July 11: Proverbs 14 19-21

Key Verse: Proverbs 14 20
The poor man is hated even by his own neighbour, But the rich has many friends.

Devotion:
No matter how hard we try to avoid the 'class society' we always seem to get caught up in it. Whether we are looking down on some person begging on the street, or looking up at some royal personage, we do always look at ourselves as being different to others when looking at their positions in society. How many times do we judge someone by the things that they do?

When we look at people doing things wrong, we immediately think of them as having a portion of evil helping them along – but when we slip into doing something wrong ourselves, we don’t view ourselves as having that same portion of evil. God knows no evil. He is pure. He is without sin. Everything we do wrong is seen in absolute clarity so He knows about evil; He just does not have anything to do with it. He is the only one who should be judging anyone else!

We all do stumble at one time or another, giving in to temptations or things we don't see as being wrong because we are caught up in the excitement. But there is coming a time when we may well have to face up to those mistakes. Just like we do have to face up to our mistakes and things we do wrong in this life. When we get angry with someone and rant off about how we feel or how wrong they are, we do so without thinking of the consequences – but when those consequences catch up with us, we have to face them even if we don’t want to!

When we see poor people begging on the street, we may well get angry with them because of the way they are acting – maybe they are drunk and hassling you for money and you don’t care for it. When we see friends doing something we asked them not to, we may get angry because they have gone against our wishes. But how many times do we think about what do we against God each and every day? When we find ourselves in hard times, we may well find it difficult to make friends because everyone will be looking down on us. But how many times have we looked down on others? God has the right to look down on us because of what we do to Him – but He holds out His hands waiting to help us continually!

Points to Ponder:
How often to you really think of others?

How often do you really think of God's wishes in your life?

July 10: Numbers 12 1-15

Key Verse: Numbers 12 10
And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper

Devotion:
When was the last time you were humiliated? I'm not talking about just being a bit embarrassed, but really humiliated! Fortunately, most of us are shared the embarrassment of having to face true humility, but Miriam was one of those who had to face it. Miriam was Aaron's sister and a prophetess (Exodus 15 20) but that did not excuse her from any sin! When her and Aaron spoke out against Moses, trying to elevate themselves to the same level as Moses (whom God had chosen first) God was provoked to anger.

God first confronted them with what they had done and then dealt out the punishment. Imagine the humiliation for a prophetess to suddenly come down with leprosy! Everyone would normally look up to her because God would speak to her through dreams and visions. Now she was being cast out of the camp for seven days. She would have to miss at least one Sabbath and not be able to be near anyone for those seven days. When Moses and Aaron protested they were reminded this was just as light a punishment as being spat in the face from God. Our God is all powerful and to give and take away leprosy would be nothing. But to us, it would be shameful and a burden. If you have ever been really humiliated, you will know that it is hard to shake off those memories. The shame of just one instance will remain with you for a long time – even when others have forgotten, you will still remember!

It takes a real jolt like that to make us sit up and think about exactly what we are doing to others. Far too often we have not thought about the consequences to others and at times like those, God may well allow something to happen to us which will make us stop and think. The last thing we would want to do would be to be the cause of anyone being left out of heaven. But if we are not careful, our actions may well lead to someone turning down God's Word just because they see us doing something we ought not to.

When we do something wrong in private, God may well remind us in private. When we do it in public, God may well remind us in public. Being humiliated in private is bad enough.

Points to Ponder:
What's your most embarrassing moment?

What would you do if you caused that to happen to someone else?

July 9: 1 Corinthians 8 1-3

Key Verse: 1 Corinthians 8 3
But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.

Devotion:
How many times have you been caught between going to church or going to a party? Or maybe it was just the invitation to a party you knew would be a riot, but you also knew the people organising the party were against Christianity. Should you go or should you stay? If you just thought about yourself, then you probably would go – because you think you are strong enough to avoid any dangers you may encounter. If you thought about God and asked Him to protect you – you probably would still go. If you thought about your friends organising the party – you probably would go to make them happy. Our view on things changes according to what we think of at the time and what we apply in our lives at the time.

Just because we have knowledge of the Bible, knowledge of what God has laid out for us, knowledge of what your friends get up to; does not mean you are listening to the knowledge which Christ is handing out to you! When we do learn things, we tend to rely on that knowledge rather than applying it. In our simple example, we know Christ will protect us, but we are not thinking of what our action will do to Christ.

If you were invited to a friend’s house for a meal, you would not take your own food to eat. That would upset your friend (or at least whoever cooked the meal). Likewise, if you organised to stay with your friend one day, you would not make plans to go somewhere else for that day; because you have a certain amount of love for your friend.

It takes but a few seconds to think about making plans to go and have fun. It takes a few more seconds to think about just who you would affect by carrying out those plans. It takes a few more seconds to think about how you would affect those people. Love may not be as quick to react as our head knowledge, but the impact on love is far greater than any head knowledge we may have. God knows each one of us who love Him. He continues to show us His love. He does expect us to return that love in sincerity.

Points to Ponder:
How often do you upset your close friends?

How often do you let God down?

July 8: Psalms 14 4-5

Key Verse: Psalms 14 4
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call on the Lord?

Devotion:
Bump! Somebody walks into you. You spin round shouting “Are you blind!” Been there? Done that? We often do things out of rage which we can look back on and think how stupid they are – something which we could see on a program which shows the silly things people do and say! The psalmist here writes one of those things. “Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?” Well, no, they don't know God otherwise they would not be doing those terrible things!

But just like the person walking into you, these words do have a deeper meaning. We spin round and ask the person if they are blind because they are acting as if they were blind, or even blindfolded. The psalmist talks about people being without God or hiding their belief. This is something many of us often do. Just like Peter hiding his belief in Christ three times before the cockerel crowed, we do often hide our belief in God for fear of being mocked or discouraged in some way.

But we also may be guilty of trying to hide our knowledge from ourselves so that we can go out and do something wrong! Think back at those times when you knew you were doing wrong, but you continued to do it anyway. Why? Because you just “had to!” If we all were to keep God constantly in our minds we would be able to withstand such temptations.

Is it any wonder, then that people who have no thought for God can influence our own lives so easily? Is it any wonder they can tempt us to do things so easily? And they do so without any fear of recourse! They don't know what is going to happen because they are hiding from the truth. But if they were to be exposed to the truth in some way, the seed would be planted and just maybe they would be able to see the error of their ways before it is too late for them. God is with us and He can give us the strength to show people His truth. All we need do is to call upon Him when we need Him. If they were to see our strength coming from God, God would have a simpler task of convincing them!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you state the obvious?

How often do you state God's Word?