{"id":21363,"date":"2017-04-22T00:10:43","date_gmt":"2017-04-22T07:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lccredding.com\/lcc\/?p=10613"},"modified":"2017-04-22T00:10:43","modified_gmt":"2017-04-22T07:10:43","slug":"april-22-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2017\/04\/22\/april-22-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"April 22, 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cFear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.\u201d<\/em> Ecclesiastes 12:13<\/span><\/p>\n

Wisdom From God<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Part 1<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n

When I first came across this Scripture while reading my Bible, it was as if it jumped off the page! My heart felt attraction to it like a moth does to light. I thought, \u201cThis is it! Here is our purpose and motive made obvious and explicit! We are to reverence God and be obedient to His commands.\u201d All else, with God\u2019s help, will build upon this. Let me place this Scripture in context for you.<\/span><\/p>\n

After David had died and Solomon was established as king, it happened one night that God appeared to Solomon and offered him an astonishing opportunity. \u201cAsk for whatever you want Me to give you.\u201d<\/em> And Solomon responded, \u201cGive me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people\u2026\u201d<\/em> (2 Chronicles 1:10). Solomon\u2019s noble request so pleased God\u2019s heart that God promised him not only unparalleled wisdom and knowledge, but additionally wealth, possessions, and honor such as no king before or after would ever have.<\/span><\/p>\n

In spite of God\u2019s largesse with Solomon, over time, the king sometimes disregarded wisdom and let go of prudence. (I believe we can all relate to disappointing God through failure to do what we know is right.) Solomon was particularly handsome and vulnerable to the attentions of foreign women. More than once he became ensnared by a woman and then with her attendant idolatry. Many of the Bible\u2019s Proverbs came from the God-given brilliance and experience of Solomon himself. His hindsight may have produced this very one: \u201cAbove all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it\u201d<\/em> (Proverbs 4:23).\u00a0 Said another way, \u201cHe who knows anything of himself knows how apt his affections are to go astray\u201d<\/em> (Clark\u2019s Commentary, NIV).<\/span><\/p>\n

The righteous request for wisdom that Solomon put before God all those years earlier influenced his reflections in the twilight years of his reign. Having seen it all and done it all, he distilled his life experience to this discernment:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFear God\u2014know that He is, revere and worship Him\u2014and keep His commandments; for this is the whole of man<\/em> (the full original purpose of His creation, the object of God\u2019s providence, the root of character, the foundation of all happiness, the adjustment to all inharmonious circumstances and conditions under the sun), and the whole duty for every man\u201d<\/em> (The Amplified Bible, Ecclesiastes 12:13).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDear Jesus, may we reverence and adore You because You gave all for love of us. Pour out Your wisdom on Your children, we pray, that we may have hearts that long to be obedient to the whole counsel of your Word. According to Your commandments, lead us to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly and prayerfully with You, Lord. Amen.\u201d<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFear God and keep His commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.\u201d Ecclesiastes 12:13 Wisdom From God Part […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-women"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p92wjD-5yz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21363\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}