June 17: Jeremiah 8 8-9
Key Verse: Jeremiah 8 9
The wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord; So what wisdom do they have?
Devotion:
There are many people who will insist they are wise. They will be able to prove many scientific things, or do complex mathematical computations or even talk many different languages. But what good is all of this if they are not able to discern the Word of God?
If you have an instruction manual for an appliance, do you not use it when you get confused about the workings of that appliance? Do you not try to understand more about the appliance so you can get it to work the way it was designed to work? You could try plug away at it every way you can think of, but there is a high likelihood you will break it before too long! That is why appliances come with manuals!
God has made sure throughout history His Word has been faithfully transcribed from generation to generation. He has made sure there are people who faithfully document His Word. He has made sure the truth has always been made available; never more so than today where the Bible continues to be the bestselling book of all time.
But what use is it if it is not going to be read? Moreover, what use is it if it is not going to be understood? If we are willing to accept God as our Salvation, as our Protector and as our Guide, then we will certainly gain access to His wisdom through reading His Word. He will make sure we are able to understand His Word so we can apply it. What use is all of this going to be if we are not going to first apply it in our lives, and then try to explain it to others? How are others going to gain an interest in the subject and turn to God if they do not have the slightest knowledge of Him? This is why Jeremiah contains words like this. To show that we are not alone in lacking in communicating God’s Word. God’s word may well be among people who live with or close by you, but how many of them are actually showing they are Christians? How many are showing they love God? Are you?
Points to Ponder:
Are you embarrassed to be with some people?
Do you think God would be embarrassed to be with you?
June 16: Psalms 111 10
Key Verse: Psalms 111 10
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.
Devotion:
One of the things which scares me as a Christian is the willingness for so many to ignore God's Word. Can you imagine what would happen to people if they ignored warnings on bottles? They would be drinking poisons and all sorts of strange things. When people ignore warnings, they have to pay for the consequences. God's warnings have been written for many many years and people continue to ignore them because the consequences are not perceived to have happened or to happen in this lifetime.
Just like the warning about smoking causing cancer; people continue to ignore it because they have seen others do it and because they have not seen any immediate effect. But given a lifetime, they soon realise things are not what they should be and they don't like the consequences!
Have you watched the movie “Revelation”? Satan gives people an ultimatum at the end: 'Believe in me now or die now'. If God gave that sort of ultimatum, people would turn round and say they believed even if they did not! But what God does is to give each one of us a choice as to what we want to do. When we start to understand just what God is and what He has done for us, then we begin to understand His awesome power and we revere that power. That is the beginning of our fear of the Lord. That is the beginning of our understanding or wisdom.
Why is it so hard for others to understand why we fear the Lord? Because they do not have a simple understanding about His power. They do not understand what He has done or what the consequences will be. Just like we do with other things in our lives, we continue to ignore the warning signs and we continue to live as if there is nothing to fear. Too many people are going to not like the consequences...
Points to Ponder:
What things have you found out after ignoring warning labels?
Christ has given us thousands of years of warnings so far...
June 15: Psalms 90 12
Key Verse: Psalms 90 12
So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Devotion:
Did you know, almost 8,000 days of your life would have passed you by by the time you have finished school and university. And only about one tenth of that time is actually spent at a learning institution! And only one hundredth of that time would be spent in church – even if you went twice a week from when you were born! We can read about the amazing lives people had before the flood, where people would reach hundreds of years of age. That may sound scary to us now because of the way we age so quickly, but in those days it would have been very different; imagine being 100 years old and still being in the prime of your life!
Whilst all of this may well seem a long way off if you are only half way through school or it may start you thinking about what you are doing with your life. We have a very “happy go lucky” attitude with our lives when we are young, thinking nothing can touch us and we don’t tend to think about growing old – well, not in our life time! But as you start to grow older, things start to change (especially our bodies) and we start to realise we are in fact mortal! It is at this stage we start to think about what we are doing with our lives, and we start to think what we would like to do with our lives.
Before we leave school or university, we may well have an idea of what we would like to do for the rest of our lives, but more often than not we have things we like and dislike and simply use them to steer our immediate future; we don’t have much of an idea about our future. The government then starts to get worried because people live longer and they cannot afford to keep people; many people have believed the government will be able to take care of them in their old age, but their promises turn out to be a bit hollow!
If we are bold enough to seek out the proper wisdom when we are young, we can then be assured of our future no matter how long or short it will be. That wisdom can only come from God.
Points to Ponder:
How old were you before you realised that petrol was not actually stored inside the petrol pump?
Do you know what God has promised for your life?
June 14: 1 Kings 4 29-31
Key Verse: 1 Kings 4 29
And God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore.
Devotion:
Just when you thought you were doing pretty good, along comes someone who kinda levels you! You thought things could only get better and yet they come along and things look like they can only get worse!
Solomon may well have been given wisdom from God, (and boy did that come in bucket loads) but when he went through life trying to understand various things, he found out many things were just not worth doing. Now I am not saying you should bunk school just because you think it is not worth it! Solomon started to use his wisdom in the way that God intended. He started to compare all the things which people thought were 'the ultimate experience' or 'best possible business practices' until he knew that what God had given him was even more than he could expect from anything or anyone else!
What God gives each one of us is something special which will surpass anything we can ever dream to achieve without Him. When Solomon asked for wisdom to be able to rule, he was given more wisdom than anyone else around. He then put that wisdom to good use to ensure people knew about God and what He could do for them. God made sure we knew all about Solomon by getting him to write things down which are now part of our Bibles.
If you are having trouble with something in your life, then now is the time to unload your troubles onto someone who wants to carry your burden. God has promised no burden is too much for Him. If He can give the ultimate wisdom to Solomon, just imagine how much wiser God is! We will never be able to understand how or why God does things in our life, all we have to do is to trust Him. If we want to succeed, then we have to trust in Him, trust that He will guide us, trust that He will sustain us, trust that He will use us. It's one small step, but one giant leap. Many of us may well think we are good Christians, but just how good are we if we are not fully trusting in Him for everything... It is what He wants of us!
Points to Ponder:
Who do you think is wisest in your family?
How much do they trust in themselves for that wisdom?
June 13: Proverbs 14 8-10
Key Verse: Proverbs 14 10
The heart knows its own bitterness, And a stranger does not share its joy.
Devotion:
How many times have you been in a position where you are quite sure nobody else understands you? They don't understand why you do things, and they certainly do not understand how you do things! When we find something we really enjoy, we continue to seek it out and refine it to such a manner where we think it is close to perfect. It is often at that stage others do not see things as we do – unless we are willing to sit down and explain our point of view.
As a Christian, we will often feel that way. We will be quite sure others simply do not understand how we feel about God. We know they think we are weird because of the way they treat us, but that is most often through ignorance rather than through anything else. When we chose to find out the truth, that is exactly what we looked for. We searched both within ourselves and without to find out what we now know is the truth. Others around us may not want to go there because they do not see the truth, or worse, they do not see the need to seek out that truth.
They may well be looking at the things we do and talk about through blurred or obstructed vision! Oh how easy it is to deceive someone through a simple trick... but give that person an intimate view of your trick and they will spot the truth. It is only a fool who will continue to try to deceive others after the truth has been let out of the bag (ever wondered why a magician will never tell you exactly how they do their tricks).
On the other side of the coin, it is us who continue to hide our burdens from others. It is us who hide our own problems. We are the only ones who will ever get to know our innermost problems whilst we continue to hide them. That is what will work on our souls, weighing them down like a ball and chain. But if we are willing to allow God to help us with those burdens, our lives will become a whole lot better. When we seek out the truth, we find His joy; not just ours. If we hide His joy, others will not be willing to try to seek out that same truth for themselves.
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are the odd one out?
God always sees us for what we are!