The bible today

Today my reading from scripture was taken from Proverbs and Acts.

In Proverbs 28 these verses caught my attention:

5Evil men do not understand justice,
but those who seek the LORD understand it completely.
25A greedy man stirs up strife,
but the one who trusts in the LORD will be enriched.
26Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool,
but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.

Then I read in Acts 1 these verses:

1But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, 2and with his wife's knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet. 3But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? 4While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." 5When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. 6The young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him.

7After an interval of about three hours his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8And Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much." And she said, "Yes, for so much." 9But Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out." 10Immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in they found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.

These verses just seemed to fit well together this morning. In Proverbs we learned the folly of going against God. Of thinking that we know better. And in Acts we see the living proof of that.

In teaching Sunday School this year, I found it a challenge to help my girls see the treasure that we have in Christ and at the same time to see that listening to him and obeying him are so very important. We need to see both. We need to see God's mercy as well as his justice. It's hard to convey it well to youth. They tend to see God as well, he's there right? And we can talk with him. But it's not like he'll do anything to us. Sometimes it seems that God is so distant from them, but then they'll surprise me with flashes of insight. I live for those moments! :) I really do. It's fun to watch that "oh" look in their eyes.

I'm still not sure that they really understand that Justice and Mercy are both attributes of God. It is something that all of us need to see and understand. God's path is wisdom, man's path is folly. Trying to fool God is just plain stupid.

I'm not sure if God still kills people today for daring to openly test him, but he has in the past, and he still can. Why go the way of the fool if you don't need to?