A Wonderful Day in the Lord

Key word: Vanity  This wisdom literature book, written we believe by Solomon in his old age, comes out firing: “Vanity of Vanities! All is vanity” (1:26). This is not exactly a happy or positive message, and many see Ecclesiastes as a depressing book. But it has a vital message for us that can be identified in its repeated words and phrases.  “Vanity” is found 39 times and basically mean...

Speech: The last marker we will take time to check out on our drive through Proverbs is one pertaining to the use of our tongue. James 3:1-11 warns of the uncontrolable nature of the tongue. Nothing can get us in trouble more quickly, or cause more damage than careless words. Yet with our words, we encourage and instruct people and praise God. So, as we might expect Proverbs, this book of practica...

Work: Our Lord places a premium on hard work. On the cautionary side, we who might be called “driven” people must be careful not to make an idol out of work. There is more to life than work. And we must not give work more credit than it deserves. Hard work does not give us all good things to enjoy – God does. Nevertheless, work is not part of the curse, as the Lord put people to work immediately a...

Money: Since the Bible is concerned with God, Christ, eternity and Godly living, some might think that the subject of money would be beneath the Bible’s attention. But the opposite is true. Money is part of life in this world, and no matter how “spiritual” you are, or how much you love Jesus, money is part of your life and you need to learn to handle it God’s way. Proverbs has much to say on the s...

Friends: Friendship is a natural desire for most people. To share at least a part of your life with some people who love and care about you is an incredible blessing. Virtually, everything said about friendship in the Bible is found in Proverbs.  Today, things like Facebook and its superficial understanding of friends skews what true friendship is. How does God’s word describe it? Friends hav...

Fear of the Lord: Since the central passage, and our theme verse, is 9:10, which declares, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. It is important to examine this phrase as found in Proverbs. The phrase itself is found numerous times in the Old Testament but only twice in the New Testament: 2 Corinthians 5:11, “Knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade men.” The idea there is that the un...

Discipline: Many people view discipline in a negative light – but not God. Proverbs commends two kinds of discipline: God’s and parent’s.  1. God (3:11-12). Scripture sees God’s disciplines in our life as one of the ways He demonstrates love for His children. In essence, the Lord loves us too much to allow us to go down the wrong path in life without correction. The issue is how we respond to...

Anger: Anger has always been a universal sinful response to life’s irritations and problems. While there exists a godly anger, most anger is sinful, and as James informs us, “The anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God” (1:20). Proverbs has much to say about anger for the most part we get angry because something is not going our way. And while we often see ourselves as clever whe...

Advice: If wisdom is the mastery of the art of living according to the ways of God, then receiving good, godly advice and instruction plays a key role in such living. Unfortunately, we often get our backs up when people try to advise us. Too often, we think we know what is best and we do not want insight from others. If we take such an attitude, we are the poorer for it. Proverbs calls us to seek...

Fools/Foolishness: If the theme of Proverbs is wisdom then the converse is foolishness. Much of Proverbs is written in this form – stating a wise way of living followed by its opposite. Often understanding what something is, can be enhanced by stating what it is not. Proverbs has about as much to say about fools and foolish living, as it does about wise people and wise living.  What does God’...

Morality: One of the first applications of wisdom addressed in Proverbs has to do with moral purity. Unlike the structure of the rest of the book, Solomon concentrates on this subject, primarily in Chapters 5-7. And he approaches this subject almost entirely from the negative, only once speaking of the joy of physical love within the bounds of marriage (5:15- 19). Solomon illustrates the power of...

Key word: Wisdom  Have you ever been traveling down the secondary highway systems, such as Route 66, and seen signs along the way indicating that a historical marker lies ahead? As you speed by, you glance over to the markers and see a bronze sign off the road a piece, with considerable writing on it. The signs will detail an important event that took place nearby, or an important person who...

Key word: Praise As we travel across America in our automobile, especially on the older highway systems such as Route 66, there often is only short distances between towns and cities. But if you are driving across states like Kansas, Nebraska, Montana or the Dakotas, you can travel great distances with no towns, or even gas stations, Psalms is kind of like that. It is by far, the largest book in t...

Key word: Praise As we travel across America in our automobile, especially on the older highway systems such as Route 66, there often is only short distances between towns and cities. But if you are driving across states like Kansas, Nebraska, Montana or the Dakotas, you can travel great distances with no towns, or even gas stations, Psalms is kind of like that. It is by far, the largest book in t...

Key word: Praise As we travel across America in our automobile, especially on the older highway systems such as Route 66, there often is only short distances between towns and cities. But if you are driving across states like Kansas, Nebraska, Montana or the Dakotas, you can travel great distances with no towns, or even gas stations, Psalms is kind of like that. It is by far, the largest book in t...

Key word: Praise As we travel across America in our automobile, especially on the older highway systems such as Route 66, there often is only short distances between towns and cities. But if you are driving across states like Kansas, Nebraska, Montana or the Dakotas, you can travel great distances with no towns, or even gas stations, Psalms is kind of like that. It is by far, the largest book in t...

Key word: Praise As we travel across America in our automobile, especially on the older highway systems such as Route 66, there often is only short distances between towns and cities. But if you are driving across states like Kansas, Nebraska, Montana or the Dakotas, you can travel great distances with no towns, or even gas stations, Psalms is kind of like that. It is by far, the largest book in t...

Key word: Praise  As we travel across America in our automobile, especially on the older highway systems such as Route 66, there often is only short distances between towns and cities. But if you are driving across states like Kansas, Nebraska, Montana or the Dakotas, you can travel great distances with no towns, or even gas stations, Psalms is kind of like that. It is by far, the largest boo...

Key word: Suffering  The key word is suffering especially suffering of the righteous. Everyone thinks of suffering and trials when they think of Job, but the actual theme is the sovereign work of God in our lives. The Lord is always at work shaping and forming us into the people He wants us to be.  When the story begins, we learn immediately that Job is the greatest man alive. He has it...

After concluding our look at the Book of Esther, Pastor Gilley takes a second "pit stop" on our "Biblical Route 66" to summarize everything we've discussed so far.

Key word: Jew  Esther is one of the most interesting and unique books in the Bible for a number of reasons:  1. It is one of only two books in the Bible named after women. Ruth is about a Gentile woman who marries a Jew, and Esther is a Jewish woman who married a Gentile.  2. While Ezra and Nehemiah describe events happening in and around Jerusalem as about 50,000 Jews return from e...

Key word: Restoration  Originally Nehemiah and Ezra were one book covering the return of the Jewish exiles from the decree of Cyrus in 538 B.C. to 420 B.C. when Nehemiah was governor of Judah. There is a 12-year gap between the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. Then 12 years of Nehemiah’s leadership is detailed, followed by a 12-year gap when Nehemiah returned to Persia, and then finally he returns....

Key word: The hand of the Lord  Ezra picks up Judah’s story exactly where 2 Chronicles leaves off. In fact, the last two verses of 2 Chronicles are almost identical to the first three verses of Ezra. (The book tells the story of the returning exiles.) Cyrus releases exiles to return and specifically to rebuild the temple. In Ezra, there are two distinct returns recorded. The first under Zerub...

Key word: Seek (God)  This book begins with the reign of Solomon and continued to the decree of Cyrus for the rebuilding of Jerusalem (960-536 B.C). It deals exclusively with Judah, virtually ignoring Israel. It would be Solomon who would build, furnish and dedicate the temple for the Lord. The high point of 2 Chronicles is Solomon’s prayer of dedication (6:12-42), see 6:14. Israel under Solo...

Key word: Covenant  Like the books of Samuel and Kings, the Chronicles were originally one book, which begins with the death of Saul and continues through the captivity in Babylon. As such, much of the material overlaps with the book of 2 Samuel and Kings. So a legitimate question might be what is the purpose for the Chronicles? The answer is that the target audience are the returning exiles...