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Sirach 34:13-14

The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live,
For their hope is in Him who saves them.
He who fears the Lord will fear nothing,
And he will not be cowardly, for the Lord is his hope.

Personal Challenge

There is only one whom we should put our hope. That is the Lord. He is the one who saves us. He is the one who redeems us. He is the one who makes it possible for us to fear no one or no thing. Through our hope in Him, we receive life. Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy! Lord, have mercy!

Sirach 33:13

All His ways are according to His good pleasure.
Like clay in a potter’s hand,
Thus men are in the hand of Him who made them,
To render to them according to His judgment.

Encouraging Words

We have become stiff-necked people who believe that we are in control of our lives and our destiny. And yet we cannot keep the rain off of our heads when we go out. We cannot change the course of time. We actually have very little in our lives that we really are in control of. Even with these few things, we must always remember that everything, all the way down to the breath we take and beat of our heart, is a gift from God. We are the clay in His Hands. The most important thing to remember as we think of this is that He loves us beyond measure. He desires us to be His adopted children. He will take care of us and bless us. Glory be to God!

Sirach 32:23-24

In every work entrust your soul to the Lord,
For this is the keeping of the commandments.
He who believes in the Law heeds the commandments,
And he who trusts in the Lord will not suffer loss.

Encouraging Words

There are always two sides to trust. We can put our trust into someone or something. That is one side of the trust equation. That person, or thing, that we put our trust into must then be trustworthy. We are told here to entrust our soul to the Lord. We can trust Him with the very essence of who we are for we know that He is trustworthy. He will take care of us because we are a precious gift in His eyes. One of the ways that we show that we are putting our trust in Him is by keeping His commandments and living His way. What are those commandments? Love God and love our neighbor. It all boils down to these two precepts. He does the rest. Glory be to God.

Sirach 32:14-17

The man who fears the Lord will receive instruction,
And those who rise early will find His approval.
He who seeks the Law will be filled with it,
But the hypocrite will be made to stumble by it.
Those who fear the Lord will discover judgment,
And like the light they will kindle righteous deeds.
A sinful man will turn aside correction
And find a rationalization according to his will.

Personal Challenge

In life, it comes down to two choices as to where we put our allegiances. We either choose to love God and put our trust in Him or we choose to reject Him and choose to put our hope in anything but Him. If we choose to put our trust in Him, He will give us instruction, we will find His approval, we will be filled with His precepts, we will discover the beauty of His judgment, and we will be able to produce righteous deeds. If we choose to reject Him, we will stumble over the precepts that He has for us and we will turn away His correction and end up separated from Him forever. As for me and my household, we choose to love God. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Sirach 28:2-3

Forgive a wrong done you by your neighbor;
Then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.
Can a man preserve wrath against his neighbor
And still seek healing from the Lord?

Personal Challenge

God has an economy of life that is so much different than the way that the world works. First, He asks us to love Him, then He asks that we love our neighbor. We may ask who our neighbor is and the answer always comes back that everyone is our neighbor, including our enemies. Finally, He asks us to forgive our neighbor, and our enemies, for anything that they have done to us. This is the ultimate act of love for another. This is also where we will see Gods’ acts of love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness playing out in our lives. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Sirach 27:4-7

When a sieve is shaken, the refuse remains;
So a man’s filth remains in the way he reasons.
As a furnace tests a potter’s vessels,
So the test of a man is in the way he reasons.
As fruit reveals how a tree is cultivated,
So a man’s reasoning process reveals his heart.
Do not praise a man before he reveals the way he reasons,
For this is the way a man is tested.

Personal Challenge

We see the true nature of things around us by testing them. To get the rocks that we do not want in a batch of soil, we run it through a sieve and discard them. When we are done throwing a pot (shaping it while the day is moist, we put it in a kiln to harden it and burn out any impurities. We plant trees and flowers and wait until they produce fruit before we choose to keep them. The same applies to people. We must be tested to see who we really are and what is really important to us. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!

Sirach 25:1

There are three things beautiful to see,
And they are beautiful before the Lord and men:
The harmony of brothers, friendship between neighbors,
And a wife and husband well-adjusted together.

Encouraging Words

It is good to know that God sees some things in the lives of humans as good. We know that His desire for us is unity and not division. Harmony amongst brothers and friendship between our neighbors certainly are beautiful things to have, especially today. We also know that the marriage relationship is very precious in His eyes. For those of us who are married, we definitely know how awesome it is to have a well-adjusted relationship. Glory be to God!

Sirach 22:27

Who will set a guard over my mouth,
And a prudent seal over my lips,
That I may not fall because of them,
And that my tongue may not destroy me?

Personal Challenge

Sometimes it is just plain necessary to put a piece of duct tape across our mouths to force ourselves to keep quiet. It takes a lot of work to build the habit of listening before we speak and then having the discernment to stop at the listening and not speak at all. But I am an American! I have a right to speak my opinion! However, if I am a practicing Christian, I should have forfeited that citizenship of being an American and taken on the citizenship of heaven. That is the Kingdom that I should give my allegiance to. It is that Kingdom that instructs us to put a guard over our mouth and a seal over our lips. Glory be to God!

Sirach 21:1-3

My son, have you sinned?
No longer add to them, but pray about your former sins.
Flee from sin as you would from the presence of a snake,
For if you approach it, it will bite you;
Its teeth are like lion’s teeth, destroying the souls of men.
All lawlessness is like a two-edged sword,
For there is no healing from its wound.

Personal Challenge

If I am on a diet and I know that having a donut will violate that diet, then why do I walk into a donut shop? We are fallen. We live in a fallen world. We sin! Even though Jesus has made it possible for us to sin no more, we must strive extremely hard to avoid sinning. The advice in this passage is provided to help us on our journey to living a life without sin. If we have sin, which all of us have, then pray for forgiveness and do what we can to not sin more. In many cases that means leaving the donut shop and not looking back. We need to flee those situations and opportunities that we know can, and usually will, lead us into sin. These are choices that we must make, and continue to make until the day we die. Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner!