The Nugget:
Pro 15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
My Comment:
This verse in Proverbs contains an amazing amount of instruction and encouragement. It also links to much additional truth found in the rest of the Bible.
Comparatively few Christians make it a practice to study their Bibles. Fewer still study their Bibles by means of consulting what are called cross references. Cross references are links to other verses in the Bible on the same subject.
The Bible does not present its teachings systematically topic by topic all in one place. To find out what the Bible teaches it is necessary to discover all that the Bible says about a subject.
This can be done to a limited extent by using a concordance to track where the same word is used elsewhere. But using just a concordance to trace a theme through the Bible will miss many other verses which shed light on that theme that use a different word.
The Bible can be studied topically using a topical Bible. But topical Bibles are limited in the range of topics and subtopics they contain and are harder to use when studying the Bible verse by verse.
I have learned since I was a teenager that using a collection of cross references like those found in the book titled The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge furnishes a far better and more complete way to carefully study any Bible verse and its related passages.
And if I as a very ordinary teenager could figure out how to look up Bible cross references, you can be very sure that you can learn to enjoy doing the same.
Proverbs 15:8 tells us “the prayer of the upright is his delight.”
What does the rest of the Bible have to say about this? To find out, read the cross references I have collected for this verse as presented in The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:
his delight. 1Ki 3:10, Job 22:3, Psa 51:16; Psa 141:2; Psa 145:18, Song 2:14; Song 4:11, *Dan 9:23; Dan 10:12, Joh 4:23, 24, Rom 8:26, 27, +*Php 4:6, Heb 4:16; Heb 10:19, 20, 21, 22, Jas 4:8, +*1Pe 3:12, Rev 8:4.
I have given many more cross references to other key words in this verse, but these cross references tie in to the theme I have been tracing regarding what the Bible teaches about what delights God. It should be very clear that God delights to hear our prayers.
When we read and study God’s Word, the Bible, He talks to us.
When we pray to God, we talk to Him.
When we obey God’s Word others will notice our life and character are different from others who do not follow God’s Word and will sometimes ask us what makes us different. When we answer, we get to talk for God as we share our faith with others (1 Peter 3:15).