Sunday Reading: Proverbs 14:27
Key Verse: Proverbs 14:27
27 The fear of The Lord is a fountain of life to turn aside from the snares of death.
Devotion:
No matter how much or how good the advice you hear, if you are not going to listen to it and to take it in then it is simply useless. If you do not take any notice of the instruction book that comes with a new device that you have bought, then don’t expect to know exactly how to use it in every circumstance because you have not listened to the advice that came from the makers. These things sound so obvious and yet they are the same traps that each one of us falls into time and time again. We think that we are clever enough to be able to make most things work without taking advice; and then when things do go wrong we suddenly hunt for the instruction book...
Our lives are full of circumstances like these and not just the modern devices that we buy but with our very lives as well. Our parents tried to get us to listen when we were small so that we would know the basics to get us through. They tried to get us to rely on them in our early lives so that we would know who to go to for advice. Then they tried to prepare us for our lives when we finally make the move away from home so that we would be able to fend for ourselves. But in each step they support us so that we will not feel alone.
God has continually tried to get us to listen to every step in our lives. He has prepared parents who care, siblings who care and friends that want us to succeed. How often do we ignore His timely advice and go forward thinking that we can make it alone? How often do we go forward and think that we know best just because there was one time when we did succeed? God has given us the ultimate instruction manual that guides us towards Him and forward in our lives. If we really want to be a success story then we have to listen to His advice through everything that He has given us. We need to make sure that we do know that He does know best! It’s no good saying that He knows best and then ignoring Him... We’ve done that for far too long already!
Points to Ponder:
Do you take in advice?
Do you listen to God?
