Week 22 Walking Through the Thorns
Plucking thorns while trampling roses is no way to go through life
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
Abraham Lincoln
Today’s Passage
1“I have made a covenant with my eyes; How then could I gaze at a virgin?
2“And what is the portion of God from above Or the heritage of the Almighty from on high?
3“Is it not calamity to the unjust And disaster to those who work iniquity?
4“Does He not see my ways And number all my steps?
5“If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot has hastened after deceit,
6Let Him weigh me with accurate scales, And let God know my integrity.
7“If my step has turned from the way, Or my heart followed my eyes, Or if any spot has stuck to my hands,
8Let me sow and another eat, And let my crops be uprooted.
Job 31:1–8 (NASB95)
Background
Quotes are summarized from Wikipedia. Passage summaries are from Biblehub.com by Jay Smith, with permission. Scripture comes from LOGOS software under license.
Quote-Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defeating the Confederate States of America and playing a major role in the abolition of slavery.
Lincoln was born into poverty in Kentucky and raised on the frontier. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. representative. Angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, which opened the territories to slavery, he became a leader of the new Republican Party. A month after Lincoln assumed the presidency, Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter, starting the Civil War. Re-elected in 1864, he sought to heal the war-torn nation through Reconstruction.
On April 14, 1865, five days after the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, Lincoln was attending a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., when he was fatally shot by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln is remembered as a martyr and a national hero for his wartime leadership and for his efforts to preserve the Union and abolish slavery. He is often ranked in both popular and scholarly polls as the greatest president in American history.
Passage-The book of Job is Narrative History. Its author is unknown yet it is possible that Job himself wrote it. It is possible that Job is the oldest of any book of the Bible written approximately 2100-1800 B.C. Key personalities of this book include Job, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, Zophar the Naamathite, and Elihu the Buzite.
In Job, we see a man who God allows to be directly attacked by Satan. He is an example of faithfulness as he loses everything important to him yet remains faithful to God. Its purpose is to illustrate God’s sovereignty and faithfulness during a time of great suffering.
Opening Statement
“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze on a virgin” yet we find it quite easy to say or agree to a thing and then mentally turn away from it though we keep the flesh far from it. This is about hope, but it doesn’t start that way.
Ask: If we successfully keep our actions from doing bad things is that all there is? Does it matter what goes through our minds?
Point: Yes, it matters, but the first step is using the mind to stop the body. The hardest part is stopping the mind after the body. Please read the following:
27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;
28but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Matthew 5:27–28 (NASB95)
Ask: This is very difficult to control so what right does God have to ask us to do that? Does He have the right to ask us that?
Point: Yes, He does because He already went through it as our example and has earned the right by both being the Creator, and having sacrificed Himself for us. Please read the following:
6For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
7For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die.
8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
9Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Romans 5:6–9 (NASB95)
Ask: What does that mean with regard to our thoughts and actions?
Point: It means Jesus has the final judgment on right and wrong, not human beings. Please read the following:
10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.
11Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences.
12We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart.
2 Corinthians 5:10–12 (NASB95)
Ask: Can we trust the judgment of Jesus?
Point: Yes, above all others because He knows God’s will for all things and through that knowledge judges fairly. Please read the following:
28“Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,
29and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
30“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
31“If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true.
32“There is another who testifies of Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.
John 5:28–32 (NASB95)
Ask: How does this tie in to Today’s Passage?
Point: What you look for, you will find. If you look for thorns, you will find them and miss the roses. But, if you look for the roses you won’t mind the thorns so much.
Ask: How does my perception of life and what I look for relate to God’s judgment?
Point: What you look for, changes who you are when you find it. Please read the following:
22“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.
23“But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.
Matthew 6:22–24 (NASB95)
Ask: If I’m serving God walking on His path for my life that doesn’t mean the thorns will be removed so what do we do about them?
Point: Please re-read Today’s Passage verses 7 & 8:
7“If my step has turned from the way, Or my heart followed my eyes, Or if any spot has stuck to my hands,
8Let me sow and another eat, And let my crops be uprooted.
Job 31:7–8 (NASB95)
Ask: If I think “…my step has turned from the way” what should I do?
Point: Please read the following:
3Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man.
5Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
6In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.
7Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
8It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones.
Proverbs 3:3–8 (NASB95)
Ask: Okay, but what about those thoughts that wander though the flesh remains steady?
Point: Please read the following:
20But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!
21“You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.
22“Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you.
Acts 8:20–22 (NASB95)
Ask: What should we take away and change from verse 7 telling us, “…Or if any spot has stuck to my hands?”
Point: These are past deeds we cannot change or undo others either can see in our lives or know about. Please read the following:
1O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.
3You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all.
Psalm 139:1–4 (NASB95)
Closing Statement
The World is only concerned with outward appearances, with surface-level inputs and outcomes. No one in the world can tell what another person is really thinking, why they do things, or what actual intentions were. But God knows these things. When we walk His path for our lives we walk through the thorns of life. His Word still rains down on us, tries to be sown in us, tries to gain purchase within our hearts. Do we look for the thorns of life and let the pain of the pricks dislodge the seed of His Word, or do we covet the beauty of the rose and let the seeds grow in the light of a smile? We get to decide how we walk through life. No one else does, and God knows the choice we’ve made.