Tag: Proverbs

Step Into the Light

Posted in @jimmiekepler, Ancient Wisdom for Today, Bible, Blog, Christian Living, Christian Writers, Jim Kepler, Jimmie A. Kepler, Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Jimmie Kepler, jimmiekepler.com, Poet, Poet's Life, Poets, Writer's Life, WritingLeave a comment

There’s a stretch of highway I used to drive before sunup. I would see nothing but gray shapes and guesswork, mile markers swallowed whole by the dark.

You’d swear the road had disappeared. Then, so slow you almost missed it, a thin line of light would crack open the horizon. Not a flood. Not a flash. Just enough to see the next hundred yards.

Then I’d top a hill and there would be town. I was at my destination.

That’s the only kind of light God’s ever promised me.
I wanted the whole map once. Every turn, every mile laid out before I took the first step was what I wanted before starting my journey.

Took me a long while to understand that’s not how grace travels. It comes the way dawn comes: a little more light for the little more road you can see.

One prayer. One choice. One stubborn act of trust before the coffee’s even cooled.

Proverbs 4:18 says it plain, the path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.

So if your beginning looks thin right now. Maybe it looks like a blank page, a quiet prayer, a faith you’re not sure will hold your weight. Don’t you dare despise it. Sunrise never apologizes for starting slow.

Look back five years, ten. You’ll find the dark doesn’t sit on you the way it used to. You haven’t arrived. But friend, you are not where you started.

Keep walking or driving forward. The light’s already coming.

Lord, when the road looks dim, help me trust the light You’ve already given, and walk it faithful, one step at a time. Amen.

#FaithJourney #MorningLight #Proverbs #WalkByFaith #Devotional #TrustTheProcess #SpiritualGrowth #DawnBreaking

God’s Sovereignty

Posted in Blog, Jim Kepler, Jimmie A. Kepler, Jimmie Aaron Kepler, Jimmie Kepler11 Comments

Proverbs 21

I recently read Proverbs 21. Proverbs 21 verse 1 immediately caught my attention. I meditated and reflected on the implications of Proverbs 21:1.  I read the verse in several different translations. Doing this helps me secure the meaning of the verse.

Attributes of God’s Sovereignty

Proverbs 21:1 deals directly with the attributes of God’s sovereignty.

Proverbs 21:1 (King James Version) – The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.

Proverbs 21:1 (English Standard Version) – The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

Proverbs 21:1 (New American Standard Bible) – The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.

Proverbs 21:1 (New International Version) – The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.

Proverbs 21:1 (New Living Translation) – The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord; he guides it wherever he pleases.

God Is In Charge

The verse is a reminder, no, a wake-up call that God is in charge. He is in control. I recalled a couple of Bible verses that point this out, God being in control. Romans 8:28 is the first verse that came to mind.

Romans 8:28 (King James Version) says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Next Ephesians 1:11 was remembered.

Ephesians 1:11 (King James Version) says, “In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:”

The phrase “all things” means everything.  It tells us that God is over everything. So, if we go to the Bible and look for specific examples of the “all things” that God is sovereign over we can find a never-ending list.

Ten Examples of God’s Sovereignty

Here are ten examples of God’s Sovereignty found in the Bible (italics mine):

  1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE DECISIONS OF KINGS

Proverbs 21:1 – “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” — That was the verse I read this morning.

  1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE LOSS OF OR THE GAINING OF WEALTH

Deuteronomy 8:18 – “But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you the power to make wealth…”

  1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE LOSS OF FAMILY, WEALTH, AND HEALTH

Job 1:21- “He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away.'”

  1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER ALL DECISIONS

Proverbs 16:33 – “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD.”

  1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE BIRDS

Matthew 10:29 – “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them(the sparrows or birds) will fall to the ground apart from your Father.”

  1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER ALL KINGS AND NATIONS

Daniel 4:35- “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?'”

  1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER TRAVEL PLANS

James 4:13-15 – “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’; yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’“

  1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER SUFFERING IN THE LIVES OF CHRISTIANS

1 Peter 4:19 – “Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right,”

  1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE REPENTANCE OF A PERSON

2 Timothy 2:25 – “with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,”

  1. GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE SPIRITUAL MATURITY OF THE BELIEVER

Hebrews 6:1-3 – “Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits.”

God Is Sovereign

God is sovereign. He is in control. His plans ultimately are accomplished.

I write nonfiction and science fiction with faith. I write about God’s Sovereignty in my science fiction with faith.

Image by Monfocus from Pixabay with modifications by the author.