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Daily Reading: Deut 8-10
Actually read: Deut 8-10 Prov 15.
In Deut. Moses is still talking to the Israelites. He tells them that the Lord humbled them, and tested them. But God doesn't test for His benefit, He tests for ours. Moses also bring up Israel's sin, also to humble them, to let them know that it is not their righteousness that earned God's favor, but God chose their fathers. So it is, that God chose us, before we could choose Him, and continues to choose us.
Prov 15.
The biggest topic that I find in proverbs is the contrast between the wise and the foolish. The wise become wiser because they accept the teaching of others. A lot of the verses found here have to do with the words that come out of our mouths. A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
But what about verse 10 of proverbs 15? Stern correction awaits him who leaves the path, he who hates correction will die. Is that me? Is that us? Do we like to be taught and instructed? Do we like being honest with ourselves and other people? Do we read the Bible just to say we are doing good? The power of God's word comes from its application. It comes from us checking our lives with it. We ask ourselves, am I doing what this says? How does this apply to me? How can I change my thoughts and attitudes to become more like Jesus? If this is not how we read God's word, then we nullify His power and we have no place for him in our lives.

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The Bible says that God's word is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating even to divide the soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) That sounds like surgery. Surgery isn't an experience that we would normally think of as being pleasant, but isn't it necessary for survival? Not all surgery is life essential, but some of it is. The surgery that God wants to perform on us; however, is essential. He needs to go deep inside and slowly begin to remove the sin from us. Sin is like a cancer, and quite a fickle one at that. Just when you think it's all been gotten out, it comes back, with a vengeance. Sin is the most intelligent cancer, because it's directed and controlled by an outside force, and it knows just where to strike. That's why God's surgery on us is so important to our survival.

But there's always two ways to do things, isn't there? You may hear it in a movie: "Alright, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." But what's the easy way, and what's the hard way? God sometimes may not wait around for us to give him permission to remove our sin. I mean, He owns us; right, and we already gave Him the OK back when we accepted Christ, right? So why then would He have to ask our permission and sit and wait around until we gave it to Him? He doesn't. He may decide, in his wisdom and love, that something needs to be taken care of NOW, and just step in. We may not even know it's happening until it's done. Just imagine yourself, sitting on the operating table, God's standing over you, looking a little frustrated, and you're shouting: No! No! That's my tumor and I want it back!!! But don't we do that, when God asks us to get rid of our sin, and then sometimes steps in? We all have sin that we are holding onto. But which would you rather choose, the easy way; which is that of an informed patient who submits to anesthetic, or the hard way; which is somebody who needs to be restrained, and because of their rebelliousness, suffers more pain?