Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
Yesterday’s Journey Study connects with today’s!
Check out The Kindness Of Love!
The Questions
1) What does it mean to be “one who pursues righteousness and faithful love”?
2) Is this verse a guaranteed promise?
3) What does it mean to “find” life, righteousness, and honor?
Proverbs 21:21
The one who pursues righteousness and faithful love
will find life, righteousness, and honor.
Original Intent
1) What does it mean to be “one who pursues righteousness and faithful love”?
The Hebrew word for pursue carries the meaning of “chasing after a dog, always being in front of, never dragging behind”. This imagery is the same concept Jesus used in His famous sermon on the mount when He said, “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8) The same Hebrew root word is also used in Jeremiah 29:13-14 when the Lord declares, “You will seek Me and find me, when you seek Me with all your heart. I will be found by you…” This pursuit of righteousness is not a chasing after making yourself better, worthy, or “good” in the sight of God, rather it’s a pursuit of the only One who is righteous, the only One who is faithfully loving, God Himself. To be this kind of person is to be fully intent on passionately chasing after the righteous, faithful God, just as if we were chasing a runaway dog. Whereas you may not catch the dog, the Lord promises He will be found by all who relentlessly chase after Him.
2) Is this verse a guaranteed promise?
When reading the book of Proverbs, it is important to note that these are a collection of wise sayings. The wisdom and insight is from the heart of God, it was intentionally recorded through the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and it has been preserved for millennia that we might know God and His heart better. However, because of this particular style of writing, many proverbs are exactly that, “proverbial sayings”, and are not guarantees. Rather, most are general realities for practical living. In the course of your life, if you pursue, or set out, to be a righteous (read: good) person, faithfully loving those around you, then you will be living a full life. This proverb, however, has a profoundly deeper meaning because we know that true, flawless righteousness can only be found in One person, the Lord Jesus Christ. The reality is that if we work to be good and righteous all on our own, we will never attain it because we are sinful beings. This verse points decidedly towards the reality of our eternal salvation and the forever declaration that we are made righteous by Christ’s own righteousness alone.
3) What does it mean to “find” life, righteousness, and honor?
Jesus had quite a bit to say about finding life and living an abundant, full life; being clothed in righteousness was always a prerequisite to grasping this fullness of life. If anyone chooses to accept the open offering of Jesus to exchange His pure righteousness for his or her own filthy rags of “trying harder” and “just not enough”, then they have crossed over from death to life. (Ephesians 2:6)
Everyday Application
1) What does it mean to be “one who pursues righteousness and faithful love”?
Because God promises He will be found by those who call on Him, this verse calls us to reflect on the kind of heart we have. Is it our passion to pursue His righteousness? Do we look for Him in the middle of our mess? When we are fighting a spouse, do our hearts cry out in pursuit of the Righteous Loving God? When we grieve over a child’s choice, watching their steps turn from good paths, are we passionately chasing the Righteous One who answers when we call? He promises to be found if we pursue! With similar language, James reminds, “draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Regardless of where we are in our faith journey, whether we’ve walked for years with the Savior, or never actually crossed the line of faith, if we will chase after Him, He will be found by us! What are you chasing?!
2) Is this verse a guaranteed promise?
One thing that makes Scripture so precious is knowing it is absolutely unshakeable. The truth of the Bible never fades (Matthew 24:35) because its author never changes like shifting shadows (James 1:17); the Word of Life is forever trustworthy (Psalm 33:4). Our salvation for eternity rests securely in the firm foundation of God’s trustworthy promise that what He says He will do, He will do. Scripture is replete with God’s own assurances that all who seek Him, will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13-14). All who trust Him as Lord of their life will be rescued from sin (Acts 16:31). All who call on the Name of the Lord will be saved (Romans 10:9). There is no hiding with the Lord, no place you can run or situation you can find yourself in that He is ignorant of (Psalm 139:1-12) Where do you land when it comes to trusting the Lord and His Word? Unsure with a lot of questions? Girl, that was me too for quite the season! Finally, I realized I didn’t have to “hide” my questions from God and I wouldn’t offend Him in poking what I felt were big holes in His assurances. He allowed my questions, He was there in the middle of the asking, and He grew my trust and dependence on Him as I walked through the seeking out season; I know He will do the same for you! Even if you’ve walked with the Lord for years, trusting Him in every moment is still a challenge, but every time we call, He answers. Guaranteed!
3) What does it mean to “find” life, righteousness, and honor?
Being raised to walk in new life found through the righteousness of Christ alone and leaving behind the dead decaying ways of our former selves means that we will inherently walk differently. 1 John 3:14 says, “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers and sisters. The one who does not love remains in death.” Once we’ve accepted Christ’s righteousness on our behalf, the Holy Spirit begins His work of making us new and transforming us into the image of Jesus. When we love like Jesus, the evidence of our transformation is being made known, and we can be assured we are walking in the fullness of life, righteousness, and honor this proverb speaks of.
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Missing the connection to our other Journey Study?
Catch up with The Kindness Of Love
Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
5) Check your applications with other trusted Christians that you are in community with and embrace the fullness of God
in your everyday!
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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