“Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart.” Psalm 119:34

As a pastor, I am delighted when people ask questions about the Bible. However, there are some folks who are more irritating than they are delightful. I get tired of people complaining about not being able to understand the Bible when they are not really studying the Bible, nor obeying it. They act as though it is God’s fault for not making it clear enough. I like the following comments made by the late Adrian Rogers:

The reason some of us don’t understand the Bible any more than we do is because we have not been living up to the light that God has already given us.

If you want to understand the part of the Bible that you don’t understand, then begin to obey the part that you do understand. Then you’ll begin to understand what you didn’t understand. Understand?

Ask God for faith that will reveal to you the hidden truths of His Word that are hard for you to understand right now.

At the heart of life’s major struggles is a theological issue. Putting it in the form of a question: “Is God in charge or is He not?”

If we could, by some wonderful force from heaven, be allowed to slip from this earth in our present state and into the glory of heaven, we would not find one shred of evidence that reveals panic. You would never once hear “oops” from the lips of God, or “I wonder what we’re going to do about that down there?” Nor would we ever observe anxiety across the face of the living God. We would be stunned with amazement at how calm things are around His awesome throne.

From this side of glory we see the tapestry of life from underneath. It is full of knots and twisted threads and frayed ends that lack meaning and beauty. But from God’s perspective, looking at the top of the fabric, it is all under control.–By Charles Swindoll

George Truett (1867-1944) was the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, TX. for 47 years. It’s said that the desire of his life was, “Thy will be done”. I mention this because of something he said, and I’ve repeated it over and over again—-“God’s will is always right. God’s will is always best. God’s will is always safest.” I’ve been thinking about that more than 40 years, and I agree whole-heartedly. There have been many occasions when God’s will clashed with my desires and I’ve always been helped by reminding myself that God’s will is always right, best, and safest. Knowing that, I’ve tried to do my duty.That is always profitable.   In 1890, J.R. Miller wrote: The safest place in all this world-is ever the place of duty. God’s wings are over it. God’s peace guards it. It is said that at the center of the cyclone, that there is a spot where there is almost perfect calm. A leaf there is scarcely stirred, and a baby could lie there unharmed. So at the center of every great peril in life, is a spot of holy calm where even the feeblest would not be harmed. It is the place of duty, of obedience, of the doing of God’s will. He who stays there amid peril and trial-is perfectly safe. No storm smites him, no plague comes near his dwelling. The way of duty, is always a place of absolute safety. But he who departs from this charmed center, soon finds himself caught in the wild swirl and in peril. None of sin’s ways are safe.

Genesis 39:12
He left his garment in her hand, and fled, and got him out.

Most of you will recognize this as the account of Joseph escaping the temptation presenred by Potiphar’s wife. That story teaches us a great lesson. Remember the old saying, “Play with fire and you’ll get burned”? Well, it’s true, and if you flirt with sin you will become a victim. Charles Spurgeon said it much better than I can. Here’s what he wrote:

In contending with certain sins there remains no mode of victory but by flight. The ancient naturalists wrote much of basilisks ( a legendary reptile), whose eyes fascinated their victims and rendered them easy victims; so the mere gaze of wickedness puts us in solemn danger. He who would be safe from acts of evil must haste away from occasions of it. A covenant must be made with our eyes not even to look upon the cause of temptation, for such sins only need a spark to begin with and a blaze follows in an instant. Who would wantonly enter the leper’s prison and sleep amid its horrible corruption? He only who desires to be leprous himself would thus court contagion. If the mariner knew how to avoid a storm, he would do anything rather than run the risk of weathering it. Cautious pilots have no desire to try how near the quicksand they can sail, or how often they may touch a rock without springing a leak; their aim is to keep as nearly as possible in the midst of a safe channel. This day I may be exposed to great peril, let me have the serpent’s wisdom to keep out of it and avoid it. The wings of a dove may be of more use to me to-day than the jaws of a lion. It is true I may be an apparent loser by declining evil company, but I had better leave my cloak than lose my character; it is not needful that I should be rich, but it is imperative upon me to be pure. No ties of friendship, no chains of beauty, no flashings of talent, no shafts of ridicule must turn me from the wise resolve to flee from sin. The devil I am to resist and he will flee from me, but the lusts of the flesh, I must flee, or they will surely overcome me. O God of holiness preserve thy Josephs, that Madam Bubble bewitch them not with her vile suggestions. May the horrible trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil, never overcome us!