John 3:16
No one can out give God. He began at Creation. There He gave mankind life. He gave all that was necessary to sustain human life. Beyond that He gave mankind a chance and a choice whereby humanity could have a great life enjoying an intimate relationship with God.
The human race failed to see the significance of the chance and the choice that was theirs for the taking. A few came to know God in a special way. In time God gave again. This time He gave His only begotten Son who came to die on a Cross so that once again mankind could know the offer of a chance and a choice. The offer is still available to all who will accept it. The offer extends a chance to those who will make a choice to enjoy a great life in Christ.
In addition to these tremendous gifts God gave mankind the Church. The Church is the sum total of those who have made a choice to enjoy an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. Because of His sacrifice on the Cross forgiveness is available to any who will turn from sin and allow Him to be the Lord and Savior of their life.
But God continued to give. He gave the Church the Comforter. The Holy Spirit, known also as the Comforter is given to the Church so that all who have been forgiven of a sinful life and have rejected sinfulness to live for Christ can now know an abundant life. Once again God has given us a chance and a choice. This choice is to admit the corruption of the nature as a result of the original sin in the Garden, asking God to cleanse the nature while filling the void with the fullness of Himself. Life in the Spirit is known in full as the believer is made as God originally intended mankind.
No one can out give God. It is for us to receive. He only expects obedience and complete submission to His will in return.
Dr. Gayle Woods
Proverbs 3:1-18
Keeping the laws of God is basic to trusting the Lord with all your heart, not leaning on your own understanding, and acknowledging Him in all your ways. The Hebrew word that is translated law in verse 1 is Towrah which we often see transliterated as Torah. For the Jews, this word has come to be synonymous with the Pentateuch. The verb from which it is derived means “to project, to point out or to teach.” It is easy to grasp the connection. The law of God is what He uses to point out His will to mankind. The word is used in various ways throughout the Old Testament. It at times refers to ritual, custom, or prescriptive right, but it is also used to speak of specific ordinances, to groups of regulations and instructions, and to the books that contain them. The Greek word that is used in the Septuagint for Law is Nomos. Both of these words speak of the Law of Moses as being one law while containing many commandments (entolai). “This law is also called the Law of the Lord because, though it was given by Moses (John 1:17) and by the disposition of angels (Acts 7:53), it really represented the will of the Lord God (Luke 2:23).” Girdlestone p. 231
Although law, judgment and justice are important concepts in Gods dealings with mankind they are always tempered with mercy. The Hebrew term in verse 3 that is used for mercy is Chacad which is used in various ways to speak of Gods dealings with mankind, and also to suggest how we should deal with each other. The Greek term used in the Septuagint is Eleos. An example of how the word is used is found in the New Testament in the account of the good Samaritan the “one who shewed the mercy”. To display mercy is to show love in practical ways even though the person may not deserve our love. The exercise of our mercy may cost us time, financial expenditure, and a loss of time or comfort. Girdlestone notes something of interest when he says, “It is a remarkable fact that the word Chaciyd (a variant of Chacad) when applied to man, has usually a possessive pronoun affixed to it, so as to indicate that the persons who are exercising this disposition belong in a special sense to God. They are “his merciful ones” (A.V. “His saints”). p. 131
We are forcefully reminded by these observations that Gods law is not something that is to be negotiated. It is not an option. It is to be obeyed and when disobeyed dire consequences will follow. On the other hand, God extends His mercy to those who have disobeyed the law but want to turn from their wicked ways. In all of this, His people are to emulate His perfection. We are to obey His law carefully but not legalistically. His mercy is to be extended through us to others who have faltered in the way.
Dr. Gayle Woods
