Living According to the Bible’s Instructions

When Daniel was a prisoner in King Nebuchadnezzar’s Jewish think-tank, he refused to defile himself by eating delicacies from the King’s table. Instead, he and his fellow brain-trust prisoners convinced the chief eunuch to bring them only vegetables and water. In ten days, Daniel and his boys were fitter that the other prisoners. Now we know fresh fruits and vegetables should constitute 75 to 80% of our diet, if not 100% (if you’re a vegan). Nutritionists are discovering the science behind many Old Testament Jewish food laws, and apparently, it may be healthy to eat according to God’s instructions.

Using chemicals to grow crops in the same fields every year has depleted our soil. That is why “regenerative agriculture” is part of the Green New Deal. Yet some farmers already knew this as they followed planting and harvesting practices described in the Bible. They let fields lie fallow so they could regenerate.

Then there is Proverbs 3: 9-10 “Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase; so your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.”

That admonishment cuts a bit too close to home for many of us. Maybe we are okay with eating well and fighting climate change using Biblical principles, but giving God the first fruits hits us in our pocketbooks, and looks to be a budget buster. Logic tells us we will not “fill our barns with plenty” if we give the plenty away. Does God really want us to do that? I think He has a way telling us.

Just So Ya Know

When I was working, we had a clerk who kept our office running with her common sense and initiative. Occasionally, when we were in the field, she would give callers answers she believed we would, if we were there. Later, she would end the explanation of what she told the caller with “Just so ya know.”  That became our shared tag line to this day.

I suspect God has a way of telling a person “Just so ya know (it’s Me).”

When Billy Graham was beginning his huge ministry, he needed a certain amount of money. I think when God answered his prayer, he gave Graham the exact sum to the dollar so Graham could not attribute his good fortune to co-incidence.

How many times has someone said to you, “I had the feeling I should call you?” or “Something told me…” Just so ya know.

I will tell you our experiences when we followed Proverbs 3:9-10.

• We had some landscaping done, and the bill matched, to the dollar, our tax refund based largely on donations. Co-incidence? Just so ya know.
  

• Our neighbor is a musician and plays a mean saxophone, like my late father-in-law. He knew my husband had Dad’s old tenor sax buried in our front closet. He asked if he could buy it for his grandson. We charged him only the amount his instrument technician said it was worth, which was the exact cost of a wheelchair we later purchased. God’s provision or co-incidence? Just so ya know.

• We sponsor a girl in Burkina Faso, Africa, through Compassion International. When writing her a letter, I looked in the notebook where we keep her correspondence to check the spelling of Burkina Faso. I found four unopened pieces of mail I must have tossed into the notebook. Two of them contained checks that were void after 120 days. I quickly did the math and discovered this was the 120^th day. Just so ya know.

I do not know if you believe life is best lived according to Biblical commands, but these experiences convinced me it is. Now, when I need the sense of reassurance that God is intimately involved in every part of my life, I just say, “One hundred twenty” — and smile.