#16 LOVE UNDERSTANDS: SWEAT AND DIRTY HANDS
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
What a strange text about understanding love?
Proverbs 14:4 Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox.
Proverbs 14:4 (NLT) Without oxen a stable stays clean, but you need a strong ox for a large harvest.
Proverbs 14:4 (MSG) No cattle, no crops; a good harvest requires a strong ox for the plow.
If we really understand love, where there are people there will be serious problems.
We can handle this my friend.
LOVE UNDERSTANDS MANY DEEP ISSUES THAT CAN BE HIDDEN FROM LOGIC.
I may be FEEBLE, but FAITH TRUST A STRONG GOD.
Good comes out of bad...
LOVE UNDERSTANDS WE MUST INVEST EFFORT TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING.
LOVE UNDERSTANDS SOME PEOPLE LIKE TO STOP UP YOUR WELL...
LOVE UNDERSTANDS YOU HAVE TO PICK UP YOUR SHOVEL,
CLOSE YOUR MOUTH AND SHUT UP --- AND DIG...
HISTORY RECORDS EVERY WHERE THAT FATHER ABRAHAM WHEN HE DID TWO THINGS:
1. Abraham built ALTARS to God and paid tithes to MELCHEZEDEK.
Genesis 26:25 And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched
his tent there: and there Isaac's servants digged a well.
2. ABRAHAM WOULD DIG A WELL... In Israel people still drink out of Abraham's wells.
Abraham knew there would be seasons of drought, THE FAMILY NEEDS MY WELL...
LOVE UNDERSTANDS LIFE HAS A WAY OF STOPPING UP THE WELL OF LIFE.
LOVE UNDERSTANDS YOU CAN FUSS AND COMPLAIN AND FIGHT ---
BUT REAL LOVE KNOWS ---"DIG AGAIN!"
YOU JUST HAVE TO GRAB THE SHOVEL AND WORK UNTIL YOUR HANDS ARE BLISTERED.
People can be so mean and cruel... A stopped up well could mean death...
Genesis 26:14 For he had possession of flocks, and possession of herds, and great store of servants:
and the Philistines envied him. 15 For all the wells which his father's servants had digged in the days
of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
Isaac had an understand of God's love ---
We will not DIE ON THEIS HILL --- We will dig again...
Genesis 26:18 And Isaac digged again the wells of water, which they had digged in the days of Abraham
his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names
after the names by which his father had called them.
LOVE UNDERSTAND A DEEP TRUTH, COME LET US DIG MORE ---
GOD WILLL HONOR YOUR WORK WHEN YOU KEEP TRYING...
Can we see the hidden danger in anger and bitterness when people stop up our wells?
Why do people enjoy STOPPING THE WELLS OF OTHERS?
Genesis 26:19 And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of springing water.
I have rights you know --- I HAVE LIVE NEEDS ---Want to fight,
NO DIG AGAIN...
Genesis 26:21 And they digged another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah.
WELL IS A DEEP SUBJECT ---
BITTERNESS AND ANGER COULD DRIVE ME TO NOT REALIZE THERE ARE REAL LESSONS
IN DIGGING WELLS.
Genesis 26:22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and
he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD hath made room for us, and we
shall be fruitful in the land.
IF WE KEEP DIGGING GOD WILL MAKE ROOM...
Genesis 26:32 And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning
the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water.
LOVE UNDERSTANDS IF WE DIG ---
WE WILL FIND SWEET WATER...
LOVE UNDERSTANDS PEOPLE WILL PLUG UP YOUR WELL...
BUT WE NEED ARE OWN SUPPLY, NOT DEPENDENT ON OTHERS.
Proverbs 5:15 (KJV) Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well.
Proverbs 5:15 (MSG) Do you know the saying, "Drink from your own rain barrel, draw water from
your own spring-fed well"?
TODAY MANY ARE TOTALLY DEPENDENT ON OTHER PEOPLE'S WELLS?
When we lived in Oliver Springs, Tennessee there were springs all over the area.
My older brother and I would go hiking in the mountains. We would get so thirsty
in the hot weather. We would come to a spring. I would run ahead and drink my fill.
When I finished drinking I would take my hand and stir up the mud. When he got
there he could not drink it.
Today many people are stirring up muddy water.
LOVE UNDERSTANDS THERE IS A TIME TO PICK UP YOUR SHOVEL AND START DIGGING
THE FOUNDATION ...LOVE UNDERSTANDS GOD WORK IS NEVER PERFECT AND IT REQUIRES
DEDICATION, COMMITMENT, AND ACTION.
There is a time to grab your tools and material and INVEST GREAT EFFORT and
SWEAT EQUITY.
NEHEMIAH HAS SEVERAL REVELATIONS THAT ARE EASY TO MISS.
LOVE UNDERSTANDS TEARS AND SWEAT... THE NEWS IS PRETTY BAD...
God calls people to arise and trust God to RE-BUILD the church and the walls.
Nehemiah 1:4 (KJV) And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept,
and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,
Nehemiah 1:4 (MSG) When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and
praying before the God-of-Heaven.
1. CRITICS MAY FIND FAULT AND SAY MAY NEGATIVE WORDS...
but they often to little to help build the walls of power to help.
Nehemiah 2:10 (KJV) When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of
it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
Nehemiah 2:10 (MSG) When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this,
they were very upset, angry that anyone would come to look after the interests of the People of Israel.
2. SOME OF WHAT THE CRITICS SAY ARE VALID POINTS AND HAVE SOME TRUTH
TO WHAT THEY SAY...
If the negative crowds with negative words were using lies they would be rejected.
3. WHEN THE NEGATIVE CROWD SPEWS THEIR NEGATIVE VENOM ---
THEY ARE ALL TALK AND NO WORKS ---
When it is all said and done--- THERE IS MORE SAID THEN DONE!
All the anti-words and CONCLUSIONS NEVER REBUILD THE CHURCH AND THE WALLS
OF SAFETY. We will eat but not work...
Nehemiah 3:5 (KJV) And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks
to the work of their Lord.
4. THE PEOPLE THAT ARE TRYING WILL BE DEFINED IN A NEGATIVE LIGHT.
THE MAN THAT SMELLS SWEATY AND HAS DIRTY HANDS AND DIRTY CLOTHES
ARE THE ONES THAT ACCOMPLISH THE PLAN AND WORK OF GOD.
What the doers do will be criticized and faults will be THE FOCUS OF DISCUSSION.
THEY HIRED COUNSELLORS TO FRUSTRATE THEIR PURPOSE.
5. FAT LAZY SPECTATORS & ARM CHAIR QUARTER BACKS WILL TELL HOW IT SHOULD
HAVE BEEN DONE. The pour linemen and quarter backs will get all bruised and battered. They will be tired
and over worked. THE APPLAUSE WILL SELDOM SHOW APPRECIATION.
The fat lazy arm chair quarter backs never sweat, never exercise any thing but their MOUTHS!
6. WHY DOES THE NEGATIVE CROWD FEEL "GOD" CAN ACCOMPLISH ANY THING
TO REBUILD --- TELL IT LIKE IT WAS?
No action, no giving, an JUDGMENTALNESS becomes TOOLS OF THE ENEMY.
LOVE UNDERSTANDS THERE IS A TIME TO QUIT CRYING AND PRAISE GOD!
Nehemiah 8:10 Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send
portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye
sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
CONCLUSION: LOVE UNDERSTANDS THERE IS A TIME TO PICK UP YOUR SHOVEL AND START
DIGGING THE FOUNDATION ...LOVE UNDERSTANDS GOD WORK IS NEVER PERFECT AND IT
REQUIRES DEDICATION, COMMITMENT, AND ACTION. There is a time to grab your tools and material
and INVEST GREAT EFFORT and SWEAT EQUITY. Come with me to my Father's house and do the
best you can!
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
