Proverbs 23                                                                                                            

Good morning son,

Last night I was looking at my new car. Well not my new car yet, but the one I wish to buy. See I put it to a vote last week whether to buy a Jaguar (S Type – I really like the old timey grill) or a BMW 528i or 530i. The beamer won out hands down. I guess I have gotten that stupid little musical Lexus commercial diddy in my head, and compared to a new beamer (well used but new to me) – one with say around 100k miles, well my Volvo with its 254k miles has just a little less luster. Not that there is anything wrong with it. Not that it doesn't ride well, has all the bells and whistles I need, it is that I desire a new car. Everyone else is getting one. Why not me.

Proverbs 23:17-18

“Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord. There is surely a future hope for you and your hope will not be cut off.”

Psalms 23:1

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

Funny thing it always seems like the rest of the world, you know, those who are not devoted Christians, have all the toys. They get all the money, all the sex, all the power and all the glory. They seem to be able to live in the fast lane without consequences. They seem to get it when they want it, keep it as long as they want it, and discard of it when it is of no more use to them.

The key word in the above discourse is “seems.” Problem is, I would sometimes like to “seem” to “whatever” also.

But being zealous in fearing God first and foremost immediately puts me at odds with mostly everybody. Choosing to do it God's way, means first and foremost that I am going to trust God to supply my needs, and desires. If I have to trust Him to do this, I also have to wait on Him, and, of course, hope He gets it right (God remember, you know what I want, LOL). Of course desires are limited to be provided by God according to His word. We are assured in His word that if the desire will fulfill our own lust it just won't happen – so you can forget that Lamborghini brother, can't grow closer to God in that frame of mind.

The passage gives a command not to be envious of sinners. A command, not a suggestion. But then can we really just turn off our feelings? We see all the reasons to be envious. How does He think we will be able to do this command? How?

We can do it by not focusing on what we see.

In the present we see all the present advantages, stuff, and power that the sinner seems to have. In our minds because we see it in the “now” we believe that it is in the “forever more.” We see the beginning of the race and we are appear to be apparently way behind from the start. Partly because we see our lives in the perspective of “the sprint” not “the marathon.” We have the perspective that we live maybe 85 – 100 years – “the sprint.” We do not live in the perspective that we are eternal spirits who live for an eternity, forever more – “the marathon.” In the sprint from the start we need to give it all you got if you are going to win the race. In the marathon, you know that the race is not given to the swift but to the one who endures to the end, pacing themselves to succeed in the long haul. God sees life in the perspective of a marathoner, and it is this perspective that he puts before us the command to not be envious and why. Look at it:

“There is surely a future hope for you and your hope will not be cut off.”

God wants our focus not to be on the here and now, “the sprint,” but on the future hope, “the marathon.” He can tell us not to be envious because when we see the reality of the scope and character of the race we have no reason to be envious at all! But that kind of seeing requires a different set of eyes. “The just shall live by faith” (look it up) - “ . . . without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (look it up – hint: Hebrews) In order to see the race as God does, in order to have the focus as it should be, to be obedient to the command not to be envious of sinners, we must believe Him and that His plan is for real, that His is the true reality.

It is kinda paradoxical that the basis for the strength to not be envious would be focusing on a future hope, while we live in the here and now. Why can He be so sure that we will be able to do that. Remember even His word says “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” (you know the drill – look it up). So even He recognizes that you and I both will have a hard time with this future focus stuff, when we are not living in the future.

Or are? Are we not living in that future hope even now?

One of my favorite Psalms to pray is today's Psalm, Psalm 23

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.”

In the present, the here and now, the Lord promises that I shall not be in want. He promises that because HE is our shepherd, because we choose as sheep to follow Him that we will not be in wanting for the stuff we need in the present in the here and now! God insures that the future hope is experienced in the here and now! We live out the future hope through an always here, ever present loving shepherd God! He makes sure that we understand that in following His way and trusting in Him, HE will take care of us. For us the challenge comes in seeing, focusing on this future hope for our future and trusting the God in this present life, which is a living out of His future hope through us now. As it is God who is the source of the supply it may not come in the way that we think, or even by our hands – as we when we were sinners and had to do – you know, that hard work to get that stuff sinners just seem to have, that stuff which we are so envious of as Christians.

I am reminded of a Thanksgiving when Momma P and I had just moved to Waco, Texas for me to go back to school. We had no job. We had no money. In fact from our resources we had a scrumptious meal of one egg, ketchup and two slices of bread to eat. We sat down and blessed the food and cut the sandwich in half and began to eat. Then we thought, Auntie Mildred will have a lot of food in Dallas, if we make it there we can eat and surely someone will bless us with a tank full of gas to get home (like they would want to put us up if we couldn't LOL). But alas our plans for provision were not to be.

As we prepared to leave out the back door the front door bell rang. When I opened the door there stood before me a mountain of a man, who asked me if I was Peterson. I responded yes. Whereupon he asked me what was taking so long for us to come over. “Momma won't let us sit down to eat until yall come over – what's taking you so long, we've been waiting all afternoon?” “Who's your momma?” I asked. Whereupon I was informed that it was our neighbor, an elderly woman believer of the Lord who lived next door to us. We had been smelling her pies and cakes all week long as she put them in the window sill to cool. At one point during the week, while raking my leaves, the Lord had said for me to do hers too. She had sat on the steps of her wood frame house talking to me. But NEVER had she invited me and Momma P to Thanksgiving dinner!

And yet, when we got to the table all was prepared! And our seats, . . . were at the head of the table!

All was prepared! God had prepared to feed us to meet our needs in the here in now! He had made the future hope a present reality lived out!

“The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want.”

God commands us to be zealous for the fear of the Lord. In fearing Him first we become obedient to His way, putting us on the path that He would design for the realization of our future hope. God can command us not to be envious of sinners because of the fact that we can see and focus on the race in accord with His perspective – a marathon and not a sprint. He is our good shepherd and He makes sure that as we trust Him in the here and now that we experience that future hope in the here and now. With such a loving God, what reason would we have to be envious of sinners? The answer: None.

As you look at your life and your decisions of today. Are you envious of all those around you who are seeming to get ahead? Are you looking at life in the proper perspective? Do you see your life as a marathon? Can you identify God's future hope lived out in your present need? Look around you. Have you paid for everything you have? All your great experiences – you made them happen? God is - God loves - God cares for you. Covenant to make your decisions this day in accord with God's word. Trust Him to shepherd you. See life and others in accord with His perspective. Love them in accord with His word.

Love yah,

Dad