Adventurous Living - The Meadow Springs Community Church Podcast

Ps. 49, a wisdom psalm, begins by grabbing us by the collar and demanding our undivided attention. God has got something great and wonderful for us and choosing to live apart from God's wisdom and boast in worldly things will be our death, unceremonious and with no eternal destination.

During our lifetime, we can invent, build, discover and achieve many things but it is highly likely that in 100 years, no one will remember you or anything you did. Sounds more than a little depressing, right? But a life spent on those pursuits still ends - time devours everyone and no one escapes death. Might we be better off living life as we actually experience it and not chasing what we think life should be? Trusting God for everything because most things in life are ultimately totally out of our control?

The book of Proverbs offers the accumulated wisdom, passed down through many generations of God's people, so that we may live well is God's good world. Is it a bunch of promises or a formula for success? Not at all. Proverbs does, however teach us that God's justice and goodness are objective realities that we ignore at our own peril. Are we open to follow and apply God's wisdom - the road to success and peace - or do we ignore it and go down the road to ruin and folly?

Why do bad things happen to good people? This is a tough one for a lot of us. We live in an amazing but complex world that, for now, is not designed to prevent suffering. We want to make sense of it all but our understanding is too simplistic - we need to trust in God's wisdom, sovereignty and His character. We need to come before Him in honesty and prayer to help process the world and its faults, our pain and our grief.

We've been going through each book of the Bible this year, and we land in the book of Esther this Easter Sunday. It might seem odd, but consider a couple of things: Are we willing to trust God's providence even when we cannot see Him working? Do we believe that God uses the mess and moral ambiguity of people to accomplish His purposes? YES! We know He is ALIVE and always working behind the scenes, no matter how bad things get, committed to redeeming this world.

"We are Your people, the sheep of your pasture; we will thank you forever and ever, praising your greatness from generation to generation." Psalm 79:13

What makes someone worthy of such adoration? Trust, confidence and honesty - tell Him 'all the things' …the good and bad. He made you. He loves you. He already knows.

The Israelites are returning to their homeland after exile to Babylon. They desperately desire to rebuild the temple and set right their relationship with God - their hopes are high, but opposition causes some low morale. Again, they are disobedient and therefore, disappointed. What will God need to do to transform their hearts so they will follow and obey Him?

The people of Israel got their king - several of them, in fact. It's what they asked for, right? But what did having a king actually achieve? Not much… Sin again rears its destructive head and all of the kings, one right after the other, run Israel into the ground. So, what now? Is there anyone who can get things back on the right path?

When the people of Israel ask for a king, they are asking for someone who would provide a sense of security and safety in a scary world. How do we, today, learn to look to Jesus and trust God in the areas where we feel insecure?

This is our God. This is who He is - He loves us. This is our God. This is what He does - He saves us. As worshippers of Yahweh, there are no truer words! We come to the LORD in worship and in celebration of what He's done in our lives... HALLELUJAH!