Good and Upright

Hello and welcome!

Last time we talked about the definition of joy. You can read up on it here. If you recall joy means: to feel joy, to be glad and to rejoice.

This week I pray that you will take away from this teaching the understanding. The good and upright of joy and that one can thrive in their understanding and be full of joy from that knowledge.

Below are some scriptures I felt led to use by the LORD. I pray that the connection will be clear in that God gives us wisdom and understanding that in turn gives us joy. A foolish and evil person knows no joy. How could they? They do not know the Lord. Joy comes from knowing and being obedient to the Lord. This verse is clear in that idea:

Ecclesiastes 2:26a
²⁶ For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight;

So... if we look at being good and upright what does that look like? Good and upright are defined as:

• good: of moral excellence [virtue: the quality of doing what is right and avoiding what is wrong.]
• upright: righteousness as a consequence of being honorable [ethical: adhering to ethical and moral principles] and honest [not deceptive].

Verse 9 in Proverbs 14 below states that God shows favor to the upright and in v.11 the tent of the upright with flourish. Well, if one is flourishing they must be glad and full of joy, correct?

Now that we have a clear view of being good and upright we now look toward wisdom and knowledge. For they lead to joy. Understanding plays a major role here. Understanding is knowing. So, as v.6 says, knowing is easy to him who understands. What are we to understand? We are to understand that being sensible in our ways will lead to wisdom from the Lord because we're careful to be upright. Therein lies the difficulty. Being upright.

Proverbs 14:5-11
⁵ A faithful witness does not lie,
  But a false witness will utter lies.
  ⁶ A scoffer seeks wisdom and does not find it,
  But knowledge is easy to him who understands.
  ⁷ Go from the presence of a foolish man,
  When you do not perceive in him the lips of knowledge.
  ⁸ The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way,
  But the folly of fools is deceit.
  ⁹ Fools mock at sin,
  But among the upright there is favor.
  ¹⁰ The heart knows its own bitterness,
  And a stranger does not share its joy.
  ¹¹ The house of the wicked will be overthrown,
  But the tent of the upright will flourish.

We are stuck with these mortal fleshly bodies. Humans by nature of corrupt and foolish. However, v.28 in Job 28 tells us that we can have wisdom from God by fearing Him and departing from evil is understanding. Understanding leads to joy.

Job 28:28
²⁸ And to man He said,
      ‘ Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
      And to depart from evil is understanding.’
[emphasis mine]

As we are led right back to our first scripture,

Ecclesiastes 2:26a
²⁶ For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight;

God's word tells us that when Christ became our savior as we accepted Jesus all our sins are wiped away and that he sees no sin in us. We must then lean on God's understanding and be full of joy in Jesus as our Savior. Next week we'll discuss where our joy comes from. It comes from the Lord! That's your homework. Seek in The Word where your joy comes from.

Prayer: "Dear Father God, I pray that this lesson today will bless whoever needs it and that they will be enlightened. I pray that I learn from it and be enlightened. I thank You for all that You did and are still doing to produce joy in all of our lives. I pray that this series will reach all that You want it to reach. I praise and thank You in Jesus' name, amen.