The Way of Understanding

Bible passages from One Year Bible – Exodus 34:1-35:9; Matthew 27:15-31; Psalm 23:12-22; Proverbs 9:1-6

The Lord’s Way is the Way of Understanding
Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding. – Proverbs 9:6

The enemy’s way is foolish. Forsake him. The way of the Lord is the way of understanding. Follow God’s way, and you will live.

Forsake – to quit or leave entirely; abandon; desert
Follow – to come after in sequence; to go or come after; to conform to, comply with, or act in accordance with; obey; to imitate or copy, to move forward

God Reveals Himself
And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. – Exodus 34:5-7

I have never seen something in today’s passages of Exodus. The Lord stood with Moses, and the Lord proclaimed His Name and who He was to Moses…and so to us. Yes, we should declare His Names back to Him and this dying world, but first, He has declared them to us. He is the Lord God, Merciful, Gracious, Longsuffering, abundant in Goodness, abundant in Truth, Forgiving, Just.

Proclaim – to announce or declare officially or formally; to make known publicly or openly

God Warns
Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: – Exodus 34:12

God instructs the children of Israel to be careful entering into new lands; to be careful not to come into agreements with the inhabitants of the land in ways that might change their beliefs of the laws God gave them. This is a good warning for us as well. We should be careful when establishing core relationships. Whether it sounds “politically correct” or not, those we spend the most time with have the most influence on us…whether that group is a work group, a social group, or family.

Heed – to give careful attention to
Snare – anything serving to entrap or entangle; a device for capturing small game; to catch or involve by trickery or wile.

God’s Presence Changes Us
And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. – Exodus 34:29-30

God was concerned that the Israelites would spend time with the inhabitants of the land and be changed. In the same type of way, when we spend time with others, we are changed. When we spend time in the Presence of God, we are changed. He changes us, and the people around us can see the change, just like the children of Israel could see Moses face shining with the Glory of God. There is only one way we can truly be carriers of the Light and that is to spend time in the Presence of the Light of the World. His Name is Jesus!


Envy Killed Our Lord
Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him. – Matthew 27:17-18

When we allow envy into our hearts, when we accuse without the proper course, when we harbor jealousy in any form, we will enable the spirit of envy to grow within. The same spirit that took over the Jewish religious leaders and ultimately led to the death of Jesus, our Lord. 

Instead of replaying things in our mind that leads to “no good thing,” how much better had the accusers of Jesus and if we would take a breath, intentionally step away from jealousy, and allow ourselves to hear and receive what we need from the Lord Himself. If we don’t stop the enemy right there in his tracks, we will receive a seed of envy that will grow and, if not rooted up, will produce the seed of murder. It says in this verse that “for envy, they had delivered him.” What killed Jesus? It started with envy.

Getting envy out of our lives is not easy, but from what we see in the scripture above, it is necessary. Here are a few more verses to hide in our hearts to keep us vigilant about noticing and cutting off jealousy and envy in our lives. What other verses would you add to this list? 

A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones. – Proverbs 14:30

For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. – James 3:16

Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. – Galatians 5:21

Jealousy – feeling resentment against someone because of that person’s rivalry, success, or advantages
Envy – the feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions.
Covetousness – eager or excessive desire, especially for wealth or possessions

The Lord Sees and Knows Each of Us
The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considerth all their works. – Psalm 33:13-15

Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. – Psalms 33:18-22

The Lord is watching and sees not only what we are doing but what is in our hearts and the actions we take. 

Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee. The question now is, do you hope in the Lord? If we are as faithful to hope as He is merciful, what a change we would find in our lives.

Father, I come before You on bended knees thanking You for Your presence that changes me in so many great ways. Thank You Lord for Your warnings and Your Way of Knowledge. Place me on that path Lord and don’t let me stray. I want to live a life abundant in faith, and joy, and love. I want to know You. Lord forgive us when we allow foolish things to grow in our lives. Things like Jealousy, envy, pride. These things You hate because they lead only to eternal death. Show us the areas that we’ve held on to and that we need to surrender. I know that I have spent way more time than I should being jealous of others. Forgive me, Father. I want to live a life of holiness following You. Help me today! Plant Your Word in my heart and plant a life of prayer within me! Set my spirit on FIRE, Lord. I ask in Jesus Name. Amen! Amen