Yes it can be hard, but it’s the only life we have, so we’d better make the best of it.”
                    –Donald L. Robertson  (Troubled Season)

       “Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise.  Use his words to teach and counsel each other.  Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.”
                    –Colossians 3:16(NLT)
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I wonder, when I look at the condition of our country; I wonder, when I see the turmoil, how it affects Christians.  Life isn’t a way through the blissful garden, though at times we do gain refreshment there.  Life isn’t always a grand venture of delight, though for sure it is an adventure.  When we read of the life of Paul we saw that he faced great trials of various sorts and I would ask, can we expect less?  Oh, we might not face a literal shipwreck, but how many people do you know have a shipwreck of a life?
     We sang an old hymn last Sunday; one that was often sung during my childhood and youth, and one that we seldom hear anymore.  It speaks of life as we should know it in Christ.  Despite the troubles and trials, we should be able to go through this pilgrim-land with a song in our hearts because we have Jesus there.  Ponder the words, written by L.B, Bridges, and do an inventory of your life.

          “There’s within my heart a melody
          Jesus whispers sweet and low,
          Fear not, I am with thee, peace, be still,
          In all of life’s ebb and flow.”

     Life comes at us in myriad ways.  Troubles, happy times, but we should face them all knowing that there is nothing to fear for Jesus is with us.  The Spirit guides us in every step we take no matter what comes our way in life.

          “All my life was wrecked by sin and strife,
          Discord filled my heart with pain,
          Jesus swept across the broken strings,
          Stirred the slumb’ring chords again.”

     Perhaps that is what we need, the chords to be stirred, the gift within us to be brought back into a flame.  Perhaps when we get down we should look into His smiling face and “feast on the riches of His grace.”

          “Feasting on the riches of His grace,
          Resting ‘neath His shelt’ring wing,
          Always looking on His smiling face,
          That is why I shout and sing.”

     Troubles come, storms rage, winds howl, and the waves at times seem to roll over us trying to drown us in our situation.  However, get that word etched in your heart and mind that He will never leave or forsake us.  Look for His guidance, follow the path that He has laid out for each of us, and do it with joy and peace in your heart.

          “Tho’ sometimes He leads thro’ waters deep,
          Trials fall across the way,
          Tho’ sometimes the path seems rough and steep,
          See His footprints all the way.”

     Listen friend, there’s a blessed hope coming our way.  There is a mansion waiting and prepared for us.  We cannot begin to imagine what heaven, what glory will be like.  It is far beyond our human minds, far beyond what we can imagine or expect.  But that day is coming!  

          “Soon He’s coming back to welcome me
          Far beyond the starry sky;
          I shall wing my flight to worlds unknown,
          I shall reign with Him on high.”

     So don’t go through life with a frown.  Don’t let your forehead turn into waves of wrinkles because of fear, doubt, or fright.  How?  How can we go through this life with joy in our heart?  We do it through Jesus.  It is through Him that our every longing is filled.

          “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,–
          Sweetest name I know,
          Fills my ev’ry longing,
          Keeps me singing as I go.”

Still, gaunt now and haggard, weakened in body but not in soul, we pressed on across.”
                    –Emerson Hough  (54-40 or Fight!)

       “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

Trouble on the trail can affect everyone.”
                    –Donald L. Robertson  (Callum’s Mission)

     “Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!”
                    –Deuteronomy 32:29 (NKJV)
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Do you heed the yellow diamond warning signs on the highway?  They are put there for our safety and protection.  The Book of Proverbs is full of such warning signs, and chapter 5 brings us back to the “immoral woman,” “the strange woman,” “the harlot,” or “the prostitute” depending upon your version.  If we don’t heed the warning signs on the highway there is a chance of disaster; the same is true of the warning signs in the Bible.  Remember, the most expensive thing in the world is sin.

          1 — My son, pay attention to my wisdom; lend your ear to my understanding,
          2 — That you may preserve discretion, and your lips may keep knowledge.
          3 — For the lips of an immoral woman drip honey, and her mouth is smoother than oil;
          4 — But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
          5 — Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell.
          6 — Lest you ponder her path of life–her ways are unstable; you do not know them.
          7 — Therefore hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.
          8 — Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,
          9 — Lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one;
        10 — Lest aliens be filled with your wealth, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner;
        11 — And you mourn at last, when your flesh and your body are consumed,
        12 — And say: “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction!
        13 — I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me!
        14 — I was on the verge of total ruin, in the midst of the assembly and congregation.”  (NKJV)

     Temptation is a hopeful promise that will lead down to death if not avoided.  Bob Beasley says, “All sin in like this.  It looks good, feels good, tastes good, and sounds good, so it must be good.  Wrong!”  The sweetness will quickly turn to bitterness.  Notice, not only here but throughout Proverbs, we look ahead to see where our actions will lead us.  Here we see that we will follow an unstable way whose path will go down to death.  As Warren Wiersbe states, “The wise person checks on the destination before buying a ticket, but modern society thinks that people can violate God’s laws and escape the consequences.”
     Following the “strange” or “immoral woman”–which is one to whom a man is not related by marriage, takes one on an unstable path.  It’s like hiking alongside of a cliff on a perilous edge with loose rocks that could break away thus leading you to possibly becoming a cripple or even death.  Since she does not ponder the path of life those who seek her are the same.  They can be likened unto tumbleweeds, just drifting along following every whim that comes along, not listening or adhering to the voice of parents, teachers, or God’s Word.  John Kitchen writes, “The adulterous has no direction in her life…  This moral myopia makes her unaware of the yawning abyss of death and destruction that lies down the winding path she takes.”  By not choosing the path of life those who take this direction are left to wander.  The ESV translates verse 6 this way, “She does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander and she does not know it.”
     In verse 7 we see the admonition of the father again.  “Hear me!”  The person who goes to her house, follows her path is not a good steward of purity, honor, life, nor their inheritance.  Paul warns us, “Flee sexual immorality.  Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.” (1 Corinthians 6:18, NKJV)  Man is made in the image of God; therefore he has dignity, but by committing sexual immorality he “sins against that which stands in the nearest relation to our personal moral individuality.” (J.L. Flores)   Mike Leake puts it simply, “Obeying your thirst leads to instability.”  Honor is lost; “the loss of self-honor or self-respect is a calamity that is very bitter to the soul.” (Flores)
     We see in the final few verses the bitterness that has come to this individual who has followed this wayward path of iniquity.  If somehow they have survived they will hopefully come to the point of this realization that they didn’t listen to instruction.  There will be remorse because of the path they have chosen.  Flores says, “Those who sin against the light of nature find a recompense which is terrible.”  Listen to his cry, “I was on the verge of total ruin,” or as the ESV says, “I am at the brink of utter ruin.”  Or as Samuel Miller puts it rather bluntly, “I soon became like any wicked man.”
     Listen to righteous instruction and heed the warning signs on the pathway.  If you stumble, or get off the right path, repent and quickly find the road on which you should be traveling on.  That road of freedom in Christ; that road that leads to glory.

I sat back with a sigh and thought about how good life was.”

       “But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, That I may declare all Your works.”
                    –Psalm 73:28 (NKJV)
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     There are many things I don’t pretend to understand, but there is one that is not reasonable–that people would deny there is a God.  I don’t mean they have to be Christians, but creation shows God, and the intricacies of the human body show there is a “Master Designer.”  Yet man, in his foolishness, would try to create a better idea with evolution or try to make man autonomous–his own god.  This next portion of Psalm 145 should be of great comfort to us.  God is here, now, in the present.  Contemplate the greatness of these few passages.

          8 — The LORD is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger and great in mercy.
          9 — The LORD is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.
        10 — All Your works shall praise You, O LORD, and Your saints shall bless You.
        11 — They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, and talk of Your power,
        12 — To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.
        13 — Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations.  (NKJV)

     Right off the bat, I am filled with awe and thankfulness.  Those words of verse 8 should be a comfort to every Christian.  Thank the Lord for His marvelous and wonderful grace.  Thank the Lord that He does not strike us down for our foolishness and our sins.  Then verse 9 puts forth the truth to everyone living.  God is gracious to all.  Look at the cross and His Son hanging on that wooden structure.  Grace for all!  Mercy for all!  Yet, man is blind and foolish and refuses to look or believe in the great gift the Father gave in His Son.  We can go further, if He would diminish the amount of oxygen in the air, man would die.  God is keeping His creation in check for the good of man.  There are many other examples that we could use here.  Gregory the Great said, “It is a marvel that people are not always praising, since everything around us is continually inviting praise.”  See, even Gregory could not understand the foolishness of mankind.
     How do we bless God?  Besides recognizing the gift of Jesus Christ, perhaps the best way is to make proper and good use of the things He has given us.  In other words, be good stewards of all that comes our way.  Use our time wisely, use our bodies and minds properly, make our gifts and talents count for the Lord.  Someone said, “When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything You gave me.'”
     We tend to complain about the weather.  What if God made changes to the weather?  What kind of catastrophes would result?  Some gripe when they have to get up in the morning, but don’t stop to realize that there is a day coming when they won’t get up.  Death will have overcome them, therefore we should be rejoicing that the Lord has given us another day.  There are those who walk around with the mully-grubs with swollen bottom lips from stepping on them.  Shame, that should never be the plight of the believer.  “Rejoice, and again I say rejoice,” can’t you just hear Paul shouting that when he got up in the morning?
     Life itself should be a blessing to the Lord.  He gave it to us to use for Him and His kingdom.  Let’s be about the Lord’s business from the rising of the sun to the moment our eyes close in slumber.  Instead of worrying and fretting we should be giving God the glory for the things He has done and for those things He is about to do.  A good little saying to remember is, “Blessed is the person who is too busy to worry in the daytime and too sleepy to worry at night.”  How do we make that happen?  By making the most of our time, by working with our minds and hands for the Lord.  “God is ‘faithful in all he says…gracious in all he does’–even when we are tested by fire.”
     (Some translations, the NLT, NIV, ESV, NASB, HCSB, RSV have the following at the end of verse 13, or something similar — “The Lord is faithful in all His words and gracious in all His actions.” HCSB)
 
               “And so through all the length of days
               Thy goodness faileth never:
               Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
               Within thy house forever.”
                       –Henry W. Baker