Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Proverbs 19:23 A Good Night's Sleep


Proverbs 19:23 “ The fear of the LORD leads to life, So that one may sleep satisfied, untouched by evil.” (NASB)

I have shared with my son Ethan something about his name that we didn’t know when he was born; when we gave him that moniker for life.  We didn’t know Ethan was a Biblical name, it was just one of those “E” names we ran across and liked.  Ethan’s namesake however does occur in the Bible.

 This passage is written about Solomon, the author of Proverbs, “For he was wiser than all men, than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was known in all the surrounding nations.” 1Kings 4:31 

You may also be interested to know that Ethan wrote Psalm 89 and if you take a close look there you might start to see why, wise as he was, Ethan was no match for Solomon.  You see, Ethan essentially accuses God of not following through on His promise to David.  He rightly acknowledges that nothing gets past God but then attributes the trouble King Rehoboam has to a broken promise.  Without going into a lot of detail, Ethan simply had it wrong.  God had not promised blessings on the kingdom without conditions.  It was Rehoboam’s lack of faithfulness that got him into trouble.  In other words, God allowed the trouble into Rehoboam’s reign for correction.

Well that’s been a long way around to get to Proverbs 19:23 written by Solomon; Solomon the wiser of the two men; wiser than Ethan.  Solomon puts things in perspective very concisely.  You might say his one sentence Proverb contains more truth than Ethan’s entire Psalm.  On the other hand Ethan does acknowledge the authority and omnipotence of God even in missing the conditions of the promise.

Solomon simply says that you can avoid all that trouble, all that correction if you will just follow the LORD in the first place.  The fear of the LORD leads to life”.  Fear is not being scared of God, it’s about having an appropriate reverence for God.  And what is the result of that right thinking, right behaving toward God?  A good night’s sleep, that’s what; a good night’s sleep with sweet dreams being satisfied with your circumstances.  And those sweet dreams are sweet indeed because they are untouched by evil.  No evil thoughts, no evil worries, no evil planning, NO EVIL PERIOD!

How will you sleep tonight?  Secure in your faith, having honored God with reverence to Him through the day and with sweet dreams tonight?  Do not forget that if you are a believer, Jesus has washed away your sin by the shedding of His blood.  He has taken the evil from you and wipes that slate clean by your faith in Him.  That clear mind and clear conscience makes this possible.  When you hit the sheets tonight, sleep well resting in Him.  AMEN!

If you would like to know more about faith in Christ leading to that sleep of satisfaction, untouched by evil I would be happy to share my faith with you.  Leave a message for me to make contact with you.

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