Proverbs 16:7 When a man's ways (דֶּרֶךְ - deh-rech) please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.
A young reporter approached an old man on his 100th birthday. "Happy birthday, kind Sir! Can I bother you to answer one question? In all your years, of what are you most proud?" he asked.
"Well," said the man, "I don't have a single enemy in the world."
"Really?!" shouted the reporter, "That's just incredible -- how inspiring to us all!"
"Yep," added the centenarian, "outlived every darn one of 'em."
Sadly, each of us has acquired an enemy or two in our lives. While it's our human nature to find fault in others and make an occasional unnecessary enemy, sometimes it has nothing to do with us! I mean, you wouldn't believe the kind of hate mail we get from people we've never met! What can we do to make peace with enemies like those?
"He" is the operating word in the verse above. Did you catch that? He, that is, the Lord, makes even [a man's] enemies be at peace with him. All we have to worry about is making sure that our ways are pleasing to the Lord and He will do the rest!
The word "deh-rech" in Hebrew, is 'way' in the verse above. Derech can also mean journey or path. When our path is straight, and God is the focus of our journey, then our ways will please Him and He will make even our enemies be at peace with us. Let's rededicate our lives to the Lord again today and see Him bring the victory.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Many believers have a special place, a quiet place where they go to spend time with the Lord. This is a very important thing. But how many believers have actually 'prepared a way' for the Lord?
An organization in Montana offered a bounty of five thousand dollars for every wolf captured alive. Two hunters decided to head for the hills and make some money capturing wolves. Day and night, they scoured the mountains and forests searching for their valuable prey. Exhausted after three days of hunting without success, they both fell asleep.
The testing of Abraham's faith was repeated by YHVH throughout the patriarch's entire life. The tests grew greater as his life advanced, and through every one, whether Abraham passed or not, YHVH proved Himself to be his friend over and over again. Every test or "trial" involved a serious challenge or threat in which Abraham had to trust that the LORD knew what He was doing, asking, or requiring, and that His goodness and faithfulness were unquestionably reliable.
My wife and I had the privilege of leading a tour in Israel with over 50 people from all over the world. When tourists come to Israel, and especially to these southern parts where we live, one of the first things they're warned is to make certain they drink enough water. The climate here is very dry -- it fools you into thinking it's not as hot as it really is. You might not even feel thirsty, and before you know it, you can collapse from dehydration.
In one passage in John, Mary and Martha come running to Jesus, asking Him to heal Lazarus, who was critically ill. Since Lazarus was a good friend of Jesus, I'm sure they were expecting that Jesus would come immediately to his aid. The scripture says, however, that Jesus stayed two more days in the place where He was. It was in those two days that Lazarus died.
So often when I'm counseling someone, he speaks of his life as a life of struggle and even defeat. But what is our true spiritual reality? The Bible describes the enemy as ALREADY defeated! We who are walking as pilgrims in this world, fighting on a daily basis, are fighting a defeated enemy. Let that sink in! He has already been defeated ... even though throughout our entire lives we're in combat with the enemy of our souls.
A noncommissioned officer was directing the repairs of a military building during the American Revolution. He was barking orders to the soldiers under his command, trying to get them to raise a heavy wooden beam.