Profit – 1.1.09

Here's another hit on an oft-occurring theme in Scripture.

Isaiah 48:17-18 Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea:

To profit is to benefit; to gain some advantage; to improve; to advance. And we all like profit.

What the Bible in many places sets before us is this fact that there is a way that God says we can be benefited, advantaged, improved, and blessed, and there are things that the world, flesh, and the devil would have us believe will benefit, advantage, improve, and advance us.

Now, one is right, and the other is wrong. One is true, and the other is false. One is reliable, and the other is deceptive.

The decision we must make each and every day is who we're going to listen to. God wants to bless us and will teach us how to profit (Deuteronomy 10:13; Acts 3:26). The devil wants to deceive us and seeks to draw us away after our own lusts (James 1:14).

There's not time or space here to give this study the detail and attention it deserves. That'll have to wait for another time and another place. But let me encourage you to devote your time and effort and commitment to that which is truly worthwhile.

Mark 8:36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Ecclesiastes 2:9-11 So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

1 Samuel 12:21 And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.

Jeremiah 2:11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

Proverbs 11:4 Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.

Perhaps you find yourself asking the question that many have asked down through the years:

Malachi 3:14…It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?

If you believe God, then the answer is clear: peace, joy, righteousness, an eternal inheritance. If you don't think those things are worth your adherence to the teachings of God (Isaiah 48:17-18), then you are deceived.