Lord is a refuge for the blameless, but it is the ruin of those who do evil. The righteous will never be uprooted, but the wicked will not remain in the land. (Proverbs 10:28-30)
I don’t want to go through the whole, “eternal perspective v temporal perspective” bit. It’s true, but we’ve discussed that recently. I’m getting tired of “the righteous have everything good, and the wicked don’t.” How many times is Solomon going to bring that up? What can I say that I haven’t said before? Sigh deeply with me.
There’s an old saying that I can’t find to quote it correctly, but it talks about when God says something, we need to respond in some way. When He says it twice, we’re supposed to pay twice as much attention. When He says it thrice, that’s really, really, really important and we need to drop everything and act on what He’s said. I don’t know how many times Solomon tells us that the righteous win, and the wicked lose (not always put quite that way) but we have three within three verses.)
I’m not real fond of being told the same thing over and over. Somehow, that doesn’t stop me from saying things over and over. As an example, there was a time in which my stress mantra was “I’ve got to get a grip.” The conversation would go something like this:
“I’ve got to get a grip, Lord. Things are out of control.”
“No, they aren’t. I have everything in control. Don’t worry.”
“OK, but I’ve got to get a grip, Lord. My life is so messed up.”
“No, you don’t. Really, I’m God, I can handle it. Don’t worry.”
…
“OK, I guess I’ll just trust that You’ve got it under control. Three…two…one…but my life is so messed up. I’ve got to get a grip.”
God sighs deeply. I’m not joking. I’m not exaggerating. That is how quickly I reset to my old programming. It’s a good thing God is patient. He understands how we are. That’s why He tells us so often that the righteous win and the wicked lose. We forget by the time we move from the word lose to the period. We look around and don’t see it, so we revert to living according to what we see.
But just as what we see isn’t based on what Scripture says is true, what Scripture says is true isn’t based on what we see. It’s hard to drive the fear and doubt away, but that’s exactly what we need to do. God does have it all under control. Yep, that, too. And that. If you are his, your prospect is joy. You have a refuge. You won’t be uprooted.
There’s an old saying that I can’t find to quote it correctly, but it talks about when God says something, we need to respond in some way. When He says it twice, we’re supposed to pay twice as much attention. When He says it thrice, that’s really, really, really important and we need to drop everything and act on what He’s said. I don’t know how many times Solomon tells us that the righteous win, and the wicked lose (not always put quite that way) but we have three within three verses.)
I’m not real fond of being told the same thing over and over. Somehow, that doesn’t stop me from saying things over and over. As an example, there was a time in which my stress mantra was “I’ve got to get a grip.” The conversation would go something like this:
“I’ve got to get a grip, Lord. Things are out of control.”
“No, they aren’t. I have everything in control. Don’t worry.”
“OK, but I’ve got to get a grip, Lord. My life is so messed up.”
“No, you don’t. Really, I’m God, I can handle it. Don’t worry.”
…
“OK, I guess I’ll just trust that You’ve got it under control. Three…two…one…but my life is so messed up. I’ve got to get a grip.”
God sighs deeply. I’m not joking. I’m not exaggerating. That is how quickly I reset to my old programming. It’s a good thing God is patient. He understands how we are. That’s why He tells us so often that the righteous win and the wicked lose. We forget by the time we move from the word lose to the period. We look around and don’t see it, so we revert to living according to what we see.
But just as what we see isn’t based on what Scripture says is true, what Scripture says is true isn’t based on what we see. It’s hard to drive the fear and doubt away, but that’s exactly what we need to do. God does have it all under control. Yep, that, too. And that. If you are his, your prospect is joy. You have a refuge. You won’t be uprooted.
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