Moving by Itself
Proverbs 23:1-2, 29-31; Isaiah 51:20-22
When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee: And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
When you sit to eat with a ruler, "put a knife to" your throat if you like what you see. Eating with a ruler is seen in close connection with being drunken at the end of the chapter. See, sometimes God will put you in high places like the spider who took "hold with her hands" and was found in kings' palaces in Proverbs 30:28. The work of your hands and your faithfulness is seen in conjunction with the timing of God. God will bring you before great men according to Proverbs 22:29. So, when you find yourself in Jesus's presence or in that of any other earthly ruler, do not act like a fool in the face of great responsibility. A great calling requires faithfulness. If you cannot be faithful in matters of yourself, how can God trust you to be faithful with other people much less in matters of much. See the makings of a ruler over much. Sitting with the ruler indicates trust. Make sure you do rightly by what you have been entrusted. This viewpoint is of the Lord because man gets it twisted very easily. "Let this mind be in you" as in Christ Jesus according to Philippians 2:5. If I sat with a ruler and did not keep the eternal perspective in view, I would be given to much appetite. However, if I sat with a ruler and kept the eternal perspective, God will work this thing. Putting the knife to the throat indicates the judgement of God. Make sure judgment starts at the house of the Lord according to 1 Peter 4:17. The angels had to be perfect rather than fallen. This is why he had to cast all the fallen angels along with Satan from Heaven before allowing those remaining to serve in the judgement of the world as in Revelation 12:7-8. When you are handling the holy, make sure you yourself are not profane. Holiness calls to holiness as in the case of the two servants of God seen above the throne calling to each other in Isaiah 6:2-3.
Who hath woe? Who hath sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
Consider the end of this wine. The situation is that of a man sitting at the bar after his wife and the others have left him. There, he is seen drowning his sorrow to the bartender. God can raise you up. Remember the turn of the table that we saw earlier at Psalm 23:5 in conjunction with David's life. Let us discuss what this ruler has to do with the wine. See, you do not understand what they had to go through to get there. The cup in the hand of the Lord is mixed as in Psalm 75:8. This person in the text desires mixed drink. When the wine moves all by itself, be careful. This cup is in the hand of the Lord. The cup we are drinking and what we were served will start moving by the hand of Lord. The ruler will turn to me and say what is happening here? I will look like a ruler and act like a ruler because God has been moving the situation. What you eat and drink is who you are. This is the Lord's cup; be prepared never to be the same again. He might make you move in funny ways that you have never moved in before to accomplish his divine purposes. Know that the end of this is for your deliverance and the people's blessing. See the brokenness that comes from drinking such a cup. This is why the Lord is needed to move his situation around. The blessing and wrath of God are as wine mixed in the cup at his hand. At the end, there will be only wrath as the dregs from which he will make the nations drunk with his cup. Make sure you take your bartending classes from the Lord. Because of what you drank, he will turn you into the cup of his judgment if you allow him.
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:
I do not know about you, but I have always found children without parents in need of guidance. God will teach you when no one else will. God will talk to you when everyone else avoids you. When there was found not a man, God is there. The wine you drunk the night before, was moving tonight all by itself. That was the cup of wrath and staggering that you could not stand but was made to drink before. Now you know it was a cup in the hand of the Lord. This is why when you sit with the ruler, you ought to be afraid if they fear the Lord. On the other hand, Proverbs 9:10 indicates they ought to be afraid if you fear the Lord. That is the beginning of God's wisdom as the servant of Elisha found who see nothing but armies surrounding them in the city all alone in 2 Kings 6:15-17.
The Lord opened his eyes following the prayer and behold the armies of Heaven were surrounding them on the hills. Sometimes God must deliver you from your nonsense to get you to a place he can use you. There are two messages to be found here. First, do not seek his judgment for it will find you. Second, do not seek to drown your sorrows lest he elevate you and you will be made to forget them. Sometimes, you might be sitting with the ruler. Other times, he makes you the ruler. What you drink closely relates to those slain under the altar of God in Revelation 6:9-10. With these and the prayers of the saints the angels fill their censors to offer upon the earth as Revelation 8:4 says. He makes it clear; this cup is the Lord's. Consider that he has made us a nation of kings and priests unto himself in the end. It might be now on this earth or much later in Revelation 1:6, eventually, the master will return.