Sue J Love
Loyal
- Joined
- Mar 27, 2015
- Messages
- 3,201
Proverbs 21 Select Verses ESV
1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.
8 The way of the guilty is crooked,
but the conduct of the pure is upright.
15 When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous
but terror to evildoers.
21 Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness
will find life, righteousness, and honor.
23 Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue
keeps himself out of trouble.
28 A false witness will perish,
but the word of a man who hears will endure.
29 A wicked man puts on a bold face,
but the upright gives thought to his ways.
I absolutely love this first verse! The king’s heart was not literally a stream of water, but it was like a stream of water in the hands of the Lord. And the Lord was directing the stream in the direction that he wanted it to go. This is speaking of a human heart which is surrendered to the Lord Jesus to do his will. And, as followers of Jesus Christ, this should be a picture of our hearts, that they are so surrendered to the Lord that he is the one turning our hearts wherever he will, which will be in accord with his divine purpose.
And the next quoted verse goes right along with this. If we are pure in heart, because our hearts are like a stream of water in the hands of the Lord, being directed by the Lord, then our conduct will be upright, godly, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his New Covenant commands. We will not be those who compromise with the world and who compromise our morals and values in order to fit in with and to be accepted by the world. For we will want to please the Lord in all that we do.
We, as followers of Christ, should love justice and hate evil. And this doesn’t mean we should be people who immediately respond to the evil doers with “fry them!” For where were we when Jesus first delivered us from our sins? And have we always lived morally pure and upright lives to the glory of God? Did we get justice? No! We got mercy! While we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly in order that, by faith in him, we might die with him to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands, in his power and strength.
And justice isn’t just about frying the ungodly, but it is about fairness, honesty, integrity, uprightness, righteousness, and reasonableness. So, if we are just, we are going to give the unrighteous the same opportunity that the Lord Jesus gave us while we were yet trapped in sin’s deceitfulness. First we will forgive, but forgiveness is never permission to the sinner to continue in his sin nor a grant that no harm will come to him or her. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, we will not inherit eternal life with God.
For it is whoever pursues righteousness and kindness who will find life, righteousness, and honor. And righteousness is God’s judicial approval, i.e. God’s divine approval. It “refers to what is deemed right by the Lord (after his examination), i.e. what is approved in his eyes” (source: Bible Hub interlinear). And so this has to do with godliness, moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, and obedience to our Lord. And kindness is not lying to people. It is speaking the truth to them, in love, that they need to hear.
Now, in the New Testament there is a passage of Scripture about taming the tongue. It is found in James 3:1-12. And it says that no human being can tame the tongue. But yet it goes on to tell us that we should not be people who, from the same mouth come blessing and cursing. So, in our flesh we are not able to tame the tongue, but in the Spirit we should be able to get control over our tongues. And here in Proverbs we read that whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble. We need to do that.
And we need to be truth tellers, to the best of our understanding. Not one of us should be in the practice of telling lies, not even under the guise of “being kind.” For lies are never kind, no matter how you dress them up. We should be honest people and still be kind, and we should speak the truth in love to one another, for our good. And we should be those who give thought to our ways and who are not quick tempered or who make quick irrational decisions. But we should seek the guidance of the Lord in all that we do.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
Songs in the Night
An Original Work / December 18, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84
Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.
I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!
Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.
I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!
Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.
Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!
In The Hand of The Lord
An Original Work / February 6, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.
8 The way of the guilty is crooked,
but the conduct of the pure is upright.
15 When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous
but terror to evildoers.
21 Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness
will find life, righteousness, and honor.
23 Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue
keeps himself out of trouble.
28 A false witness will perish,
but the word of a man who hears will endure.
29 A wicked man puts on a bold face,
but the upright gives thought to his ways.
I absolutely love this first verse! The king’s heart was not literally a stream of water, but it was like a stream of water in the hands of the Lord. And the Lord was directing the stream in the direction that he wanted it to go. This is speaking of a human heart which is surrendered to the Lord Jesus to do his will. And, as followers of Jesus Christ, this should be a picture of our hearts, that they are so surrendered to the Lord that he is the one turning our hearts wherever he will, which will be in accord with his divine purpose.
And the next quoted verse goes right along with this. If we are pure in heart, because our hearts are like a stream of water in the hands of the Lord, being directed by the Lord, then our conduct will be upright, godly, morally pure, honest, faithful, and obedient to our Lord and to his New Covenant commands. We will not be those who compromise with the world and who compromise our morals and values in order to fit in with and to be accepted by the world. For we will want to please the Lord in all that we do.
We, as followers of Christ, should love justice and hate evil. And this doesn’t mean we should be people who immediately respond to the evil doers with “fry them!” For where were we when Jesus first delivered us from our sins? And have we always lived morally pure and upright lives to the glory of God? Did we get justice? No! We got mercy! While we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly in order that, by faith in him, we might die with him to sin and now walk in obedience to his commands, in his power and strength.
And justice isn’t just about frying the ungodly, but it is about fairness, honesty, integrity, uprightness, righteousness, and reasonableness. So, if we are just, we are going to give the unrighteous the same opportunity that the Lord Jesus gave us while we were yet trapped in sin’s deceitfulness. First we will forgive, but forgiveness is never permission to the sinner to continue in his sin nor a grant that no harm will come to him or her. For if sin is what we practice, and not obedience to God, we will not inherit eternal life with God.
For it is whoever pursues righteousness and kindness who will find life, righteousness, and honor. And righteousness is God’s judicial approval, i.e. God’s divine approval. It “refers to what is deemed right by the Lord (after his examination), i.e. what is approved in his eyes” (source: Bible Hub interlinear). And so this has to do with godliness, moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, and obedience to our Lord. And kindness is not lying to people. It is speaking the truth to them, in love, that they need to hear.
Now, in the New Testament there is a passage of Scripture about taming the tongue. It is found in James 3:1-12. And it says that no human being can tame the tongue. But yet it goes on to tell us that we should not be people who, from the same mouth come blessing and cursing. So, in our flesh we are not able to tame the tongue, but in the Spirit we should be able to get control over our tongues. And here in Proverbs we read that whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble. We need to do that.
And we need to be truth tellers, to the best of our understanding. Not one of us should be in the practice of telling lies, not even under the guise of “being kind.” For lies are never kind, no matter how you dress them up. We should be honest people and still be kind, and we should speak the truth in love to one another, for our good. And we should be those who give thought to our ways and who are not quick tempered or who make quick irrational decisions. But we should seek the guidance of the Lord in all that we do.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John 6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
Songs in the Night
An Original Work / December 18, 2013
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
“About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” Acts 16:25 NIV ‘84
Lord, I praise You forevermore.
You, my Savior, I now adore.
Hope in heaven awaiting me,
Because You died at Calvary.
I have been forgiven,
And I’m bound for heaven.
Jesus set me free from
All my sin, I say.
I will praise Him always!
Lord, I love You for all You’ve done:
Overcame death, my vict’ry won!
Jesus saved me, and now I’m free!
I rejoice in His love for me.
I will walk in vict’ry!
My sin is but hist’ry!
I am free to please Him
With my life today.
I will love Him always!
Lord, I thank You for giving me
A new life bought at Calvary.
Loving Jesus, I meet with Him.
Tender mercies now flow within.
Lord, I am so thankful;
Through my Lord, I’m able
To sit at His table;
Fellowship with Him.
I will thank Him always!
In The Hand of The Lord
An Original Work / February 6, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love
