Saturday, July 11, 2009

REFLECTIONS FROM THE PROVERBS: The Pleasant Way

The Pleasant Way

Proverbs Chapter Three:
Verse 17: Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.


Wisdom is remarkable. We know Christ to be this wisdom and He is remarkable. Jesus tells us "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He is the way. He is the path.

Psalms Chapter One: 1.Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.
2.But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.
3.He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
4.Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.
5.Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6.For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
There are several contrasts given in this Psalm. A pleasant way, and a not so pleasant way. A way of the righteous which is compared to a tree planted by water, and a way of the wicked which is compared to chaff that is blown away. God is not talking about plants here he is talking about people.

There used to be a different way for people to come to God. It was a way of laws and priests and sacrifices and a place called the holy of holies. When Christ died on the cross, the curtain that blocked access to that most holy place where God met with man, was torn open inviting men to come commune with God. Jesus is the way.

The writer of Hebrews says in chapter 10 verse 19: Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,
Those who come to God by way of Christ are still like the picture in Psalms. Like trees planted by water, growing and prosperous. Those without Christ are like chaff blowing around in the wind. Relationship with God through Christ is pleasant above all thing.