The Path To Righteousness

Proverbs 3:33 (ESV)
The Lord's curse is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the dwelling of the righteous.


Ok...I'm going to be exclusively honest here and share with you that at a quick glance, this verse scares me!  I mulled it over most of the day.



I'm hoping that it is a good thing...that I am a little frightened when I read this.  I am crediting this fear to a reverence for the God of the universe.  This awesome God who spoke the oceans into existence holds great power, of which my finite mind cannot even comprehend.  I most assuredly do not want to have a curse on my house given by Him!!  As I went about my day today, I  carefully considered the words of this verse.

I thought about some of the people in the Bible who have suffered great losses.  Did they have a "curse on their lives?"  Of course, Job was first up on the list.  I thought of how his friends tried to "comfort him", but all the while they assumed he had done something to unleash God's wrath on his life.  It was confusing to them way back then, just as it is baffling to us today when someone suffers who we know has a sincere love and relationship with God.

I've decided that's just how we are.  We try to make sense of the things that happen to us.  We want an answer for the trials in our lives.  Is it God's curse on us when things are going wrong?  Maybe yes....maybe no.  It was not a curse for Job.  In fact, the Bible clearly tells us that He obeyed and loved God with all of his heart.  Am I being cursed by God when I have serious trials in my life? 


In I Corinthians 1:30 (MSG) we find this: "Everything that we have--right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start--comes from God by way of Jesus Christ."  (Italics mine.  Ahhhh...Jesus.  I am right when I have a relationship with Jesus.  I am righteous when I have a relationship with Jesus.  No, I am not perfect...no I never will be perfect here on earth...but with Jesus, I am righteous. 

My mulling stopped there.  I rested in His Word.  I have a blessed house.  No curse exists here.  Troubles?  Trials??  Perhaps...but no curse.   Praising God tonight for the sacrifice of His Son for me.  Asking God to show me how to touch the lives of those who don't know Him yet...that I might introduce them to my Savior~the only path to righteousness and a blessed house. The answer is in the Word of God!  I'm so thankful to have access to His wonderful book...what in this world would I do without it?  (oops..I got off track for a second)