Tues.3.3.15...Super Psalms- Psalm 91...Wisdom

Yesterday, we began looking at Super Psalms and in the process we began learning B.I.G. Bible Interpreting Guidelines. This is so crucial. Why? Because some of the Bible is not easy to understand. Peter even admitted this regarding some of the things that Paul wrote- “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.” 2 Pet.3:16. So we need to intelligently interpret God’s holy word. Do your homework. Wise people don’t depend on dunces or follow fools! This reminds us of our BIG #2 from yesterday- Give careful consideration to what you read.  

Speaking of wisdom, yesterday we looked at Psalm 1, which is known a wisdom psalm. The goal of wisdom literature is to exalt the way of the righteous versus the way of the wicked. The first three verses of Psalm 1 exalted the way of wisdom and the last three versus condemned the way of the wicked. If a person doesn’t recognize wisdom literature for what it is- he is apt to twist its meaning to his own destruction. Psalm 91 is a great example of this. It’s a psalm I didn’t like at all until I understood it’s goal was to exalt the way of wisdom- choosing God- versus the way of the wicked (v.8). Without that understanding of this wisdom psalm, it comes across as over the top, guaranteeing no harm to befall the godly (v.10). That was the very view that Job’s three friends had- God would have protected Job if he had just been godly. Read Psalm 91 now and see for yourself. Satan even used 91:11-12 in an attempt to mislead Jesus.

Am I saying that God doesn’t protect and bless the godly? Of course not. But as we learned weeks ago, God only guarantees to protect us from the enemy taking us to hell. Many saints throughout history have been martyred for their faith (Heb.11:37-39). And in our day, every hour another one of our persecuted brothers is put to death for his faith. Many more live in utter poverty and illness, not enjoying the earthly blessings most of us do. May we stay true to the Lord with all our hearts should hard times befall us. Thank God we have a band of brothers to encourage us on. 

Proverbs is also wisdom literature. Such wise Proverbs are proverbs, not promises. One lady who didn’t understand this said, “God lied to me! He promised in Proverbs 22:6 that if I would train my child in the way he should go, when he was old he would not depart from it. But my adult son lived all his life as a prodigal and now he’s dead!” Ugh! We need to help people see these are generalizations, not guarantees. Prosperity preachers have taken Psalm 91, and other wisdom literature passages, and twisted them to guarantee all kinds of earthly blessings, turning Christianity into a vending machine. But the Bible elsewhere reveals that sometimes the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer. Jeremiah bemoaned, "Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?" Jer.12:2

So here’s Bible Interpretation Guideline #6- It’s imperative that we know what kind of literature we are reading to interpret it and apply it correctly. For example, we don’t read poetry as if it was a lawyer’s contract. And the Psalms are poetic songs. There are different kinds of literature used in Scripture, which need to be seen and interpreted as such- There’s prophecy, proverbs, parables, poetry (such as wisdom literature we’ve been looking at in Ps.91) and prose (meaning plain speaking or writing, not like the previous kinds.) Most of the Bible is written in prose, but when we come to those other kinds, we need to interpret them as such.  And even prose contains figures of speech that we need to recognize as such. For example Jesus said, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Mt.5:29. Sadly, one young man didn’t have the common sense to recognize Jesus was using a figure of speech and so he gouged out his eye! By the way, Jesus was using that figure of speech (called hyperbole- exaggeration to capture attention and make a point) to simply mean, “Deal seriously with sin.” His audience and we know that sin is not solved by gouging out one’s eye. It resides in our soul, not in our eyes. Blind people still sin.

Those who are stubbornly ignorant of basic principles of Bible interpretation will twist it to their own destruction  (2 Pet.3;16). Satan is happy to help tempt the ignorant and unstable to even leap to their own destruction. Interestingly, the one time Satan quoted Scripture was from today’s passage- the wisdom literature of Ps.91! Satan said to Jesus standing on a pinnacle, “Throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Mt.4:6. But Jesus countered Satan’s wrong use of that wisdom psalm by quoting Dt.6:16- “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” In other words, don’t throw yourself down in front of a coming train and ask God to prove He cares for you by sparing your life miraculously. That’s not faith, it’s folly. It reminds me of the man in his kayak who thought he could safely go over Niagara Falls. His picture is not in the hall of fame or faith, but in the hall of folly. You don’t want your picture hanging there!

1.-Today's blog has not been milk for babes, but meat for the mature (Heb.5:13-14). Share one thought from today's blog.

2.-2 Peter 3:16 is a long verse. Let's just take the last portion of it to write down on our MP3 card- "Ignorant and unstable people distort...the Scriptures, to their own destruction." I know it's not a "make ya feel good" verse, but it is a crucial verse, since false teaching is on the rise.

G. How many individuals or groups did you get to share and enrich from your MP3 card?

R? (Please only type the letter R if you sought to Right a wrong.)

E? How many teammates on the blog or via a call, text or email did you Encourage since last blog? Or a prospective protégé? (Encouraging others is a key trait of Coaches. You will soon have several to coach.)

A? You have been so faithful in Attacking in prayer. Way to go!

T? Feel free to also share outreach opportunities you had, or you can just put up numbers.

Announcements

What a great video posted on Sunday! You will be awe-struck by our awesome God! Those who have gone there agree. See what you think and say what you think. It's that easy.

We just got 2 more protege applications in for M3! Keep encouraging your prospective pros to email me their application. The cut off date is next week Wed. March 11th. 

Congrats to the many of you that deserve a High 5 or more in scoring!
Special honor to those who scored 10+...Sam with 10; Jack and George with 11; and Robert with 16! Lord, thank you for my brothers that are devoted to sharing and encouraging one another in brotherly love.

1 Tim.4:15	G=God's Word	G MP3 sharing	Right Wrongs	Encouragement	A= Attack Prayers	T	Totals
	For Fri. 2.27.15
Alpha Force
Fire Team 1
Jack Rogers U.2	1	4		3	1	2	11
Roger Vinlasaca U.2	1	1	1	1	1		5
Fire Team 2							0
Mike Pagan U.2	1	2			1	2	6
George Rabiela	1	2	1	4	1	2	11
Fire Team 3							0
Sam Vargas U.2	1	2		2	1	4	10
Gary Remson U.2	1	1	1	2	1		6
Fire Team 4							0
Robert Roman U.1	1	9		4	1	1	16
Vince Diaz U.1	1	1		3	1		6
							0
Delta Force							0%
Fire Team 1							0
Alvin James U.2							0
Kentrayle Adams U.1	1		1	1	1		4
Fire Team 2							0
Dave Heidekruger U.2	1	1		4	1		7
Israel Fuentes U.2	1	2		1	1		5
Fire Team 3							0
Daniel Contreras U.1	1	1	1	2	1		6
Antonio Palomar							0
Fire Team 4							0
Eddie Morales U.2	1			4	1		6
Ismael Andrade U.2	1	1		3	1		6

Here’s a summary of our BIG Bible Interpreting Guidelines (We’ll discover others as we go along in our series.)

1- Ask questions!

2- Give careful consideration to what you read. (Study and meditate on it)

3- The purpose of rightly interpreting the Bible is to rightly obey it.

4- The Bible is the best interpreter of itself. So compare Scripture with Scripture.

5- Being prayerful is commendable but it is not a dependable replacement for the careful study of Scripture.

6- It’s imperative that we know what kind of literature we are reading to interpret it and apply it correctly.