Hebrews 4:13 English Standard Version (ESV) And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

We might understand that God sees our every fault but seeing them in ourselves can be more difficult. Transitional changes such as moving to a new state or finding a new church might offer an opportunity to discover we have flaws which need correction. We find ourselves to be more vulnerable in new situations, new surroundings. We do not have the fellowship of those who know us best and have covered our minor flaws with grace.

I say flaws because in practice they might not be considered sin. At what point will our discomfort start to be reflected in our speech? We can become irritable and that can lead to disappointment in others and suddenly we are not as gracious as we were in familiar fellowship. It might not be a sin to fail to be gracious in all situations. Because grace is an attribute of Christ and we are to be conformed into the likeness of Christ, loss of grace is undesirable.

Not everything that needs correction has to be labeled as sin. Perfection is not going to come until we are translated into our incorruptible form. That gap between corruption and perfection is wide and we move from one to the other in steps.

Exodus 20:26 English Standard Version (ESV) And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’

Whatever our condition is as we near His altar, we should know our faults and not allow them to stop us from approaching God. God has dealt with sin by the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. We have the problem and the only cure to our problem is found in coming to Him.

Lord help us.

Psalm 150:6 English Standard Version (ESV) Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

This morning I ponder transitions, the ending of one life and the beginning of another. As I read Psalm 150 it ended with this verse and began to read the next chapter. It was this.

² To know wisdom and instruction, to understand words of insight,
³ to receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity;

There it was, the transition from Psalms to Proverbs. Somehow the connection between the two books feel tied together. Empty praise leads nowhere but heart felt appreciation of all that God has done for us lends itself to wisdom and instruction.

There always seems to be a better transition if a proper attitude accompanies relationship, between teacher and student, between Shepherd and sheep, between disciple and discipler. While there is no proof that there is a connection between the end of Psalms and the opening verses of Proverbs there is the God that authored both and His foreknowledge of the placement into His finished work.

God being a God of order must in some fashion care if not cause the order of His Word. All those loose parchments have no numbering system and yet man with the every sincere effort to bring us God’s Word have seen fit to place everything into order by divine inspiration. Nothing done with such praise of worship could have ignored God’s order.

Can the same be said as we transition from one life event to another? We transition from child to parent, surely there is praise in that and wisdom and understanding is needed. We transition from co-worker to boss. Do we take the same attitude of praise and seen wisdom there? There are so many transitions in life that it might be easy to forget to praise God in the midst of our business.

Praise God for my current transition. Now I seek wisdom.