Glory

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

GLORY

Prov 20:29

29 The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old.

NIV

It is a shame youth is wasted on the young. Strength is an overrated quality that seems to be the focus of the young. Certainly both the athletic clubs and the military are in need of strong young men. It does seem that strength and wisdom should be able to coincide within one person, but this saying would indicate the young simply do not have the wisdom of those who have grey hair. But then those with grey hair have lost that youthful strength. Which is best? We think the grey hair wins. But then the young have a greater potential future then grey hair. Why does it take so long to gain wisdom? Why do we have to wait until we are old with grey hair? Does not God bestow wisdom on the young who seek him? Is there a difference between heavenly and earthly wisdom? We know the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. So what point would there be gaining any earthy wisdom. Perhaps the young simply are so entertained with their strength they are not truly seeking the wisdom from God. Once strength has left the body what else is there, but to seek wisdom from God. Yet there are also the same relationship between strength and grey hair in a worldly sense. The great minds of the world are mostly adorned with grey hair. The youth spar for position based on strength. Yet it would seem wisdom also wins over strength. Once we have attained the age of grey hair we need to continue to seek more of the wisdom of God. We cannot sit on our laurels of grey hair, thinking we have arrived. While we have breath we need to continue to do what we can both in the physical and the spiritual. We must continue to grow in our abilities and knowledge of God. All too often the grey haired ones, retire to nothingness. This could be of the thinking that grey hair has earned that right. But it would be wrong thinking. God is not through with us just because we have grey hair. God continues to work out his plan in our lives until he takes us home. Let us not think grey hair gives us any splendor at all, but rather is just a fact of life and while we have life let us continue to live it to the fullest extent for the glory of God. Let the youth use their strength for his glory, let the grey hair use it for his glory. But should not glory in their possession of strength or grey hair, but glory in God. 

The Throne

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THE THRONE

Prov 20:29

28 Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure.

NIV

Although all our scholars of old are in agreement this saying has to do with the character of a ruler and how mercy and truth will keep him in the seat of governing, there has to be something else here. How can this only be about the ruling class? The Hebrew words are more like kindness or mercy and truth or trustworthiness. However love certainly is compared or the reason for kindness and mercy. We certainly see that quality in the King of kings. We also see faithfulness or truth and trustworthiness in the King of kings. This would also be a good reason for him to be in the seat of power, or government of our lives. Who would remain a Christian if God did not demonstrate love and faithfulness toward us? Who would worship him if he were a cruel and hard task master, whipping and beating us, exacting some form of punishment every time we failed him? No, his seat, his throne is secure in our lives because of his love and faithfulness, because we can trust him. He shows us mercy on a daily basis. But his greatest demonstration of love, or mercy was when Jesus died on a cross taking our sin on himself. How more secure could this throne be? How could we ever want to overthrow him and take over the throne, governing our own lives? Can we love ourselves more than he does? Can we be truthful, or trustworthy to our own lives as much as he is? Although we acknowledge him as our Sovereign we still disobey and fail him. How much more would we fail ourselves, although we would not admit that? It is difficult to be true to ourselves, to follow faithfully our own set of rules or standards we establish to live by. We keep changing them to fit the occasion. But God does not change neither in character nor in his establishment of standards for us to live by. Yet even in our failure to comply one hundred percent and deserve the consequence, his love, his mercy, and his faithfulness covers our sin because we have relinquished the throne of our lives over to him.  We have unseated ourselves and allowed him to sit on the throne overseeing our lives. Let us never attempt to take it back. His throne is secure deep within our heart.

Light

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

LIGHT

Prov 20:27

27 The lamp of the LORD searches the spirit of a man; it searches out his inmost being.

NIV

There is a great deal of thinking that has been done by our scholars of old regarding this proverb. Some translations have written this somewhat backwards from this one. They have it say that the spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord. The interlinear says the candle of God is the breath of man searching all the inner parts the belly. The two ways we could see this is first that God lights is put into man, the knowledge of God has been put into every man so that he has a conscience knowing good from evil. But that is inconsistent with the way in which God created man. God did not create man with a conscience so to examine his own heart knowing good from evil. God created Adam with a perfect heart, yet one able to make his own choices. Adam did not know evil until he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. So then Gods lamp cannot be the conscience of man who is able to know what is right and wrong. Yet at the same time the lamp of the Lord, the divine inspiration within the word of God is a lamp, it illuminates the heart of man with what is right and wrong. When we read the word of God it searches our heart, it penetrates our heart, if we are under the conviction of the Spirit. People can read the bible and find nothing of inspiration, but rather attempt to see their perceived inconsistences and do not believe it as truth. However, we could also see this lamp of God as his flashlight beaming its light into the inner most parts of our being, the thoughts of our heart. Either way the idea remains the same, God shines his light into our being, either through the working of the Spirit or through his divine word.  Both search our heart and mind, but shed the light within us. When we live in the darkness of this world we cannot see anything. This darkness is as if we are blind, without vision, unable to walk on our own without stumbling around. We bounce off of one thing unto another, never finding the right path. But when the light of God is shone into us we are enlightened and our vision is clear, we can see the path he shines his lamp upon for us to travel.

Job 29:3

3 when his lamp shone upon my head and by his light I walked through darkness!

NIV

It is only due to the light of God that we can find him. He gives us his light. He is the light of the world. Darkness cannot overcome his light. It shines into the darkest region of our hearts and gives us a way to see him.

2 Cor 4:7

6 For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

NIV

Praise God we live in the light of God, that he called us out of the city of darkness and sin into the city of his light and love. Let us always be in his light. 

Threshing floor

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THRESHING FLOOR

Prov 20:26

26 A wise king winnows out the wicked; he drives the threshing wheel over them.

NIV

This has nothing to do with the old method of threshing used during the time of Old Testament living. This is all about God being the wise King and at the end times at the last judgment he will separate the wicked from the righteous. The Psalmist says just about the same thing when he penned:

Ps 1:4-5

4 Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. 5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

NIV

We have to know the wicked are those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, for not one of us could stand as righteous before God on our own merit. The only way we can be counted as the righteous is being in Christ. God will separate those of us in Christ from those who are not. The threshing wheel does, in some sense, represent the wrath of God which he will drive over the wicked. What this means to we believers is that some people will perish. This should motivate us to share the gospel message with as many as we can so they will have the opportunity to escape the pending wrath of God. Of course for the most part we think we need to share the love of God with non-believers. We think we need to tell them how God will bless their lives. How much better their lives would be if they became a Christian seems to be our most convincing argument. But maybe we need to tell them they will escape the threshing wheel of God by accepting Jesus. It is really his love which he demonstrated by sending Jesus to be the ultimate sacrifice to satisfy his justice for sin. We also can rejoice that we are not counted as the wicked and have accepted his provision for our salvation. But let us not forget those who have not heard the choice they have to make. Some have not heard and how will they hear unless someone tells them? How can anyone tell them if they are not sent? We all have been sent to tell the Good News about Jesus. Let us help someone escape the threshing floor of God. 

Our word

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

OUR WORD

Prov 20:25

25 It is a trap for a man to dedicate something rashly and only later to consider his vows.

NIV

It might be this translation makes holy into something, rather than keeps the original word sacred or holy. In the interlinear it says, “a snare the man devotes holy and after vows to make inquiry”. The meaning is the same in a sense, but the word something leaves God out of the equation. We are thinking this has more to do with making a promise to God then considering whether we are able to keep it. More often than not we are not able to keep any promise to God made rashly. In fact about the only promise we can keep is that we will believe. Then that is sometimes in question. Whenever we try to do something on our own, that is trust in our own education, talents, skills, abilities we might not be trusting in God, which we said we would do. It is not that we even have to say, “I promise” for it to be a vow. Our word is our vow. If we say we are going to do something, which is a vow, a promise to do it. We are as good as our word. So when we tell God we are going to do something, we better do it. But the fact is we fall short all too often and do not follow through with what we said we would do. Sometimes we might even be guilty of using God as our excuse. Not doing what we said, saying something like, “God's leading me into another direction” when it is our own self leading us. We did not consider all the ramifications of what we promised God we would do. It is far better to wait on the Lord, to sit, listening for his leading, then simply get to it, without making any promise to complete it. He knows our heart, he knows we make an effort to comply, but we might not finish it all. We just need to follow his direction. We should not make any attempt to promise him we will complete it. Now that also goes, without saying in our relationships with others. How many have dedicated themselves to something rashly? Without judgement, marriage seems to be one area many have made too rash a dedication only to later consider the promise they made to each other. A promise to a friend, it could be trapping ourselves into more then we bargained for. What this seems to be leading to is the fact that before we make any promise, we should sit down and weight the complete cost of that promise. Of course in the beginning of our journey with the Lord, we made him a promise to trust in Jesus, to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We promised to follow him. That may have been done rashly in some sense. Surely we did not sit and read the whole of the bible and worked through how our life would change being a follower of Jesus. Nevertheless we said we would trust him, we would believe in him, and we would follow him. That is what we said and that is what we will do, even after weighting all the facts. Yet, we also know we will fall short of that at times. How can that be? It is a good thing God is forgiving, many people are not. When we fail people, it can cause a great rift between us and them. We also may well be the cause of their sin, by making a rash promise and then failing to fulfill it. Let us remember our word is our bond, so we should be careful what we say we will do. 

Perfect or flawed

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

PERFECT OR FLAWED

Prov 20:24

24 A man's steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?

NIV

An ancient writer penned these words, “A man who carves his own way, cuts his fingers”. This is the point of this proverb in a nutshell. Who can foretell his own life? Which of us can tell what is going to happen in the future, for that matter tomorrow? We might have our whole life all planned out and walk into work today and be fired. Then where is our plan? We might determine to have a certain amount of money set aside for retirement or have some investment of sorts for that purpose then the market completely fails and all it lost. We might think life is going so well, and then a fatal incident occurs and everything changes.  How can we make any plans without the counsel of God? We simply cannot understand or make sense of what will happen next week, next month, next year or any amount of time. God knows our whole life before we live it. Because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, we have no life without him. God gave us life in the first place and that life has been given for his purpose. He has a plan for our lives. Our lives our directed by his providence. We are where we are because God planned it that way. We are who we are because God planned it that way. Our parents are, or were who they were because God ordained we would have them as parents. Our youth, our experiences, our pain, and our joys were ordered by God to bring us to the place and time when we would acknowledge Jesus as Lord and Savior. God does not order our footsteps to just live this life and die without life, without a resurrection into his new creation. What purpose would life serve if it was just this brief moment in the course of eternity? What purpose would life serve if it was lived by our own plans, desires and goals? Sure it would be a life of self-serving, but it also would be life that leads to eternal death. We are created by God for God. He and he alone can give us order in our lives that has both a temporal and eternal purpose. Let us walk in his steps, and not in ours. Let us seek his way, not ours. Let us listen to his voice, not ours. Let us take his counsel, not ours. Let us live for him, not for ourselves. His way is perfect. Our way is flawed. 

Justly

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

JUSTLY

Prov 20:23

23 The LORD detests differing weights, and dishonest scales do not please him.

NIV

This is almost the exact same as verse 10 which we just saw. Although it was differing weights and measures and here is to the differing weights and dishonest scales. Slightly different but with the same meaning. So what else can we find in this that we did not find in the other? It seems the whole of the matter for God is that we are honest in all we do. That would imply specifically in business, but it could also be applied to our relationships. This could be seen as being one person when we are with some certain people, then being another person when we are with other people. In proverb ten we applied this to how we measure others spirituality and ours. Here we are getting the sense we might measure ourselves differently depending on our environment. Do we ever present ourselves dishonestly, weighed with a different measure depending on who we are with? We should be weighed both by the community of believers and the community of non-believers by the same measure. That measure is Christ of course. We cannot use one set of rules, or weight, for when we are in church and then use a different set of rules, or weight, when we are at work. An honest scale weighs justly, and that is how we should weigh our lives. If we are on the one side of the scale and Christ is on the other side, does the scale balance equal? Jesus is the only weight or measure we should be weighed against all the time. 

Loving

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

LOVING

Prov 20:22

22 Do not say, "I'll pay you back for this wrong!" Wait for the LORD, and he will deliver you.

NIV

Revenge is mine, sayeth me! No wait that is wrong, it is supposed to be, “Revenge is mine sayeth the Lord”. But how fast we want to get even when we are wronged in some way. Oh maybe we don’t say, “I’m going to get you back”, but maybe we think it. Some call it, “Tit for Tat. But that is with our friends or spouses and it is not being really mean and spiteful, but just a little mean and spiteful. Although this saying should apply to our friends and spouses it also needs to apply to those who truly are not our friends but actually who might be considered our enemies. The idea here carries the same meaning as Paul wrote to the Romans.

Rom 12:17-21

17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."   21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

NIV

So then living in peace with everyone means we do just that. We should not take on any attitude of revenge. That would mean in the first place we would not take on the attitude of being hurt, or insulted, or being mistreated, or not liked. Those and attitudes like them are at the root of wanting to get back at that person in some way. Those attitudes are the spark which ignites the flame of revenge. If we are to love our enemy, how much more we are to love our friends and family. Then we would have to consider how God defines love and travel to 1^st Corinthians to find it.

1 Cor 13:4-8

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.

NIV

Although all of that applies in living in peace with everyone, most likely in the idea of revenge, the keeping no record of wrongs, stands out the most. Although not being self-seeking and not being easily angered are right up there with it. The point is we have to let those hurtful words, wrongful actions, or mistreatments just roll off our backs like water on a duck. Now according to the saying we should leave room for the Lord to take revenge for us. He will reward each according to his works, that is whether a person accepts Jesus or not. But here it seems to apply to God taking revenge on those who do us wrong. How would that apply to our friends and family? Surely we would not want them to be an object of wrath and surely if they are believers they would not be subject to his wrath but to his grace as we are. So then how do we deal with them if they are being a little hurtful toward us? Certainly we need to discuss the situation, but then that might mean we are still being self-centered taking on attitudes that are not defined in love. However our friends and family, other believers need to know they might be doing something that is not defined in love. Kind of a conundrum of sorts. Jesus did say, “Blessed are the peacemakers”.  Sometimes making peace requires being at peace. If any anger, resentment, hurtful attitudes exist then we cannot be a peacemaker. We are in some sense being revengeful looking for that speck when we have the log. So let us make every effort to live in peace. Let us pray for those who wrong us in any way and go on loving them. 

Not quickly

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

NOT QUICKLY

Prov 20:21

21 An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning will not be blessed at the end.

NIV

One might think this favors the idea of not being involved in get rich quick schemes such as the lottery or those casinos that dot our landscape. Certainly they would be included in this idea of quickly gained inheritance. This would also imply God does not bless such a method of gaining an inheritance. Then we would have to conclude buying a lottery ticket is sin. We would also have to conclude that gambling of any sort is a sin. But then at the time of this writing there was neither the lottery nor casinos. It is true the word of God is what we have referred to as transcultural in the sense it is valid for every culture in every time in history. As it was valid in the time of Solomon it is also valid in our time. It applied to their lives and it applies to ours. We cannot say a verse or passage in scripture was only for them in that time and no longer applies to us on our time. Yet with their not having the lottery or any casinos this saying should also have some other application about quickly gained inheritance. What would that have meant to them and thus could also mean to us? The idea the Hebrew word translated quickly gained means to tremble inwardly which would lend to the concept of speculation. We might say that would apply to a lottery ticket but it also would apply to investments that are speculative, not secure, with no guarantee of a return. Whenever we place money in a position that could be lost, it might well cause some inward trembling. Surely some people think investments are wise for future income. Certainly some investments are not gaining an inheritance very quickly. Yet the idea here still has a more apolitical meaning. Income or an inheritance gained any other way then by the labor of our hands is not blessed by God. This principal can be applied to all men in history, in the present and the future. Anything which is framed in a certain time or culture could be applied by they are exclusive to it. So then we must conclude God honors our labor, or diligence to the work of our own hands. This is what he established from the time of the first man, because of his disobedience. Adam was told he would toil the ground by the sweat of his brow all the days of his life. Working for our money is God ordained and thus blessed by him. Anything else, we cannot be certain of. Let us not be looking for some other way to gain an inheritance. especially quickly. 

Honor

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

HONOR

Prov 20:20

20 If a man curses his father or mother, his lamp will be snuffed out in pitch darkness.

NIV

This certainly comes from the law God handed down to the Israelites. This phrase was found both in the Old Testament and quoted by Jesus in the New Testament. First we see it in Exodus and then Leviticus.

Ex 21:17

17 "Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.

NIV

Lev 20:9

9 "'If anyone curses his father or mother, he must be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, and his blood will be on his own head.

NIV

When Jesus is chastising the Pharisees, he quotes this law.

Matt 15:3-6

3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'   5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,' 6 he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.

NIV

But there is the opposite to this law of death for not honoring our father and mother. God established this law in what we call the Ten Commandments. He stated that we are to honor are father and mother and in doing so we will have a long life.

Ex 20:12

12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

NIV

So then there is no option here but to honor our father and mother. What does it mean to honor them? Does that apply only while they are alive? It would seem not. Some of us are of the age that our parents have long been gone from this earth. Yet we honor them in memory. We honor them by not speaking unkindly of them or how they acted as parents. There are certainly facts in the history of our lives as children or young adults that may not have been the best of times, but that should be left in the past. Some people make excuses for their behaviors on the way their parents treated them. This excuse giving dishonors their parents, putting the blame on them instead of the person for his or her bad behavior. The fact remains it is our parents who gave us life. Yes it was God who knit us together in our mother’s womb. Yes, it was God who gave us all life, creating man and woman. But the fact still remains we are a product genetically from our father and mother. Many of us have very similar features and traits as our parents. We were raised by them one way or another, those of us who are currently adults have attained adulthood primarily because of our parents. In either case they were the ones who brought us into this world. What we are, who we are is completely on us. We all have choices to make in this life. We all can choose to live an angry, hateful life, resenting our parents and their behaviors toward us, or we can be thankful for our lives and the fact we are free to make our own way in life. We can choose to accept Jesus or choose to refuse him. We can love God or hate him, all freedom has been given to each of us to make our own mind up as to how we live. Some children who had been raised in the worst of conditions have risen to greatest in this world. Some children who were raised in a Christian home with the best guidance possible have chosen to walk away from God. The fact is we have the choice to honor or dishonor our parents. The results are total opposite. By honoring them we will live a long life, but by dishonoring them we can be assured our life will be much shorter.  Does this only apply in the words we speak about them to others? Maybe it also applies to the condition of our heart toward them. We might speak well of them to others, but in our heart we still carry some resentment, or anger, or unforgiveness toward them. Would that count as dishonoring them? Does our behavior reflect honoring or dishonoring them? Then we have to consider God, for now we are his children and he is our Father, and mother, as some would say. Does our life honor him? Do our attitudes, words, and behaviors bring honor to God? Could we see this proverb as those who do not honor God with their lives will have their candle, life, snuffed out in total darkness, perish? Those who honor God will live life eternally, which is a very long life. Either way, let us always give honor to our earthly parents and our heavenly parent.

Gossip

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

GOSSIP

Prov 20:19

19 A gossip betrays a confidence; so avoid a man who talks too much.

NIV

Gossip may be one of the most destructive devices of the tongue. It destroys both the person who speaks it and the one spoken of. It ruins the reputation of the speaker and the spoken of. Yet it is so seductive at the same time. We are continually being tempted to spread the news about what happened to someone else, or what they said, or did. Gossip is also no friend to the hearer. What is the hearer to do with this tidbit of information? Should they retain it, or pass it on? The speaker has certainly done a very dirty deed to the hearer. They have put temptation right there before them. There is a rule we need to abide by, a rule we are not sure how or who it was started by, but nevertheless a very good one. If we are not part of the problem or the solution, we do not need to know about it. This is the reason we should avoid those who spread gossip. That may be impossible to do if we work or live or church with a gossip. It is certainly not Christ-like to ignore someone completely or turn away, walk away whenever they come into our presence. They may even walk right up to us and start talking. How can we avoid them? The idea conveyed in the Hebrew is to not associate or fellowship with a gossip. That simply means we are not to become engaged in their talk about other people which is a secret. Surely it is alright to comment about someone who has openly told something about themselves such as took a new job, or moved, or lost their dog, or bought a new home, car, or whatever. Life is about conversations which include what people in common are doing. But to reveal a secret, to tell someone something which was shared in private betrays the confidence which was given. If we betray that confidence we might well not only lose a friend, but lose ourselves, our reputation as a friend. It would behoove us to remain far away from the gossip. Would it be appropriate to inform the gossip they are doing wrong and should stop their tongue? 

Counsel with God

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

COUNSEL WITH GOD

Prov 20:18

18 Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance.

NIV

Alright which one of us is going to wage war? This has to be about governments or monarchs striking out in war without deliberations and counsel of cabinets or advisors. But just because that insert, “If you wage war” is there, does it mean the whole of this saying is about war?  Perhaps that is included in order to make the point. Making plans, or as the Hebrew word means, purpose, without consideration from a trusted advisor would be injurious to our lives. We look back at King Saul and his wars and we find that God was angry with him and ultimately removed Saul from being king because Saul acted in disobedience regarding his actions during war with the Amalekites. What this shows us is that in our life purpose or plans we need to seek the counsel of a trusted advisor. Who can we trust to give us the best counsel for our life’s war against the enemy? We are in a war, in fact, we know a war wages within us. Those things we want to do, we do not, and those things we do not want to do, we do.

Rom 7:21-25

21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!

NIV

The only counsel which is wise is the Word of God. How could we make life plans based on our own heart and mind? We know it has nothing good to offer but a path that leads in the wrong direction. Whenever we consider a life choice if we use our own judgment it will usually, if not always, be based in our own desires, what we want. Should we not counsel with God before any life choice? Should we not seek God’s word or to hear the voice of the Spirit before making any change, any advance, any retreat? What makes us think we have the ability to choose the right one? We have heard some believers say, “Well God gave us a mind, we should use it”. True enough, he did give us a mind so that we could make the right choice and listen to his commands, his counsel, and his advice before acting on our own, as Saul did. If God removed Saul because he acted on his own rather than waiting for Samuel to offer sacrifices and seeking the guidance of God concerning war, is it possible he would remove us because of a similar offense? Surely we are in the age of grace, we are in Christ and have nothing to fear from God. We are at peace with God, but it would be wise for us to give credence to his word before making any plans and especially plans on how we go to battle with the enemy of our soul. God has provided us with the weapons and the plan, let us counsel with God. 

No Facade needed

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

NO FAÇADE NEEDED

Prov 20:17

17 Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel.

NIV

Surely this has to do with the businessmen who conduct unsavory means to make a profit. Yet why would this be here if there was not a lesson for the normal run of the mill believer in Christ? Anything done by fraud tastes sweet at first, but that fraud leaves the soul of a person hungry. There is never a reason to deceive someone in order to make ourselves look good. This seems to be at the root of this saying. Is it inherent that everyone wants to look good in the eyes of others? Who would say to themselves they do not care how others see them? Do we put on a façade so as to look better than we are? Is that not a reputation gained by fraud, which at first, tastes good? Although we should be concerned as to how we are seen by others, it would not be good to present a false front. We need to be who we are. There is the rub, who are we? A pastor we knew years ago had said, “Our personality is who we are when we are with people, and our character is who we are when we are alone”. Should we not be the same all the time? Why would we be anything but the character we are? Should not our character be that of Christ? Then should not our personality also be as Christ?  Yet do we put on the façade of being someone else in order to be accepted by the world? That is we do not include Jesus in our conversations with unbelievers. We talk about the weather, sports, cars, or movie stars. Perhaps we try to avoid money, politics and religion because there are too controversial and in doing so make people feel uneasy and then tend to avoid us. Yet should we not be who we are? We are born again, Spirit filled, bible toten followers of Jesus Christ. How can we be anything else in order to be a sweet taste in the mouth of God? He has told us he would rather we be hot or cold then lukewarm. Lukewarm he spits out of his mouth. If we are trying to gain food, get ahead in life, be successful, because we are doing so under false presences in any way it will end up be gravel. If we are not getting ahead and it is because of our faith, then we count it as all joy, for it is because we are who we are. Yet being who we are should make us more desirable to others. The God of love should be seen in us at all times. That does not mean we cannot laugh and enjoy fun, but being truthful about our relationship with our Lord should our personality as well as our character. No façade needed.   

A Warning

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

A WARNING

Prov 20:16

16 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger; hold it in pledge if he does it for a wayward woman.

NIV

What a strange saying. It appears it is speaking of two types of people. We would suppose this is a warning not to become like either of them. The first person described here is one who will bind himself for anyone who asks him. This person is willing to become entangled with an idle companion. He puts up security for a person who has none because of being without the fortitude of developing his own security. That would be a lazy person, idle, or looking for others to sustain him. The person who puts up security for that kind will soon be in poverty himself. We can be sure from this warning to not risk our own holdings for those who would but throw it away. That does not sound very Christian in respect to the idea of giving to the needy. But giving is altogether different that putting up security for them. It would also be wise not to give if the funds are to be used for lustful living. There has been some churches which require an interview and review of the financial picture before releasing any funds. Of course this does not include those bonafide ministries serving the needs of those in need. The second person is the one who is in league with wayward women. This would be the person who spends his income on treating, gifting, courting, in a sense, women who make their living using their sexuality. Not sure about why we would take the garment of the first person, but only hold as a pledge for the second. Could this be making any reference to the story of Tamar and Judah? She presented herself as a prostitute and Judah, in order to sleep with her gave her a pledge. This saying might well be a warning not to make a promise to assist someone who lives in that manner as the second person. Again that appears to being not very Christian. But should we be in league or form any type of partnership with the ways of the world? We know that answer is, no. We are admonished not to be unequally yoked. Not to partner with someone in any way that would drag us down. It is known that any pair of draft animals, such as oxen or horses are only as strong as the weaker of the two when yoked together. For us to throw in with those who either are looking for a free handout or run around with wild woman would do nothing but drag us down. This partnership arrangement in both cases seems to imply some sort of business arrangement. This again is a warning not to partner with the world in business, such as putting up funds for the use of activities conducted by businesses engaged in worldly concepts. This opens a Pandora’s Box which we should leave closed least we become judgmental. But the point is the point, let the world be the world and keetpout of investing in it, either with security or a pledge. 

Eternal things

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

ETERNAL THINGS

Prov 20:15

15 Gold there is, and rubies in abundance, but lips that speak knowledge are a rare jewel.

NIV

Certainly during the time of Solomon there was an abundance of gold and rubies.

1 Kings 10:21-22

1 All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's days. 22 The king had a fleet of trading ships at sea along with the ships of Hiram. Once every three years it returned, carrying gold, silver and ivory, and apes and baboons.

NIV

Even before that the Israelites carried enough gold, silver and bronze to make the tabernacle and before that the golden calf. Gold was and still seems to be a sought after commodity. In fact there are many companies today that spent thousands of dollars on ads trying to convince us to buy their gold to secure our financial future. The point of this proverb is it would be far better in the eyes of God to chase after his knowledge then the world’s wealth. It is so easy to get caught up in the trap of chasing after gold. We have to need a certain portion of money to live. There are the things of necessity, a place to live, food to eat and clothes to wear, and of course in our mobile society a car to drive, so we can get to work in order to make the money needed to buy those things. But then there is the extreme, hoarding as much as it we can for some later day. Making the accumulation of gold our life’s journey, or goal is when we get into trouble. Yes, there is something to be said about having enough for emergencies or budgeting for a known future needs, such as maintenance of things. But the idea is that we should not make the pursuit of our life after storing money up. We should make our life be one that pursues after the knowledge of God and speak it to others. Here we are told that if our lips speak about the things of God, they are a rare jewel which is far more precious than gold and rubies. So then should not our conversations be about the things of God rather than the things of this world? So much of our conversations are so mundane, so useless, so without substance, it is a wonder if anyone knows we are different then everyone else. We fill our days with useless words, how can that be? Chitter chatter, nonsense, yet we should be speaking words of knowledge. Let us make sure we are not chasing after gold, but after God. Let us make him, his knowledge the main focus of our life. All else will perish but his word.

Matt 24:35

35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

NIV

Let our lips speak of eternal things.

Boasting

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

BOASTING

Prov 20:14

14 "It's no good, it's no good!" says the buyer; then off he goes and boasts about his purchase.

NIV

Isn’t it the truth! How often we have heard people tell us how cheap, or at want a savings they bought something. Why do we feel that we have to boast about getting something at a bargain? Are we afraid people will think we are dumb if we paid full price? Here we see a man claiming some defect in his desired purchase in order to bargain the price down. This is certainly a daily occurrence in the retail business of today. “This box has been opened, shouldn’t I get a discount?” “Look at this plant, it’s almost dead, it should be marked down”. There is a whole host of claims in an effort to have their purchase price reduced. Who ever heard of someone saying they bought a car without bargaining on the price? The scripture tells us that a labor is deserving of his wages. Of course in the scriptures which declare this truth they are about men who ministered being deserving of honor, their wages. Yet it holds true in business as well. How can any business survive if it does not make a profit? Do we think they have overpriced their goods? Do we haggle at the grocery Store? Of course not! Do we haggle at Starbucks? Not! What about at a restaurant? Maybe. But always when buying a car. It just seems we want to boast about getting a bargain on things that make us look either thrifty or frugal or good stewards. Maybe it is just because we have such a love for saving money. But this proverb is more about the boasting, which is not a good thing. Boasting about what we have, and especially how little we paid for it, is just due to a boastful heart. How can that be right in the eyes of God? Should we not be more about lifting others up, building each other up until we reach the unity in the faith? Should we not consider others before ourselves? Doesn’t the scripture admonish us to be humble? Boasting, about anything is simply against scripture.

James 4:13-17

3 Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." 16 As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17 Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

NIV

If we boast about anything it should be Jesus.

Gal 6:14

14 May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

NIV

There are so many verses that admonish us not to be boastful, it would almost take a book rather than a small devotion. Let us simply live a quiet life of serving our Lord. 

Awake my heart

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

AWAKE MY HEART

Prov 20:13

13 Do not love sleep or you will grow poor; stay awake and you will have food to spare.

NIV

It is possible this could be seen as being asleep means poverty and being awake means prosperity. That we are to make hay while the sun is shining. That it is the intent we should not focus on slumber, but on making money. But there is far more to this context than that simple and most likely incorrect conclusion. A lover of sleep is a slothful person, one who does not see the value in an honest day’s work. Our society has developed an atmosphere of dependency upon the government for daily food among as many as it can. This is done to exert power over them to control thier vote in order for the haves to continue in their position of power. This is the same type of scheme the devil uses with temptations in order to influence people to become dependent upon certain sins for their pleasure. God has declared that is because of Adam's sin, he would toil the ground by the sweat of his brow all the days of his life. We are from the line of Adam, and we have gone astray by seeking sleep, slumber from our labor all the days of our life. We are to stay awake, work, work and work, never to slumber from work. This society of just recent years, compared to the total time of man’s existence, has worked itself into needed a time to quite work and slumber, we call it retirement, but it is but a period of slumber. We strive for it, we plan for it, and we store up as much as we can for it, but in reality we become sleepers. Now the spiritual application is the best way to look at this proverb. If we love sleep, which is not being awake to the voice of the Spirit, we are indeed poor. If we slumber regarding the Word of God, if we are asleep we cannot read it, nor understand its meaning. God’s word is food for our soul.

Matt 4:4

4 Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" 

NIV

How can we eat from the word that comes from the mouth of God, if we love sleep? If we are awake we will have more than enough food from his mouth. In fact, enough to spare. That would mean we have enough to share. If we have enough to spare we have more then we need so we can share the food of God with others. Let us not be wooed to sleep by the songs of the devil. Let us not hear his lullaby. Let us remain awake drinking from the spring of living water and eating from the Word of God and we shall have food aplenty.

Jesus gave us this example when he was speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. When his disciples returned with earthly food his response gives us the reason for this view of this proverb.

John 4:31-38

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat something." 32 But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you know nothing about."  33 Then his disciples said to each other, "Could someone have brought him food?" 34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, 'Four months more and then the harvest'? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying 'One sows and another reaps' is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor." 

NIV 

Focus

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

FOCUS

Prov 20:12

12 Ears that hear and eyes that see — the LORD has made them both.

NIV

Our eyes and ears may be considered our primary senses as we can perceive most things through them. It would make sense that we should use our ears to hear the word of God and our eyes to see the word of God. Yet we also use our ears to hear other things, words that we should not, such as gossip or vulgar speech. It is true there may be times it is unavoidable to hear somethings, but the idea here is we should eagerly desire to hear the voice of God. Our eyes are all together another thing. With them we see all sorts of visions. We can enjoy the creation of God all around us. We can use them to view things we desire to have. Both our ears and eyes can be used for self-pleasure or seeking God. He has created both of them for our use and this also means as we were created in his image. He who has created ears, hears and he who created eyes, sees.

Ps 94:9

9 Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?

NIV

This gives us the assurance God hears our voice. He hears our words of praise and prayer. He hears our words of testimony or witness. But does he hear our ugly words? We also have the assurance that God sees us. He sees our praise or worship. He sees our works, our deeds or service to his kingdom. It would also make sense he sees our ugly works or deeds. Yet because we are in Christ it means God hears and sees us through the blood of Christ. If God were like Orson Wells 1984, Big Brother concept watching our every move, our every word to observe if we did or say one thing out of place and have us scooped up, arrested or reprogrammed with some mind controlling device, our lives in Christ would be miserable. We might be afraid to leave our homes in fear of coming into contact with some temptation and thus sin and be sent to hell as a result. Yes, he hears and sees us. But because we are at peace with God, because he gives us this peace we have nothing to fear from him. The Greek word translated peace throughout the New Testament carries the meaning of the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is. But that does not mean we should use our senses for whatsoever. Let us focus them on God, as he focuses his on us. 

Reflection

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

 REFLECTION

Prov 20:11

11 Even a child is known by his actions, by whether his conduct is pure and right.

NIV

We would have to agree parents have a clear idea of the inner workings of their children by how they behave. We have a tendency to brag about how good our children are, but leave out any of the mischievous or disobedient behaviors. However it is also true many children are seen in public acting out the worst of behaviors, which certainly reflects on the parent’s willingness to train the child properly, although there may be just bad children through no fault of the parent. Is this not the case with us, the children of God? Are we not known by our actions? It is not that our actions or works secures salvation, but the world knows us by our actions. Is our conduct pure and right? We certainly think it is, but how do we look to others? We know how we look to God as he sees us through the blood of Jesus and therefore to him we are pure and right. But we are known by our actions, by our behavior which reflect on our parent, God. Do people ever say, “Sure you claim to be a Christian, but you sure don’t behave like one”? Even the unbeliever knows how we are supposed to behave. Doesn’t that seem odd? But it isn’t, as God has put the knowledge of him into all his creation, every person, but some have suppressed that knowledge by their evil deeds. But they still know, just because it is suppressed it has not gone away. So they know about God deep within and watch us to see if our actions back up our words. We pray our actions will always be pure and right in the sight of the world. We cannot afford to be assimilated into their way of thinking. We cannot afford to be influenced by their way of behaving. We cannot afford to be drawn into conduct that is not pure and right. It is for certain the schemes of the devil are centered on dragging us from anything pure and right and into thinking and thus acting as the world does. We are children of God and we reflect our Father by our conduct, let us reflect that which is pure and right. Let us be a reflection. 

Weighed and Measured

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

 WEIGHTED AND MEASURED

Prov 20:10

10 Differing weights and differing measures — the LORD detests them both.

NIV

It would seem this is straight forward regarding the way business should be conducted or rather how it should not be conducted. The word weights in the Hebrew refers to dry measures and the word measures refers to liquid measures. It was customary in those days merchants would use one set of measures to buy with and another set to sell with. The buying weights and measures we heavier thus they received more than their money’s worth and those they sold with were lighter so they made more than their money’s worth as well. In essence, they cheated both times. This the Lord detests. This would mean we need to be honest in all we do as far as business goes. But what about all us who are not business people? Does this just apply to them? We could see another aspect of differing weights and differing measures. This could apply to how we weigh and measure other people’s spirituality and how we measure ours. This might well fit along with the idea of getting the log out of our own eye before we look for that speck in our brother’s eye. This could apply to parents who set rules for life for their children, but do not observe the same rules themselves. Parents who expect their children to maintain a sinless life but not expect that of themselves. We might have a tendency to judge others by one standard but give ourselves some leeway. Do we look at others and say, “You have been weighed and measured and have been found wanting”? Then we think how we have got it right, we are not wanting, we live rightly. Let us not use a different standard for anyone, but we should know all of us have been found wanting, and that is why we all need Jesus. He is the perfect weight and measure. The standard is the same for all, and we all are weighed and measured in Christ.  

Take Heart

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

TAKE HEART

Prov 20:9

9 Who can say, "I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin"?

NIV

Let’s see, there is the Father, then there is the Son and oh yes, there is the Holy Spirit. Aside from the Holy Trinity there is none, no not one who can say they have kept their heart pure, and they are without sin. Yet there is hope. There are many, perhaps thousands even tens of thousands who can testify that the blood of Jesus has cleansed them from all unrighteousness. We too must admit we are not without sin, we cannot claim our heart is pure, nor can we claim anything other than we have been saved by the grace of God. There is not a single thing we can do that would make us worthy of his grace, otherwise it would not be grace, but a repayment for our works. In addition, our works are as filthy rages. Not even the best of our works could justify us before God. Only through the blood of Jesus. He is the only way to eternal life. Faith in Christ is our only hope. And even then it is God who gives every man a measure of faith. It would seem we cannot even have faith without the grace of God. What we can testify is that God is good all the time and all the time God is good. He is the only one who is good. We are told we should not think about certain things, and there are things we are to think about.

Phil 4:4-9

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. 8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me — put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

NIV

We can be assured it is the peace of God, which we cannot fully understand, because it transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Again let us consider this guarding. Although we may not fully understand, it might well be that God sees our heart and mind through the heart and mind of Christ. Because we are in Christ and Christ is in us, we are hidden in Christ, thus seen as Christ. But at the same time we are to fill our mind, our thinking process with what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Let’s see, that would be Jesus. It is difficult to always be thinking about Jesus, especially when our heart and mind is being tempted continuously to think about other things. We get distracted so easily, so quickly, because our heart and mind is not pure, because we are not without sin and we will never be until we step into eternity. But that does give us an excuse. We are to make every effort to live in a manner that pleases God. The best manner is to have faith in Jesus, to be covered by his blood.

John 16:33

33 "I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." 

NIV

And so, we take heart! 

seen

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

SEEN

Prov 20:8

8 When a king sits on his throne to judge, he winnows out all evil with his eyes.

NIV

This may well be about earthly kings who sit upon their throne or seat of judgment and meter out justice without bias. Surely there were kings in the world during the time of Solomon for he was a king himself. There have been kings before him and after him and in a few countries today we still have monarchs, some kings, and some queens. However would this not also be a warning to the world about the King of kings? The word translated winnow can mean to scatter, disperse or sift. This could certainly apply to how God deals with the evil that would have to stand before his judgment seat. Those who do not accept Jesus or refuse the grace of God and walk their own path in life are considered as the wicked or evil. Everyone will stand before God, in fact we are told that every knee will bow. The wicked will bow before God in fear and with hopes of not being cast out, but God sees all the evil with his eyes, there is no hiding from him. There is no deceiving the eyes of God, he sifts through the heart of each who stand before him. If he sees Jesus in that heart he brings that heart into his rest, but if he does not see Jesus in the heart, but sees wickedness he disperses his judgment upon them. This is the sheep and the goats parable. The sheep are those with Jesus in their heart, the goats do not. There is also an idea of the present age as well, in this life with lead. Throughout our lives we either have Christ in our heart or we don’t. This is not to say we should live in the fear of God every time we fail him. He sees Jesus in our heart, knows we have accepted his provision for our salvation and his blessings fall upon us. We  are recipients of his grace. The unjust, or the wicked live without that grace, although it is available to them. Nevertheless God deals differently with us in this life then the wicked. Sure the rain falls on both the just and the unjust alike. We all are subject to certain aspects of life, we all live in a decaying body. But God winnows out the wicked, the evil, those without Jesus. Just as we are admonished, let us hold to our faith, let us not be distracted by the wiles of the evil one, the ways of the world. Let us always be seen with Jesus in our heart. 

Blessed

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

BLESSED

Prov 20:7

7 The righteous man leads a blameless life; blessed are his children after him.

NIV

There is a duality in this saying. First we might think the man who leads a blameless life leaves a legacy for his children. He does well for his family and leaves behind a well-bred offspring. But what man can be blameless? That in itself is not possible for we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Who then can be righteous? The point is that Christ is our righteousness and therefor a man who is in Christ is righteous and also blameless as he stands before God. Without Christ there is no righteousness to be found in any man. But as a man, a father finds Jesus and puts his trust in him, leads his family to Christ and so his children are indeed blessed, happy. What father would not lead his children to Christ? Although it is true some children simply do not follow in the footsteps of faith as their father. Some children are defiant and want to walk their own path. It is sad for any parent to watch their children walk away from God. But the scripture is also encouraging in this matter.

Prov 22:6

6 Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.

NIV

There is hope for any father who trains his children in the ways of God. That is the point of this righteous man who leads a blameless life, a life committed to Christ. All too often we have heard the phrase, “Do as I say, not as I do”. That will not do in the case for this father. It is our life which leads our children to being blessed. Although we should be careful what we say, we truly need to be careful in what we do. Children are the first to see through hypocrisy. They watch the life of their father. How does the father live his faith is how they will be blessed. When the father is faithful in his faith in Christ his children will see that. It is not the perfection of fatherhood, for no man can attain that, but it is his commitment to remain trusting in Jesus for the forgiveness of sin which shows the way for his children to be blessed. It is not simply about always being in church when the doors are open. It is not always about being involved in church things. It is not always about being successful in worldly affairs. It is always about living a life of faith in Christ. It might be that children stray from the path. Can parents, who are not perfect, expect their children to be perfect? Sometimes it seems that is the case with some parents. But perfection is not the standard. Trusting in Christ is the standard by which all will be judged. Therefor let us always remain steadfast in our trust, our righteousness, Jesus. Living our faith out loud before our children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great, great grandchildren until the day we step into the presence of our Lord. Then our posterity will be blessed.  

Seen or Unseen

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

SEEN OR UNSEEN

Prov 20:6

6 Many a man claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man who can find?

NIV

Other translations as well as the original Hebrew version use the word goodness rather than unfailing love. However the implication of the Hebrew is this goodness or unfailing love is directed toward God. So it would seem this proverb is speaking about people who profess to have an unfailing love toward God, professing how good a Christian they are, but in actuality their actions do not back up their words. This should give us something to think about. It is far better to just be faithful then to claim so. We have seen this with remarks about the Pharisees, or those who stand on the corner beating their chests. Among all the woes Jesus spoke at the Pharisees this portion shows the intent of this proverb.

Matt 23:5-7

5 "Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6 they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7 they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

NIV

Doing our good deeds so openly as to make sure everyone sees us doing them seems to have little merit. This certainly agrees with the idea of when we give to the poor, not to let our right hand know what are left hand is doing.

Matt 6:2-8

 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

5 "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

NIV

This all goes hand and glove with the saying “Actions speak louder the words”. We should be a person of action, and not so much of words about them. Sure we think testimony time is about telling how we did something for God, but in actuality it is about what God did for us. We need to be aware of how we voice that testimony and make sure we are not even taking the credit because God did it for or through us for someone else. It is easy to allow ourselves to get puffed up by the praises of men, but this should not be. Whatever we do we should be careful not to seek the praise from men, but from God. So let us be about doing whatever the Spirit prompts us to do simply because we desire to be faithful. We should not care if we are seen or unseen but is it better to be unseen then seen. Let us just try to be about our Father's business. 

Drawing out

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

DRAWING OUT

Prov 20:5

5 The purposes of a man's heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out.

NIV

There are for certain individuals whose minds run deep with great wisdom. However, by these words of Solomon it would seem these same deep waters, deep thinking minds are also modest and seldom offer counsel on their own, or of their desire to speak about their knowledge and wisdom. It would seem one who has understanding has the capacity through probing questions to bring out this individual into the conversation and thus unveiling their wisdom. That is one way of looking at the proverb. There is another which seems to express another idea all together. What are the purposes of a man’s heart, which are deep waters? It would seem the Hebrew word translated purposes does mean counsel or plan. So then it could imply this man’s counsel or advice is very deep with wisdom as we have expressed. But what if the word were to be used as plan rather than advice? An individual’s heart plans are deep waters. What we plan in our hearts are hidden deep within. We do not often share the deepest and darkest plans of our heart. We are also told our heart is bent toward evil.

Jer 17:9

9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

NIV

The idea which comes to mind here is that we all are sinners, some of us have come to that knowledge and confessed our sin, repented and put our trust in Jesus. Others are also sinners but have not confessed, repented and put their trust in Jesus. So then, we could conclude our hearts are deep waters, holding to our plans which in most cases are deceitful ones. We might look good on the outside, acting in a manner which gives others the illusion we are holy and upright, but who truly knows the plans of our heart? Here we would see that a person of understanding would bring them out. But who has that kind of understanding? It may not be that we actually understand the depth of a person’s plans, but we too being of the same kind of heart understand they need to hear the word of God. This is what someone did for us, bringing or drawing us out from the darkness of our hearts into the light of Christ. We too should understand that is the footsteps which the Lord has ordered to his creation. We make our plans but he orders our footsteps. The idea here may be that God ordained the way back to him is through Jesus, those are the only steps which lead to him. We who know Jesus should be drawing those who do not out of their plans of darkness and into the light of Christ. Let us draw them out. 

Abundant Harvest

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

ABUNDANT HARVEST

Prov 20:4

4 A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing.

NIV

Sometimes it is fun to check with our scholars of old to see how they saw the scriptures within their time in history and the cultural values in which they lived. For example, their values concerning women were far before any women’s suffrage in the United States. They were a more agricultural society, however, urban life was one of a refined, gentleman’s life. Along with many other differences than we live today, it is not surprising their views on this proverb are all about the times of plowing, planting, harvesting and the weather.  But there has to be something more that for the word of God is for all people of all times. Some might use this proverb to support their gathering material wealth for themselves no matter the season, and thus have a harvest in later life. But that just flies in the face of the all the truths against that kind of thinking. This is about planting and harvesting. However, we neither plow, plant or harvest any crops, but we certainly might in two other aspects. First we would plow our own hearts, as we are the good soil.

Luke 8:11-15

11 "This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

NIV

We plow our hearts and plant the word of God deep within and thus we produce a crop. This then would imply if we are sluggards in planting the word of God in our hearts, if we are always making some excuse why we do not have time to read and study the word, then we are not the good soil which produces a crop. We might well be that soil which is choked out by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, thus not maturing. When it comes to the word of God, the seed, we must be diligent in season plowing, and planting.

2 Tim 4:1-5

4:1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season ; correct, rebuke and encourage — with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

NIV

Although this might be considered by some as only a charge by Paul to Timothy, it too is a charge by God to all believers. The sluggard is worried about the season, but we should be ready to harvest the word planting in our hearts, and share the message of salvation no matter the season.

This is the second aspect of not being a sluggard in regards to the word of God. If we have plowed our hearts and planted the word and it has grown in the good soil, we will produce a crop. We need to be plowing and planting the word God among the soil of the world, the unbelievers who need to have the seed planted within them. Once we plow and plant it is up to them as to what type of soil they are. But if we are sluggards in this area, it is certain we will never be able to harvest any souls for Jesus. If we are always looking for some reason, some excuse why we cannot plow and plant, then maybe we are this sluggard after all. So let us make sure we are not, let us first make sure we are plowing and planting in our own hearts and in the hearts of whoever we can. Then we will enjoy a great and abundant harvest.