OXEN

Today’s Reading: Proverbs 14

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Jerash, Jordan, reveals glimpses of splendour that once adorned this city. It was one of the ten cities of the Decapolis mentioned in the Gospel of Mark 5:20. Jesus travelled throughout these cities showing the love of God to the non-Jewish population. These nations were not righteous and they did not experience the promise of Proverbs 14:34.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verses: Proverbs 14: 26, 34

…In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence,

And His children will have a place of refuge.

…Righteousness exalts a nation,

But sin is a reproach to any people.

We should consider verse 27 also, “The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life!” The ultimate in respect, reverence, worship and honour is the main ingredient in “the fear of the Lord.” It’s truly a matter of life and death! Choose Life!!!

Before we consider the second of the key verses, let’s back up to Proverbs 14:4a. “Where no oxen are (the stall), the trough is clean.” When we are involved in life, in government, in business, in caring for others, and in the church, life can get messy. It’s really hard to keep everything as it should be. It may resemble the stall where the oxen are housed. The only way to keep from the mess of everyday life would be to live on an isolated island. But then we, ourselves, would be a mess! We need to live in the middle of the action, pulling the load of our families and our communities with strength that comes from God!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, how Your great heart must be broken over the modern slaughter of the innocents by abortion. Have mercy, O God, I pray. Have mercy on our country and on the many nations (ethnos) who live inside the borders of my country. I pray this for Jesus’ sake, Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

In Jerusalem I have stood beside the Hinnom Valley, known in Hebrew as “Gehenna” (translated “Hell”). It was here that the bodies of babies were burned in the fires. I’ve just googled the words “burned his children in the fire” (see 2 Chronicles 28:1-3 and 2 Chronicles 29:1-11). Today our government sanctions the throwing of the bodies of the little ones into incinerators. I pray with weeping. God have mercy! O God, I repent on behalf of our land! Ours is a country for which our founders declared in our official motto that You would have dominion from sea to sea, “Ad mare usque ad mare!” Lord God, we need many Hezekiahs in our Houses of Parliament. Have mercy on us, O God!!!

I’m back to thinking about “Oxen.” “Red Ox Point” on the shore of a lake just north of Kingston, was named because 150 years ago a team of oxen outpulled a team of huge work horses. It is said that oxen have a steady pull and when horses try to pull a load that is too heavy, they will start and stop, start and stop. In that case I would rather be an ox than a horse. Steady progress in righting the evils that plague our land will eventually win the day!

Yours for pulling together as a team!

David

P.S. The picture below depicts the King of Judah about to burn a little life in the fires of the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom, offering a child to be sacrificed to the image of the pagan god Molech. The people of Jerusalem believed that this valley was the entrance to Hell.