The Devotional – 1436 – Humility overrides Strife.

The Devotional – 1436 – Humility overrides Strife.

Proverbs 17:1 Better is a dry morsel with quietness, than a house full of feasting and strife!

Comments and challenges

One way for a person to fail the grace of God is to think that they have arrived to some level of spirituality where sin is not present. For the record… sin is always present and always at the ready to cause one to trip over the smallest of bumps in the trails we intend to blaze.

In James 4:1-6 we can see two bumps (1) of sinful desire and (2) of sinful pleasure; these are two bumps can redirect us to dead ends that cripple our personal relationship with God and our relationships with the people in our lives. The first redirected trail we blaze is the one of desire. The lust of something we believe to be a need. To lust for anything is idolatry.

We may even take these desires before the LORD, but knowing that these are sinful we dress them up in garments that appear from our viewpoint to be something worthy or even within God’s Will. This war within our framework is not honored by God and our prayers are never heard by Him because we ask based on the desire of the flesh.

Then standing in full view of desire is the pleasure of the sin awaits fulfillment. The sin of desire and the sin of pleasure are powerful; both feed off of the other and both are found in the man and the woman. I am sure that James does not have “adultery” in mind in James 4:4 although adultery can be a desire and a pleasure that we might seek the LORD to bless rather than curse.

I believe that James is referring to another form of adultery, one that replaces our friendship with God, with friendship with the world. Notice the call of Jeremiah for the nation of Israel to repent; (Jeremiah 3:1-25) but note 3:6-9. So first we seek to qualify our desire for the pleasures of the world by saying to God that our idle thoughts of idolatry are somehow justified and that God should agree. 

This according to God is adultery and we cause others within our circle of influence to do the same. The word “backsliding” is not new to the average student of the Holy Bible, it simply means “faithless” and we can and do involve our self in faithless activity that encourages the flesh of others to follow. By the fulfillment of desire and pleasure we commit ten sins.

Say what? Yes (10) sins: First we fail the first four Commandments found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. To have no other gods, to make no graven image, to refrain from taking God’s name in vain and to rest in Him alone. Then we fail the other six that govern our relationships with our fellow man. Dishonoring parents, murdering, stealing, coveting, committing adultery and lying; so it is not odd that God resists the proud is it? And yet; as His children you and I should be so awe struck by the mercy of God in that while we are destroying our relationship with Him and the people around us, He extends His mercy to those of us who agree with Him that we are in trouble and humble ourselves seeking forgiveness.

James 4:7-9 – Therefore submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands you sinners and purify your hearts you double minded. lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the LORD, and He will lift you up.

There is so much more to say – hang in there… we will look again at this on Wednesday.