November 10: Proverbs 29 6-11
Key Verse: Proverbs 29 7
The righteous considers the cause of the poor, But the wicked does not understand such knowledge.
Devotion:
When you start to see the wonderful planet for what it is – an immensely complex creation of God – then you start to move towards understanding what it is that He would like us to do. The planet has not been created to destroy humanity, but rather as a beautiful place for us to live on... yet we destroy it.
Each time someone does something evil in this world, they are setting another trap for themselves to be caught by. Each time we do something wrong, we are digging a trap for ourselves to fall into. Be it as big as hurting someone, or something as small as “forgetting” your homework at home because you did not have time to finish it! What you are doing, is making another way in which someone else can stop you dead in your tracks by allowing the truth to come to the surface.
When push comes to shove, we have to admit doing things wrong just does not pay in the end. God wants us to understand this and sometimes allows things to go wrong in our lives so we can learn from our mistakes. He wants us to understand there is a right way of doing everything. He wants us to understand doing things right means showing love one towards another in all ways possible. We must not just think of ourselves as we continue to live, but rather start thinking of others continually; thinking of God continually and asking God to help us to make a difference in other people’s lives.
If you were to take sides with a person who is doing things wrong, it is not long before someone will spot the trend and be able to trip you up. It will not be long before you are tempted to do the evil they are doing because you see them getting away with things. What they are actually doing is digging a bigger and bigger hole for themselves to fall into, along with you!
Points to Ponder:
When was the last time you watch someone make a string of excuses which did not work?
Do you not remember God can see everything?
November 9: Proverbs 8 22-31
Key Verse: Proverbs 8 22
The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old.
Devotion:
Have you ever switched channels only to hear someone saying something which can be totally taken out of context? It is amusing to sometimes flick channels and see if you can get people to make up sentences without them even knowing about each other. Sometimes you may pick up the Bible and come across a passage you don't quite understand, a passage like this where it is written as if wisdom himself/herself was able to talk.
Wisdom is not to be taken as if it were an attribute of God. We cannot truly say God has wisdom, but we can truly say that God is wisdom. If we were to say God has wisdom, then we are admitting that maybe He can make a mistake, which we know is false.
Wisdom was there with God in the beginning because He is wisdom. Without that, how could He have created the universe in such a balanced way? How could He have created a place where we can live without being thrown off the planet as it spins round at such amazing speeds? With wisdom He created a beautiful earth full of amazing facts we are still discovering.
Without that same wisdom in us, we have destroyed so much of the earth. We continue to make such grave mistakes people all round the earth die from them. We continue to make weapons of mass destruction. We continue to make species extinct. We continue to poison each other with chemicals and smoke. We must sit up and start to take notice of God's wisdom before it is too late.
Points to Ponder:
What wisdom made man create a city on a major fault line?
Who or what else could be our ultimate foundation other than God?
November 8: Proverbs 3 13-20
Key Verse: Proverbs 3 19
The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding He established the heavens;
Devotion:
When God wants us to learn about the wonderful things He can do, He allows us to go outside and see the trees that give us oxygen. When God wants us to know about life, He shows us the grass growing, the plants growing, the animals feeding from the grass, the produce we receive from the animals, the circle of ecology. When God wants us to know about love, He gently reminds us about Jesus.
If we are not going to take notice of the things around us all the time, then we are closing our eyes to a wonderful education. If we are simply going to focus on the finery of jewels and gold, we are going to miss the merchandise that if far better than gold and silver. If we are going to hold gold and silver as the most important things in our lives, then we are going to miss out of the most wonderful gift in life!
God wants each of us to understand a bit about His love so we can spend our eternal lives in His presence. He wants us to understand that there are things which are important in life, but also wants us to understand He is more important than the things we can see around us. We don't have to be told off or shown up in order to learn things. We can learn a whole lot more if we are willing to go out and seek the truth. If we are willing to go out and look at things rather than walk past everything, then we will be moving a whole lot quicker to understanding the Love of Jesus, and the love of God.
Even when we have accepted Jesus into our lives, we can still cover up the wisdom He has left with us and ignore what it is telling us, falling off the rails and deeper into sin. Wisdom is something we need to continually strive to get from God.
Points to Ponder:
Are you reminded how important good food is?
Are you reminded how important God’s food is?
November 7: Proverbs 10 16-21
Key Verse: Proverbs 10 21
The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of wisdom.
Devotion:
The one thing we can learn from loving one another, is that our lives and their lives will be made a whole lot better by that simple emotion. If we were able to convince our enemies we did in fact love them, we would affect them in a profound way and allow them to love us back. But simply telling someone that we love them is not enough.
You could tell someone you love them and then a few minutes later do something which brings them sorrow – simply because we were not thinking of them at the time. If we are to show someone we do love them, then we have to show them we care for them all the time, not just when it is convenient to us or to them, but all the time. When we start doing things behind peoples back, we are breaking that covenant of love towards them.
When we do do something wrong without thinking about it, we often do not think about it at all again and that wrong-doing gets into our lives without us dwelling on it. If someone were to come along and tell us we have done that, we may well get offended that they dare to judge us! But what they are doing is trying to help us see the error of our ways. If we are not going to let others show us our own errors, then we are not willing to learn from our mistakes.
If we don't listen to others, we are not going to learn. If we don't listen to what the bible tells us, we are not going to learn what God wants us to know. Without that, we have no hope.
Points to Ponder:
Do you accept criticism?
How will you learn from God if you do not listen to His criticism?
November 6: Proverbs 11 16-21
Key Verse: Proverbs 11 20
Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the Lord, But the blameless in their ways are His delight.
Devotion:
When Jesus taught His disciples how they should love one another, He was setting forward a commandment we must all try to follow. He could see the wickedness around Him and He knew of the horrible fate awaiting Him, but yet He still sowed the seeds, teaching the disciples of the things they must do.
God wants us to be able to love every human, to be able to show a love that is above sexual lust, a love that has no conditions attached. He knows what He has created and He knows that if we start to harbour thoughts of deceit and ill feelings towards others, we will slowly get consumed by those feelings and start to take them out on others in a vengeful manner.
You see people in powerful position being totally corrupted by the power that they have, being consumed by the goal of gaining more power. Terrorist leaders are a prime example. The more power they gain, the more they want and the more they are willing to do in order to gain that little bit more – giving no thought to others around them! I know when I have had bad feeling towards others, those feelings have eaten away at me from the inside and have eventually made me give in and ask forgiveness or even to make mistakes.
God wants us to care for each other and show love towards each other so others can be encouraged to come to Christ. He knows that as long as we continue to pursue the evil things in life, we are simply going down a one way street which ends in death. For as long as we continue to set our hearts against the will of God, we are setting them against God!
Points to Ponder:
Will you forgive someone today?
We don’t have to die like Jesus did just to forgive someone!