SCRIP-BITS

Proverbs 30:13.    There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up.
 
Oh Friends, it’s Friday, and also New Year’s Eve! Wow! What a double whammy! Let the partying begin! (smile) Unfortunately though some have already begun partying with the day off, while others still have to go out and labour before they can party tonight. That means our Friday Morning Chant is doubly important today, what with all the wild celebrations in the air. So Friends, let’s chant it with much gusto, even louder than we’re going to sing Auld Lang Syne later on. ‘Oh Lord, thanks for getting me safely through another week of work! It hasn’t been easy, but with your generous help, I made it through. Now, please help me to get sufficient fun, fellowship, rest and relaxation in these two short days off, so that I can be renewed and refreshed in soul, body and mind, to go back out and do it all over again next week, furthering your glorious kingdom with each step I take. I pray this in Jesus name. Amen.’ Oh Friends, please remember in all of your excitement and partying that come Monday, nothing would really have changed, except that you’re too tired to go to work. Some will again be lucky to get Monday off because the holiday fell on the weekend, but most of us working stiffs will have to face the daily commute and the waiting enemy, since we’re expected to show up and labour as usual. So please don’t let all the jolly shouts of ‘Happy New Year’ and the numerous hugs and kisses, even from total strangers, dim your perspective. And it seems like the Spirit wants us to focus on certain kinds of people whom the Psalmist Agur observed during life’s ongoing activities. Agur outlines four special groups: The first, which we talked about some time ago, is: ‘There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.’ (Prov.30:11) The second was our Bit yesterday: ‘There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.’ (Prov.30:12) And the third is our current Bit: ‘There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! And their eyelids are lifted up (lifted up in arrogance).’ Oh my people, unfortunately all three groups are just as prevalent today as in Agur’s time, and not only because we’re operating on a much larger scale of society and the world than back then, but because ungodliness and evil have become the leading lights of our society and the world in general. None of that however detracts from the fact that it’s wrong and doesn’t sit well with our God. We all know that nothing gets the Lord’s dander up like pride and arrogance in His children, since that means He’s relegated to some unimportant role, if any, in their lives. Let’s look at some scriptures that bear out these truths. First up are Cousin Sol’s words on the seven deadly sins. And what’s the first one he names? ‘A proud look…’ (Prov.6:17) Yes Friends, pride, arrogance and haughtiness will make us pay a stiff penalty in the courts of God’s justice. Meanwhile, listen to Isaiah  when he talks of the coming judgement on the proud. ‘The lofty (proud) looks of man shall be humbled,and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon everyone that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low.’ (Is.2:11-12) And again when he speaks of the woes pronounced on the faithless. ‘And the mean people (man) shall be brought down, and the mighty (each) man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled. But the Lord of hosts shall be exalted in judgement, and God that is holy shall be sanctified in righteousness (hallowed).’ (Is.5:15-16) Oh Friends, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon or rocket scientist to decipher from those passages that all those who have not humbled themselves before the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will in His time be taught a harsh lesson for that destructive, ungodly behaviour. Please, let’s try and not be amongst that sad, unfortunate lot, for it will not be a very nice experience. And seeing that today is a really busy day, with all the party plans still not completed, we’ll end here. God willing, we’ll continue it tomorrow, for there’s much more to say on it. In fact the best is yet to come! (smile) Till then, please walk safely with the Lord and don’t overdo the partying. Much LOVE!…remember…in God’s scheme of things…the proud shall be abased…but the humble exalted…