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Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart in Adonai’s hand is like streams of water — he directs it wherever he pleases.
2 All a person’s ways are right in his own view,
but Adonai weighs the heart.
3 To do what is right and just
is more pleasing to Adonai than sacrifice.
4 Haughty looks, a proud heart —
what the wicked plow is sin.
5 The plans of the diligent lead only to abundance;
but all who rush in arrive only at want.
6 A fortune gained by a lying tongue
is vapor dispersed [by] seekers of death.
7 The violence of the wicked will sweep them away,
because they refuse to act justly.
8 A criminal’s conduct is crooked,
but the work of the pure is right.
9 It is better to live on a corner of the roof
than to share the house with a nagging wife.
10 The wicked is set on evil;
he doesn’t pity even his neighbor.
11 When a scorner is punished, the simple become wiser;
and when the wise is instructed, he takes hold of knowledge.
12 The Righteous One observes the house of the wicked;
he overthrows the wicked to their ruin. 13 Whoever stops up his ears at the cry of the poor will himself cry, but not be answered.
14 A secret gift allays anger,
and a bribe under the cloak the strongest fury.
15 Acting justly is a joy for the righteous
but it terrifies evildoers.
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What is more acceptable than sacrifice? “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice then Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings” (Hebrews 11:4). Later in the Bible we learn that obedience supplants even sacrifice. Samuel the prophet asked King Saul, “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice,” (1 Samuel 15:22a).
John Wesley wrote, “[Justification] is not the being made actually just and righteous. This is sanctification, which is indeed in some degree the immediate fruit of justification . . . . The one implies what God does for us through his Son, the other what he works in us by his Spirit” [Works I, 187]* No matter how hard or difficult of a sacrifice we may make it can be no substitute for a heart fully yielded to obey God’s will. Proverbs 21 says, “To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.” * W. Stephen Gunter, The Quotable Mr. Wesley, Atlanta [1999-2003]: Candler School of Theology, p 14. "Trust and Obey" by John H.Sammis |
in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will,
he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
2. Not a burden we bear,
not a sorrow we share,
but our toil he doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss,
not a frown or a cross,
but is blest if we trust and obey.
Refrain: Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
3. But we never can prove
the delights of his love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor he shows,
for the joy he bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey.
Refrain: Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
4. Then in fellowship sweet
we will sit at his feet,
or we'll walk by his side in the way;
what he says we will do,
where he sends we will go;
never fear, only trust and obey.
Refrain: Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.Thought for Today:
1 From: Kefa, an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah
To: God’s chosen people, living as aliens in the Diaspora — in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, the province of Asia, and Bythinia — 2 chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and set apart by the Spirit for obeying Yeshua the Messiah and for sprinkling with his blood:Grace and shalom be yours in full measure.[1 Peter 1:1-2].Please pray:
That many people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will come to Yeshua the Messiah and receive the fullness of the fullness of the Ruach HaKadosh.
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