Ours or His

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

OURS OR HIS

Prov 16:9

9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

NIV

This seems to echo the sentiments of the first verse of this chapter of proverbs, yet this is the one which has been quoted more often. Even though it is saying almost the same thing as verse one, it still has a slightly different twist. We are the only living species which has the capacity to determine the course of our lives. We have been given authority over all other living species upon this earth. With this capacity to make our own way, we always face choices in the journey of life. Some of those choices are what we might think are important to us, but in the grand scheme of things may be quite inconsequential. The one choice which determines everything is the choice to follow the ways of God and live or follow our own ways and die. It is to our shame if we choose to follow after our owe ways, but yet there is also the sovereignty of God we must deal with. Because God determines our steps, he has the providential power to determine the course of our lives. We might desire certain things in life, but it is truly up to God whether we achieve or obtain those things. We might also see in this proverb that each person plans the course of their life, to live according to their own ways, or Gods way. He then has determined those who live according to their way will step into death, and those who live his way will step into everlasting life. Either way we look at this, we know one thing for sure, God is the creator and we are the created. Although he gave us this free will to choose our way, he has the authority over all things, and in the end, his will shall be accomplished. We only need to make the choice, ours or his. 

The Chose

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

THE CHOSE

Prov 16:8

8 Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.

NIV

It would seem that most people are in pursuit of life liberty and happiness, the American dream, to have as much of the world’s good as possible. Most of us live in as big a home as we can possible have, drive the best cars we can, eat the best food, wear the best clothes we can and do all things we want to do, or dream about bigger, and better things to do and try our best to do be able to do them. If for some reason our lives are not as big as we dream of then we feel discontent and are at unrest, wanting more. Here in this saying we learn we such be content in whatever state we are in as long as we are in right standing with God. It is far better for us to live with much less and be in right standing with God, then to live in the lap of luxury because we have put out our personal gain before our relationship with God. If our motive of having a relationship with God is so that he will bless us with the abundant life, we lose for that is injustice. If we live for personal gain, but include God as a part of our lives, we lose for that too is injustice. The main point here that we need to put God before all else. It does not matter what we have or do not have, as long as we have a right relationship with God. This life is just a preparation for the life to come and if we are in pursuit of this life, we may well not have the one to come. There if a difference between life everlasting and perishing, and only those in right standing with God will have life everlasting. It is our right to choose. 

Living in Peace

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

LIVING IN PEACE

Prov 16:7

7 When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.

NIV

We certainly have seen all throughout the history of the children of Israel the truth of this statement. Every time their ways were not pleasing to God their enemies attacked and carried them off in captivity. This was a recurring event over and over again. It seemed their never learned this lesson. It seems they still have not learned it in this modern era as the Israelis, in general, do not serve God in the manner he desires them to, and thus their enemies still do not live in peace with them. As far as our personal lives, we may not have actually enemies who are out to capture us and carry us off as slaves, except of course Satan, who tries his best to do just that. However we do have people in this world that could make our lives difficult just because they oppose our personality, our views, our faith, or some other aspect of our lives. This truth would imply that if we spend out effects living in a way that would please God, rather then please the world, we would enjoy a peaceful life, without strife, without tension, without conflict or any of the other negative interactions that could occur. We are told to make every effort to live in peace with all men. This could be interpreted as trying to appease them, not rocking the boat, so to speak, never giving them any cause to hate us, dislike us, or have other ill feeling which would cause them to not live in peace with us. But it would seem them way to have all others live in peace with us, is not by appeasing them, but by pleasing God. This of course would require living in such a manner that it would be difficult if not impossible for others to do anything but live in peace with us. If we live to please God then we are living a life of love, which effects how we treat all others. It seems a rather basic concept, yet there still lies within each of us the struggle against self. When we attempt to please self rather than God, we may not be living in peace with our enemies. When we live to please God, we can truly live in peace. 

Avoiding

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

AVOIDING

Prov 16:6

6 Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for; through the fear of the LORD a man avoids evil.

NIV

This might give thought, as some are persuaded, the by acts of love, mercy, compassion and being faithful to the faith a man would be able to atone for his sins. But if that is the case why did Jesus have to come incarnate? What was the whole purpose of all the prophets declaring the coming of the Messiah, the one who would atone for the sins of mankind? It is inexcusable for any denomination to imply that any person can by any acts of kindness or love atone for sin. It is without question this love and faithfulness is an act of God toward us. God is the only one who can atone for sin, as sin is an offense against him and without his atonement for it, sin brings death. But there is something we can do and that is fear or revere God and in doing so we can avoid evil. Because our hearts are continually inclined toward evil, toward sin of some nature, whether that be of an immoral bend, or toward greed or gossip, or some other self-serving pursuit, or even doubt, by fearing God we have that check within our spirits and find the strength to turn from our wicked ways and lean on God. Seeking his help is the only way we stand a chance to avoid any evil at all. If we think we can avoid it on our own, we have been deceived by the evil one himself. It is only though God can we avoid those traps which entangle us in evil thoughts, words, and deeds. If we say we do not sin in words, thoughts or deeds, we deceive ourselves and call God a liar. There is no righteousness in us because of our own account, but if we fear God, if we revere him, if we give him honor we have taken the steps necessary away from those evil intents. Does that mean we will never sin again? Doubtful, but we are not always bent toward sin by fearing God, we are bent toward him, and thus his atonement covers us, and evil no longer can bring us death, thus we have avoided the effects of evil, we have avoided evil. 

Remain Humble

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

REMAIN HUMBLE

Prov 16:5

5 The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.

NIV

I have done this, or I have done that is the beginning of trouble. It might be easy to fall into the trap of thinking more of ourselves then we ought to. It is especially difficult not thinking highly of ourselves if we are well educated, either making a great deal of money, or having a powerful position, even in the ministry. Whenever we begin any statement with “I have” we are certainly bordering on the edge of having a proud heart. We might be far better off if we were to start our sentences with, “The Lord has allowed me to…” or “The Lord has given me….” Or “By the grace of God, I”. We need to be continually aware that all we have all we do and all we are is because of the power of God at work in our lives. We need to always give him credit for everything we do and have. We need to always give praise to him for every aspect of our lives, for without him we would be left with nothing but our puny self. Yes we are a creation of God, and some would go around professing they are a child of the king and therefore should have the best of everything in this world and they make it the goal of their lives to pursue those things, but could still be prideful. We need to understand the root cause of pride and avoid it at all costs; otherwise there could be punishment in some form or another from the hand of God. That might answer the question, “Does God punish?” It would appear he will punish those who are proud of heart, so we must remain humble. 

His Will

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

HIS WILL

Prov 16:4

4 The LORD works out everything for his own ends — even the wicked for a day of disaster.

NIV

First before there was anything there was God and we need to know and understand that he is the sovereign of all. He is more powerful and any other being the one who created all things, including man. Some would say that God created evil, but that is not case. He did, however, create man with the power to choose to rebel against him, to fight against him, to in fact do evil. We can see that God was extremely saddened when mankind had turned from him, rebelled against him and their hearts were inclined to evil, so he decided to destroy all of them save Noah and his family. But even the those who rebel against him, who do evil, who refuse to have God rule over them, will be used for his glory in the end. He did not predestined them to be evil, but he will still be glorified when he judges their deeds, as he will be the one who decides they will see disaster for their evil deeds. They may not glorify him in their lives, but at the end they will bring glory upon him. He is the Lord God, who will always and forever have all the glory and honor because of everything, all the good deeds by those who love him, worship him, honor, him, serve him and proclaim him as their lord and master, as well as by all those who rebel against him. In the end, there will still be God and his will shall be done. 

Success

DEVOTION

PROVERBS

SUCCESS

Prov 16:3

3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

NIV

At first sight this might seem to imply that if we commit our plans to God he will make sure they are successful. This of course might give the impression that he is there waiting as a genie in the bottle to make our plans successful. The key to the truth in this saying lies in the word commit. The original language implies to roll over, so then we would have to roll over our plans to the Lord, which is to transfer them from us to him. When we give God all our burdens and cares, when we spend that time with him transferring all our doings, our work, our life to him, then we hear from him and understand the way we should go, thus we will be successful in our journey, our life. We surely must understand this successful journey has nothing to do with the gathering of material wealth, but the gathering of spiritual worth. It might be that in his divine will we gain much material wealth as well, but its benefit might better service the kingdom then be spent of self-gratification. It is clear that before we begin, while we are doing, and even at the end of any endeavor we should look to the divine influence upon our hearts to have success. If we plan and do anything in the human will alone, without the divine influence of God, surely our life will have been a miserable failure. If we commit everything to God, the journey of our life will be a great success.