August 30, 2024 -- Proverbs 30:5 -- God's Word: His command and His promise

Every word of God proves true;
     He is shield to those who take refuge in Him.
Proverbs 30:5 ESV

Where the English reads word the original Hebrew language has a few different nouns which have all been simply translated as word. It can be word, as in, this is the word of the LORD though it is His prophets who speak it. They do so as His ambassadors and as such these words carry the weight of the High King of Heaven Himself. In today's verse the original language word carries the underlying sense of both command and promise. Those who receive His word as a command and pattern their lives according to it, find He does exactly as He promises.

Look at the lives of various prominent men and women in the Bible who faced incredible hardships and yet walking in obedience to Him knew God as their shield of protection. Ruth, the Moabitess, left her peoples and all she knew and though widowed followed her mother-in-law from Moab (thus leaving her pagan life) going to the land of Israel. She walked according to the promises of God as Naomi her mother-in-law taught her. She was shielded by God’s goodness and given a place among the people of God. Stephen, the first New Testament martyr, was described as a man full of grace and power. He was filled with the wisdom of God. Saul, the killer of Christians before he became Paul the disciple of Jesus, was there overseeing the stoning-to-death of Stephen. As he was dying Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of Jesus (Acts 7:55) and thus shielded by the word of God with his dying breath, as his final statement, prayed for the forgiveness of his persecutors. Even as he was dying he took refuge in God His shield and under that shelter found courage and holy boldness to pray.

Stephen’s prayer certainly was uttered as one obedient to the word, where word means the command and promise of God. Interestingly, Saul would later be rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought into the kingdom of Light, where glorious Son of God rules His saved people by His gracious word. Interestingly, Saul, later named Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit wrote “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Romans 8:14). Surely Paul as he penned those words he must have remembered the time he approved the martyrdom of Stephen and as he watched the man dying, nevertheless heard Stephen pray the blessing of God’s forgiving mercy be applied to all his persecutors. In a beautiful answer to Stephen’s prayer uttered with his life’s final breaths, Saul, one of the most prominent persecutors becomes a trophy of Jesus’ grace.

For Ruth and Stephen, and in the lives of the people once-sinners-now-by-grace-saints which the Bible records, you see how the word—the commands of God and the promises attached to it—shielded them. They encountered heavy and hard trials. Yet those hardships proved to be light and momentary in the view of God’s great salvation. Dear fellow believer, obey the commands of God and trust His promises are "yes" and "amen" in Jesus Christ.

Who is like You, O God of mercy and love? There is none in the farthest reaches of the cosmos, nor anywhere else in all creation who can even approach Your greatness, Your splendor, Your majesty and power. You alone are God and Your commands and promises are true and all-together lovely. Thank You for the accomplished work of Jesus Christ through Whom we are reconciled to You and to one another and set at peace within our own mind and hearts. Blessed be Your Name, Jesus, as You with the Father, give to us the strengthening Holy Spirit to live in us til this life’s fierce warfare shall cease. Guide us, Almighty God, that we may walk according to Your commands and live in the glorious light of Your promises fulfilled. Amen.

https://youtu.be/rmmJ900eL2s?si=1SDt-ErSaPFTDASL “Give Me Jesus”

Copyright © 2024 Sh'ma Christian Ministries, All rights reserved.