Browse Tag: 1 Samuel

The Bread of Deceit

Bread
Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.

Bread of Deceit

Yesterday, I wrote about the struggle with sin and how it is like venom of poisonous serpents. (“Of Mercy, Truth, Departing from Evil, Walking in Integrity, and Redemption”) “Just as the Israelites in the desert turned their eyes upon the brass serpent and were healed from the deadly venom of serpents, so I must look to Jesus only as the antivenom for my iniquity.” Today, I was impressed by the deceitfulness of sin when I read Proverbs 20:17: “Bread of deceit is sweet to a man; but afterwards his mouth shall be filled with gravel.” Yesterday, my thoughts were on the “afterwards,” the mouth full of gravel, the venom in the veins. But it’s the lure that gets one there. It starts with the deception. That’s the sweetness, the delicious bread. It ends with a mouth full of rocks.

There are some verses in Job that make the same connection between the deceitful sweetness and the bitter end result. Job 20:4, 5 says: “Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?” Several verses below we find:

12. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
13. Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
14. Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
15. He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
16. He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.

Job 20:12 – 16

It’s impossible for my mind to not go straight back to the Garden of Eden when reading this. To be right there in that time of old, “since man was placed upon earth,” and to hear the tempter, “that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world,” (Revelation 12:9) saying, “You shall not surely die,” and to see Eve look upon the pleasant and desirable fruit… until Adam ultimately joined the feast and we all ended up with mouths full of gravel.

Hear a quote from Charles Bridges on Proverbs 20:17:

It is with deceit, as with every other sin, Satan always holds out the bait; always promises gain or pleasure as the wages of his service, and as surely disappoints the victims of his delusion.

 

Lead Me Not Into Temptation

Yesterday, I used the heading, “Deliver Me From Evil.” This morning I need to step back in my heart and pray, “Lead me not into temptation.” If the battle with sin is present every day, if I still have tendencies to indulge my flesh, if it remains so until I die – then I cannot flirt with temptation and expect to not experience the consequences. I shouldn’t even look at the deceitful bread, let alone pick it up and put it in my mouth. My eyes need to be elsewhere. They need to be on Jesus Christ. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of my faith.”

 

In the End

I will close this brief blog post with another quote from Bridges on Proverbs 20:17, as well as the words of Scripture from James.

Holiness is sweet in the way and in the end too. Wickedness is sometimes sweet in the way, but always bitter in the end. Whatever be the tempter’s proffered advantage, his price is the soul, to be paid in the dying hour. Oh! The undoing bargain! An eternal treasure bartered for the trifle of a moment! Charmed we may be with the present sweetness; but bitter indeed will be the after-fruits, when the poor deluded sinner shall cry – “I tasted but a little honey, and I must die.” (1 Samuel 14:43) So surely is the bitterness that springs out of sin the bitterness of death.

13. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth He any man:
14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
15. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
16. Do not err, my beloved brethren.
17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with Whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

James 1:13 – 17

Far Better to Cross the Will, Than to Wound the Conscience

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There are many times when I read my daily Bible chapters and later find other authors referring to something I read the same day. It seems to happen so frequently that I started to keep track of the occurrences. Here is one example.

Charles Bridges connected Proverbs 3:17 with Acts 5:41, 42.

Daily Bible reading chapter: Acts 5
Other reading: Charles Bridges’ commentary on Proverbs 3:17

Prov. 3:17 – “Her [wisdom’s] ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.”

Acts 5:41, 42 – “And they [the Apostles] departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”

Bridges – “It is saying far too little, that the trials of these ways are not inconsistent with their pleasantness. They are the very principles of the most elevated pleasure. ‘The verdict of Christ,’ says Dr. South, ‘makes the discipline of self-denial and the cross – those terrible blows to flesh and blood – the indispensable requisite to the being His disciples.’ And yet, paradoxical as it may appear, in this deep gloom is the sunshine of joy. For if our natural will be ‘enmity to God’ (Rom. 8:7), it must be the enemy of our own happiness. Our pleasure, therefore, must be to deny, not to indulge it; to mortify sinful appetites, that only ‘bring forth fruit unto death.’ (Rom. 7:5) Even what may be called the austerities of godliness are more joyous than ‘the pleasures of sin.’ Far better to cross the will, than to wound the conscience. The very chains of Christ are glorious. (Acts 5:41, 42; 16:24, 25) Moses endured not ‘his reproach’ as a trial. He ‘esteemed it as a treasure – greater riches than the treasures of Egypt.’ (Heb. 11:26) Our principles are never more consoling that when we are making a sacrifice for them. Hannah yielded up her dearest earthly joy. But did she sink under the trial? Did she grudge the sacrifice? ‘Hannah prayed and say, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord’ (1 Sam. 1:26; 2:1); while to show that none serve Him for naught – for one child that was resigned, five were added. (1 Sam. 2:20, 21)'”

This morning I am truly struggling with “Far better to cross the will, than to wound the conscience,” finding it hard to go against my “natural will,” even though it is “enmity to God.” I know that my “pleasure, therefore, must be to deny, not to indulge it; to mortify sinful appetites.” My sinful will has been winning for the past 24 hours. I am forcing myself to read the Word, to pray, to read theology. But mixed in is the desire to indulge sinful thoughts. It’s at these time that I pray that the Holy Spirit will help me in spite of my own will – praying against myself.

Romans 8:12 – 14 – “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

It seems to me that the act of mortifying my flesh, going against my own natural will, can only be done through the Spirit of God. And the only way I can see for that to happen is for me to pray for it. Luke 11:13 – “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?”

Even as I write this I feel the strong pull of my flesh. “Oh wretched man that I am.” Better would it be for me to be beaten for speaking for Christ as the Apostles in Acts 5; or to be in chains for Christ and singing at midnight in a prison like Paul and Silas in Acts 16, as referred to by Bridges. How thankful I am that the same apostle wrote Romans 7 to show us all how he also struggled against the flesh, praising Jesus Christ for the ultimate victory and trusting the Spirit of God for strength through the battle.