Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And with all thy getting, get understanding.
Proverbs 4:7

When Benjamin Franklin was seven years old, his mother gave him several pennies–the first money he’d ever owned. He ran into the street and met a boy blowing a whistle. Giving all his coppers for the whistle, young Benjamin ran home to show his treasure to his brothers and sisters. Imagine his chagrin when they laughingly informed him his whistle was worth only one penny at best. Throwing himself on the floor, he cried with vexation. But the lesson wasn’t lost. “Afterward…,” he wrote, “when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, ‘Don’t give too much for the whistle.'”

If even children can learn from their mistakes, God’s children can do the same. When we pay too much for the whistle (or foul up in any way), it’s important to take responsibility for our actions, to repent, and to learn from our mistakes. By confessing our sins, we’re removing guilt and allowing ourselves to learn the lessons of grace and growth.

A day is never lost if a lesson is learned.——From Turning Point

After crosses and losses men grow humbler and wiser.
Benjamin Franklin

“Is there anything too hard for Jehovah?” (Gen. 18:14).

Here is God’s loving challenge to you and to me today. He wants us to think of the deepest, highest, worthiest desire and longing of our hearts, something which perhaps was our desire for ourselves or for someone dear to us, yet which has been so long unfulfilled that we have looked upon it as only a lost desire, that which might have been but now cannot be, and so have given up hope of seeing it fulfilled in this life.

That thing, if it is in line with what we know to be His expressed will (as a son to Abraham and Sarah was), God intends to do for us, even if we know that it is of such utter impossibility that we only laugh at the absurdity of anyone’s supposing it could ever now come to pass. That thing God intends to do for us, if we will let Him.

“Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Not when we believe in Him enough to go forward and do His will, and let Him do the impossible for us.—— Nothing is too hard for Jehovah to do for them that trust Him –Messages for the Morning Watch

Do you love God? Wait a minute–not so fast! I mean do you really love God? I don’t mean do you talk about it, or sing about it, or brag about it–do you do it? Next question–How do you know you love God? Because you say so? Because you “feel” it? Because you attend church, etc.? How do you know you love God?   I’m not going to try to answer those questions, but I hope you will. I’m not looking for a confession. I’m not making an accusation. And, I’m not even seeking an answer. I simply want you to think about this. Maybe another question will help.   How important is this question? Jesus gave us the answer–“This is the first and great commandment.” (Matthew 22:38). So, if we fail here here we have failed altogether. This is the most basic fundamental duty of man. It doesn’t get anymore important than this. This is the cure for the ills of society. When a person truly loves God it changes him and it shows. It impacts all of our relationships. Nothing else compares to the importance of loving God and nothing can compensate for a lack of it. You can be the most religious person on earth but it’s all in vain if you don’t love God.   You can heap up treasures until you have no more room to store your possessions, be listed in “Who’s Who?”, travel around the world seeing all the wonders, have your name up in lights, and be admired by millions, and still not be a success. If you don’t love God your life can be described in one word chiseled on your tombstone-“FAILURE”. That tells it all. If you fail to love God you are a failure.   It might be that none of this matters to you, you don’t feel the least bit interested in loving God and you aren’t concerned about what He thinks, but all that will change someday. Each of us are accountable to God. None of us can escape our responsibility to love Him. What you do is your choice, but when you refuse to obey the first and great commandment you are making the worst decision of your life. You need to think about that.

“Let us run with patience” (Heb. 12:1).

For most of us, patience is not our strongest point. We speak often about our need for it, but we don’t seem to make much progress. About the time we think we’ve got it we lose it. George Matheson is one of my favorite writers. What he wrote about patience greatly blessed me, it gives much food for thought. I hope it will do the same for you.

“— run with patience is a very difficult thing. Running is apt to suggest the absence of patience, the eagerness to reach the goal. We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet, I do not think the invalid’s patience the hardest to achieve.

There is a patience which I believe to be harder–the patience that can run. To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, implies a great strength; but I know of something that implies a strength greater still: It is the power to work under a stroke; to have a great weight at your heart and still to run; to have a deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily task. It is a Christlike thing!

Many of us would nurse our grief without crying if we were allowed to nurse it. The hard thing is that most of us are called to exercise our patience, not in bed, but in the street. We are called to bury our sorrows, not in lethargic quiescence, but in active service–in the exchange, in the workshop, in the hour of social intercourse, in the contribution to another’s joy. There is no burial of sorrow so difficult as that; it is the “running with patience.”—-– Men ask for a rainbow in the cloud; but I would ask more from Thee. I would be, in my cloud, myself a rainbow–a minister to others’ joy. My patience will be perfect when it can work in the vineyard.”

And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.–Matthew 10:28   Hydrophobia is fear of water. Nyclophobia is the fear of darkness. Acrophobia is fear of high places. Xenophobia is fear of strangers. Claustrophobia is fear of confined places. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, approximately 6.3 million American adults, ages 18 to 54, have some type of specific phobia. That is a large number of people living in fear.   The horror of 9-11 subjected people to terrible suffering. That tragic day has had a lasting impact on multitudes who continue to be gripped by fear. What happened was awful and we should never forget it but we don’t have to live in fear.   David Jeremiah wrote:

Without God, this world is a frightening place, but there is no need to lead a life of trepidation. We know the One who created the heavens and the earth and told the wind and the waves to obey Him.

If we call ourselves children of God, we do not have to fear the things of this world because God tells us that He “has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). The only fear we need to live in is the fear of the Lord, for He is awesome in might and perfect in holiness.

God is down in front. He is in the tomorrows. It is tomorrow that fills men with dread. God is there already. All the tomorrows of our life have to pass Him before they can get to us.
Frederick B. Meyer