Tag Archives: conscience

Nathan Dooley

Monologue: A Clear Conscience | 11/13/2022

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In case you missed it, it was a beautiful day. This morning there was frost on the rooftops and green grass, a warm glow pierced through the cold making everything sparkle as though Edward from Twilight were on the scene in everything.

Laura (my wife) was still asleep; I went to our spot, the Place Unexpected, and sat on a bench to enjoy the mood of the morning.

Nathan posing for an epic pic of the morning mood

I’ve been thinking about how to “upload” what is “downloaded” in my heart and mind. I feel like at this present time my conscience is clear and in the process of being cleansed; cleansed from all the dust and muck that “hidden” sin leaves behind after every “item” is moved out. That reminds me of biblical verses vital to my present state:

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation.”

— Matthew (12:43-45)

“When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

— Luke (11:24-26)

In both the gospel of Matthew and Luke, Jesus warns how the unclean spirit goes of a man—in this case myself—and travels through dry places until the spirit returns finding my conscience clear and clean, then goes out to bring with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, making my next state worse than it was prior. I take responsibility for allowing what is unclean and against Christ in me.

As the Holy Spirit works to cleanse the dust and muck from within me, I must discipline myself as the apostle Paul said, “I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” And this writing is me showing up to do just that, discipline my body!

UNTIL NEXT TIME – LORD WILLING TOMORROW

I die devotionals, Nathan Dooley

But he who listens to me shall live securely | P1-V33

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Wisdom Warns 

Proverbs 1; I die daily devotional.

 33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

Finally… the climactic verse that quiets the soul after the storm of hard verses prior to receive, but necessary for an experience of discernment between good and evil nonetheless. It might prove wise to refresh yourself with the previous disciplining verses of this chapter to then experience a feeling of understanding by it. After all, as children of a Heavenly Father that loves us, means to teach us in a way that prepares us for eternity with Him. And because our Eternal Father is Holy, we experience the consequential nature of sin by the Spirit of Wisdom at work in the soul of death—that we would find life in Christ. This verse reflects on the secure life we have in Jesus Christ, and no evil can cause us to fear, but rather… we’re equipped with a profound confidence to press on into the maturity of eternity.

LIVE SECURELY

So if we listen to Wisdom as she reminds us like a mother teaching her children to behave; she reminds us of the wisdom gifted us through her presence and yet, in the same breath, warns us of those who choose otherwise. And even though her children of disobedience, our siblings in the flesh, are not listening; she will still respect us as adults to make our own decisions that will inevitably experience the consequences thereof.

Just as a human mother knows by instinct how to nurture and care for the wounds of the innocent and guilty children, so too does mother Wisdom know how to spiritually address each of us.

Just as a child might experience a swaddling by their earthly father by disobeying his instructions, so too does our Heavenly Father know how to save His Child from death by His Word. Wisdom of which is presently speaking in our souls the words of the gospel, is also gracing us with a conscience equipped to heal from the pain of what was once wrong.

Now, here we are, in a place of silence, we can bow our heads, close our eyes, and pray on; we’re now more learned children, more prepared to face the dread of evil.

And when we open our eyes to see the world of the dead, we’ll know more how to understand the nature of respect and honor, but most importantly… the LOVE of our Eternal Father in Jesus Christ.

  • After the refreshed memory of the previous verses, how does this verse affect you?
  • Is there any part of your life where you’re not wanting to receive the counsel of Wisdom on, and why?
  • How do you feel about seeking a trusted person (in Christ) as a means to practice listening to counsel?
  • Do you experience the dread of evil?
  • Will you pray for clarity of conscience, and as you are guided through the Word of God for that clarity, seek cleansing and confidence through the Holy Spirit alive in you?

RECOURCE

Proverbs 1 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naïve, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.  8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching; 9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause; 12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; 13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil; 14 Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse,” 15 My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, 16 For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood. 17 Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird; 18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. 19 So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors. Wisdom Warns 20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; 21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: 22 “How long, O naïve ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? 23  “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 24 “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30 “They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices. 32 “For the waywardness of the naïve will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. 33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

COMMENTARY

Matthew Henry (P1-V33) Commentary
4. He concludes with an assurance of safety and happiness to all those that submit to the instructions of wisdom (v. 33): “Whoso hearkeneth unto me, and will be ruled by me, he shall,’

  • (1.) “Be safe; he shall dwell under the special protection of Heaven, so that nothing shall do him any real hurt.’
  • (2.) “He shall be easy, and have no disquieting apprehensions of danger; he shall not only be safe from evil, but quiet from the fear of it.’ Though the earth be removed, yet shall not they fear. Would we be safe from evil, and quiet from the fear of it? Let religion always rule us and the word of God be our counsellor. That is the way to dwell safely in this world, and to be quiet from the fear of evil in the other world.

I die devotionals, Nathan Dooley

Wisdom shouts in the street | P1-V20

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Wisdom Warns 

Proverbs 1; I die daily devotional.

20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square;

We’ve just come out of some daily dying to the temptations sinners impress upon the innocent by the agent of evil—Satan. But now we enter into the severity of wisdoms call, and what it means when we don’t listen to the counsel of God.

WISDOM SHOUTS

I’ve never been Manhattan, but imagine you’re walking in the middle of time square of New York City. You’re walking and you begin to hear this voice coming from your conscience to “stop, watch, and listen”. So you do, and you observe as you feel this experience to your life being interrupted by this profound voice that compels you to stop, watch, and listen. This voice then begins to draw your attention to an interpretation of words that is not of this world, although personal to you. You begin to see your life stretched out in the course of time, and hear Wisdom lift her voice — this course satisfies a means to die. But listen to me, and you will live. Then you recall words spoken from long ago from men moved by the Holy Spirit of God. And there you are left in the square with a choice; “Do I follow this voice of Wisdom in my conscience, or do I suppress the motion into the darkness of ignorance and remain simple-minded on my present course?

  • Do I experience conviction?
  • Why am I convicted?
  • Why is there evil in the world?
  • Why is there good in the world?
  • What does death mean?
  • Do I listen to the voice of Wisdom?
  • Who are the men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God?

RECOURCE

Proverbs 1 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naïve, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.  8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching; 9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause; 12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; 13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil; 14 Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse,” 15 My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, 16 For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood. 17 Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird; 18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. 19 So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors. 20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; 21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: 22 “How long, O naïve ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? 23  “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 24 “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30 “They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices. 32 “For the waywardness of the naïve will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. 33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

COMMENTARY

Matthew Henry (P1-V20) Commentary
Solomon, having shown how dangerous it is to hearken to the temptations of Satan, here shows how dangerous it is not to hearken to the calls of God, which we shall for ever rue the neglect of. Observe,

  • I. By whom God calls to us-by wisdom. It is wisdom that crieth without. The word is plural-wisdoms, for, as there is infinite wisdom in God, so there is the manifold wisdom of God, Eph. 3:10. God speaks to the children of men by all the kinds of wisdom, and, as in every will, so in every word, of God there is a counsel.
    • 1. Human understanding is wisdom, the light and law of nature, the powers and faculties of reason, and the office of conscience, Job 38:36. By these God speaks to the children of men, and reasons with them. The spirit of a man is the candle of the Lord; and, wherever men go, they may hear a voice behind them, saying, This is the way; and the voice of conscience is the voice of God, and not always a still small voice, but sometimes it cries.
    • 2. Civil government is wisdom; it is God’s ordinance; magistrates are his vicegerents. God by David had said to the fools, Deal not foolishly, Ps. 75:4. In the opening of the gates, and in the places of concourse, where courts were kept, the judges, the wisdom of the nation, called to wicked people, in God’s name, to repent and reform.
    • 3. Divine revelation is wisdom; all its dictates, all its laws, are wise as wisdom itself. God does, by the written word, by the law of Moses, which sets before us the blessing and the curse, by the priests’ lips which keep knowledge, by his servants the prophets, and all the ministers of this word, declare his mind to sinners, and give them warning as plainly as that which is proclaimed in the streets or courts of judicature by the criers. God, in his word, not only opens the case, but argues it with the children of men. Come, now, and let us reason together, Isa. 1:18.
    • 4. Christ himself is Wisdom, is Wisdoms, for in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and he is the centre of all divine revelation, not only the essential Wisdom, but the eternal Word, by whom God speaks to us and to whom he has committed all judgment; he it is therefore who here both pleads with sinners and passes sentence on them. He calls himself Wisdom, Lu. 7:35.