Wednesday 14 Nov 2012

Wednesday Reading: Proverbs 3:1-6

Key Verse: Proverbs 3:5
5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Devotion:
Yes I know it’s the same verses but there is a very important point that I left out of yesterday’s devotion and that is the second half of verse 5. The more that we think we know the more of a case we build up based on our own understanding of things. Unfortunately for us we do not have the same understanding as the author our the bible!

When we think we know it all, or even when we think we know just one spec of evidence better that God, we are immediately working against Him! I have been in trouble before both in school and out of school as I have tried to prove in some way that I know more than my teachers. I know that I have been right sometimes but that is because I have been up against other people and not against God. Each time I have come up against God’s Word I have had to back down because, ultimately, I find out that I am actually wrong.

Nowadays I don’t try to pick fights against God because I trust in His Word. I trust it as the truth and I trust that it is there to teach me to live my life in the right way. That does cause problems in my life because I come up against people who do not want to believe God’s Word is the absolute truth. If God just wanted to entertain us then He would have given us a novel to read and we would be able to pick holes in it all day long – just as we like to pick holes in novels and films. Instead, He has given us His Word so that we can know it as the truth.

It is not up to us to define which parts of the bible we are going to take and which parts we are going to leave. We either take God’s Word as the truth or we take it as a novel. Man’s understanding may seem rather incredible compared to a decade ago and incomparable compared to a century ago, but no matter how much we think we are learning, we are still learning and we still need a teacher. God continues to explain His Word to us for as long as we are willing to attend class with Him. The more we attend class and listen, the more we learn – so let us not think that we can re-write God’s Word but rather use it to further our understanding each and every day.

Points to Ponder:
How much did you learn yesterday?

How much did you listen to God for understanding?