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Form of Sound Words (2 Tim 1:13)
Thursday, December 18, 2003
Cares
Now Playing: How do we handle cares in our life ?
Topic: Weary
The end of the year is as good a time as any to assess the cares and concerns in our lives. Paul could say regarding single and married people, "But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife". (1 Corinthians 7:32-33) Among Christians we are to care for others, "That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another" (1 Corinthians 12:25) In our spiritual walk, the apostle Paul wrote to Philippi "Be careful (anxious) for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God". (Philippians 4:6) To our fellow Christians we are admonished, "This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men" (Titus 3:8)

We fail in this. The apostle Paul also wrote "For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state". (Philippians 2:20) Jesus spoke of those we find who, "that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection". (Luke 8:14) Likewise, "And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful" (Mark 4:19) The Lord Jesus warned of the end times, "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares". (Luke 21:34). God does judge when His people sin, "For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem" (Micah 1:12) The Lord Jesus warned of those who would harm His people, "The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep". (John 10:13) The Psalmist, King David, could lament, "I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul. (Psalm 142:4) The disciples even accused the Lord, "And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master,carest thou not that we perish?" (Mark 4:38)

May we be like the good Samaritan, who "went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee." (Luke 10:34-35) When we have sinned, there is a solution when we repent, "behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter" (2 Corinthians 7:11) We have a biblical pattern, "For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit". (Jeremiah 17:8)

May our spiritual desires to please the Lord grow, "But I rejoiced in the Lord greatly, that now at the last your care of me hath flourished again; wherein ye were also careful, but ye lacked opportunity" (Philippians 4:10) Moses recorded, "The Lord shall greatly bless thee...only if thou carefully hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all these commandments which I command thee this day". (Deuteronomy 15:4,5)

We have a resource, "the LORD thy God careth... the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year". (Deuteronomy 11:12) There is one to Whom we can always turn for help "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you". (1 Peter 5:7) May we take ALL of our cares to the One who can help us to carefully walk with Him!



Posted by dondegr8 at 1:14 PM EST
Updated: Tuesday, December 23, 2003 9:00 PM EST
Weary
Now Playing: Do we need something to lift us up?
Topic: Weary
At some time or another, we all become weary, tired, or need physical or emotional refreshment. But as believers, we have One Who can help. "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of His understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might He increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint". (Isaiah 40:28-31)

The prophet Isaiah also declared that the Lord is a "hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land". (Isaiah 32:2). Jeremiah also said of the LORD, "I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul" (Jeremiah 31:25)

When chased by Saul, David could say "I am weary with my groaning; all the night make I my bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears." (Psalm 6:6) When he was in his troubles, having lost everything, Job could say, "My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul." (Job 10:1) The enemy would seek to seize on our weakness, "How he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou wast faint and weary". (Deuteronomy 25:18)

As believers, we can be a help to one another "The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary" (Isaiah 50:4) Paul could write to the Galations "let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not" (Galations 6:9), and to those at Thessalonica "But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing" (2 Thessalonians 3:13). Jeremiah could say of the LORD, "I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul" (Jeremiah 31:25), "Upon this I awaked and beheld, and my sleep was sweet to me" (v.26) May the Lord give us each rest and refreshment help us to continue in faithfulness to Him!

Posted by dondegr8 at 8:57 AM EST
Updated: Tuesday, December 23, 2003 9:15 PM EST

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