Proverbs is an interesting book.  It gives us insight into how God works in human experiences.  However, as I said in my sermon, proverbs are not promises.  They were never intended to be.  Proverbs is man’s way of looking at godly things.  Proverbs are a literary form that expresses perceived truth.  It is not intended to be guarantees or work 100% of the time.  They are like metaphors (in fact there are a lot of metaphors in the book) that put together similar things or traits.  Metaphors are not intended to relate to exactness.  And just as you cannot take metaphors (and other analogous language) to extremes or form concrete conclusions, they give you a general picture by using a variety of imagery.  That being said, there are some proverbs that are more true than others.  But this is because those truths are backed up by other scripture.  “Trust in the Lord with all your heart . . .” (Prov 3:5) has the same command/blessing as “Love the Lord with all your heart . . .” (Matt 22:37)  To do so will bring blessing to your life.

We have made it to week five of our read through the Bible.  Genesis told us the importance of the beginning of the Jewish nation and the promise of the Messiah through Abraham’s seed.  Now as we start to read through Exodus we will see the basis for much of the basis for the salvation that God is going to bring.  Should be enlightening, so keep on reading.

I was reading our reading guide for our five day Bible reading program this morning about Joseph and the wisdom that God gave him.  He did not claim credit for the ability to interpret dreams even though he could have and it would have benefited him in the eyes of Pharaoh.  But Joseph gives credit where credit is due and gave all the glory to God.  I think this is one reason why Pharaoh exalted him.  He saw the wisdom in Joseph that could only come from the divine.  If we want true wisdom, as we learned in Sunday’s message, we to need to realize that it only comes from God.

Hope you all are staying warm this week.  It is cold outside and there were not services this week.

It looks like a lot of people from GMC are joining together to read through the whole Bible in one year.  And it is not too late to start.  We are just into week two and those 5 days that already have passed can easily be caught up.  So do not put it off any longer.  Start today!

Merry Christmas and a happy new year.

The idea that the wise men were prophesied about in the OT (Isaiah 60:6 if you missed it in the sermon) is a fascinating possibility.   And the camels, plus the origin of the possible link to the kings we sing about, put a cherry on top of the cake.  Again, I will not stake my reputation on the connection (if I ever had a reputation to begin with), but it certainly is possible.  If the wise men were from southern Arabia instead of Persia like I had been taught for all my life would make a difference.  The fact that the trees the produce frankincense and myrrh are grown in that area of the world makes it a strong contender.  Although to be fair, we are not told in the Bible were exactly the wise men came from, or if they came on camels.  And the prophecy about kings bowing down could be a prophecy yet to be fulfilled in the future.  The three gifts were commonly traded and gifted in those days (especially among royalty). And the fact that Yemen is more south than east, do pose a bit of a problem.  One point I should make clear is that putting Sheba in southern Arabia instead of Africa, does not take away Jesus significance to all nations and peoples (one commentary I read opposed “changing Sheba from being in Africa” because they liked the idea that Jesus had an African connection).  As I made clear in my sermon, Jesus came to save the whole world, no matter what “connections” he had with other nations.  It is something to consider and think about, hence why I included it in my sermon.  I might not post next week so have a Merry Christmas.

I am currently listening to the cantata “Night of Miracles” as I am typing out this post.  If you have not heard this wonderful cantata, google Night of Miracles and there are several youTube videos that you can watch or listen to.  It would be very worth your while.

Sometimes we look at prophecies  and promises that are yet to be fulfilled with some doubt.  How will God do this?  How do these two thing line up with each other?  Will God fulfill these literally or spiritually or symbolically?  Well we can get an answer to some of these questions by looking at how God has already fulfilled some of his prophecies in the person of Jesus.  And one of the best is to look at the prophecies about Jesus’ birth and his hometown that we looked at Sunday.  Who would have thought that any one of the three prophecies we looked at would have been fulfilled?  None of them made sense when these prophets wrote them down.  Bethlehem not Jerusalem? A foreign country (Egypt) from which Jews were forbidden to enter, let alone come out of?  A land (Galilee) that God had forsaken due to their wickedness and sin and left to the Gentiles?  And how can all three be true all at once.  Yet God fulfilled each of these literally and to the letter and all three came to past just as it was written.  It may seem crazy, but God knows what is going to happen, when and then he tells us about it in his word.  So we should take him at his word, even if that word seems as crazy and weird as the Messiah coming from three unique and crazy places.  Trust him.