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My son, let not them depart
from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall
they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then
shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not
stumble. Proverbs 3:21-23
Hear, O my son, and receive my
sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have
taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right
paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened;
and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
Proverbs 4:10-12
Last week we were out
hiking on a mountain; it was quite a steep trail and there
were some hard places that you actually had to climb up
instead of walk up. Well, we all did all right going up, but
coming back down we came to one of those real steep places
and as I came down to the bottom, somehow, I stumbled and
fell, hitting my knee against a very sharp rock. As I was
falling I can remember how helpless, I felt, knowing that I
would probably get hurt, having no control over where or how
I was going to land.
The word "stumble" is
such a helpless word; nobody likes the thought of stumbling,
because when you stumble, you are out of control. Sometimes
when you stumble, you might be able to regain control and
keep from falling, but many times you do fall and even get
hurt, like I did. In the above verses, we can see
that attending to and keeping sound wisdom will keep us from
stumbling. Of course, true wisdom comes from the Lord and
from His word and it is not to be confused with
worldly wisdom (I Cor. 1:20).
Now the Word of God
warns us many times about putting a stumblingblock before
someone else or causing another brother to stumble, but we
can also cause ourselves to stumble. I. I Cor. 1:23 says, But
we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock,
and unto the Greeks foolishness;
if you do not accept the Lord
Jesus Christ as your Savior not only will you stumble but
you will be ground to powder.
Jesus saith unto them, Did ye
never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders
rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is
the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes?
Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken
from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits
thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be
broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him
to powder. Matt. 21:42-44.
Prov. 4:19 says, The way
of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they
stumble.
II. Your own iniquity will cause
you to stumble. Look at Ezek. 7:19,
They shall cast their silver in
the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver
and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day
of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their
souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the
stumblingblock of their iniquity.
This same thought is restated in Ezek. 14:3,4,7. Isaiah 28:7
talks about stumbling because of strong drink; not
physically but in judgment. Jeremiah 13:5-6 talks about
stumbling because of pride and not giving the glory to God,
as well as Jeremiah 50:31-32. Then I Pet. 2:8 says,
And a stone of stumbling, and a
rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word,
being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
These folks are stumbling because of their disobedience to
the Word of God.
III. I John 2:10 says,
He that loveth his brother
abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of
stumbling in him. If you
don't love your brother, you are going to stumble and more
than likely cause them to stumble.
We need to look to the Lord to
clean us and purge us from all occasions of stumbling.
Now unto him that is
able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless
before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
Jude 1:24. And when we do stumble
and fall, get back up again and go on a little farther.
For a just man falleth
seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall
into mischief. Proverbs
24:16
Until next time may the Lord
bless you.
Sister Tanya
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