Tuesday Reading: Proverbs 10 20-21
Key Verse: Proverbs 10 21
21 The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.
Devotion:
As I have been reading about the difference between the advice offered by fools and the advice offered by men of God I have been struck by the fact that the advice offered by fools is always lacking in something. We will probably always find it falling short of fulfilling our needs or wants for wisdom. But when a just and righteous man gets up to speak of God’s Word, then many people are going to be fully fed. It is not going to be a case of those that are listening properly will be fed properly because when a fool (as described in God’s Word) gets up to talk they are always going to fall short of the mark because they are speaking of what is coming from their hearts rather than from God’s Word.
Our hearts may be what we rely on for discerning many things, but unless what we are hearing is agreeing with and supporting God’s Word, it is going to be like hollow words instead of the living bread that we need. When God fed the Children of Israel in the desert with manna, it was nutritionally sufficient for them to survive on. God’s Word is nutritionally sufficient for our souls to survive on and if we do not get enough then we will go off seeking some sort of supplement to fill the gaps or voids that we have after hearing the half-truths that man can give us.
When we hear someone speaking with authority from God’s Word we know we are getting sufficient input because we know that it is coming from the Fountain of all wisdom – from God. Yes we have a person, preacher or teacher being the one standing up and physically giving us the words, but when they themselves are relying on God to use them as a teaching vessel then we find that the words they are able to share with us fulfil our needs – not because they are good teachers but because it is God’s Word!
No riches on earth will compare to what we can gain from receiving God’s Word, not the gold, silver, any other precious metal or anything else can last like God’s Word. We may like to think that gold will last forever, but if you ever take time to look at a very old gold ring you will find that it has been worn down over the years and there is no sign of where that part has gone – it’s just gone. God’s Word expands in our hearts rather than shrinking when it is tried – because it is the truth.
Points to Ponder:
What is the oldest thing you have?
Does not God give you new wisdom each time you read His old Word?
Monday Reading: Proverbs 15 7
Key Verse: Proverbs 15 7
7 The lips of the wise disperse knowledge: but the heart of the foolish doeth not so.
Devotion:
I wonder, have you looked up to someone in a position of authority and made a point of going to hear them speak somewhere, only to be let down when you do hear them speak… and then wonder how you could have ever thought of them as being wise after hearing them speak? The more that man continues to try and find wisdom in the things that he does and says, the more they will trip over themselves and find out that they are fools compared to our Lord.
I am thankful that I can attend a church each week where I know that God’s Word is going to be preached and not some story about man or his failings. Nowadays we do have the Holy Spirit who is here to help us to understand this Word and to encourage us to seek all that is true, but we still do need someone to teach us when we are in need because we do grow weary and we are surrounded by trials.
If we get too discouraged we may not hear God calling us because we are too focused on the earth and all the stuff going on around us; but when we have someone who is willing to stand up and explain just a little bit more of God’s Word to us we can be encouraged and built up once again. The more strength we find in God through His Word the more we will be able to listen to Him when He does try to speak to us through that Word.
We are going to be faced with many people who will try to tell us things that sound good or that will sound encouraging at the time, things that we may accept until we try them and find out they collapse in a heap. Just like buying a step ladder that looks so good, attempting to climb up the side of the house using it only to fall flat as the rungs give in without supporting us as they should. None of us would accept that sort of ladder and hopefully, if we are able, we would demand some sort of recompense. But when people give us advice we do not always have a method by which we can recover anything because we have accepted what they offer as the truth at the time.
God wants us to test what others give us to make sure that it does agree with His Word. If it does not then those words we have received are not words of wisdom but the simple words of another fool. God’s Word was written by people inspired by God. It is the truth and it is full of wisdom – test what you hear by comparing it to God’s Word.
Points to Ponder:
Do you believe everything you hear?
How often do you go back to God’s Word to make sure?
Sunday Reading: Psalms 19 7-10
Key Verse: Psalms 19 9
9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.
Devotion:
If you were to try and find out what the most precious thing on earth was, what aspects would you look for? Most people would immediately think of monetary value, but it should not be that monetary value that one looks at when you really start looking deeper into true value. Yes you can buy lots of things if you have enough money, but there are still many things that you cannot buy with money and it should be those things that you think of as being truly valuable! After all, if money can buy it, then it has a limited value.
Your soul might be the most precious thing in your own mind at this stage because it is your soul that is going to last forever. If we were to lose that soul then we would not exist; it is not the loss of your soul but the safety and wellbeing of your soul that you must be concerned with – after all, you are your soul, how can you lose yourself (well, maybe you should not try and answer that one!)
The wellbeing of our soul must then feature high in our list of priorities in life. We are then faced with finding what can make or break the state of our souls and these verses confirm all that is good to aim for. So our list consists of the state of God’s law, the validity of it, the content of it and the effect of it on our souls.
God’s Law is perfect and aiming to uphold that law should be of great importance to us. It will guide both the simple and the wise. It is that same law that will give us peace as well as lift our spirits. That same law brings a certain brightness into our lives that nothing else can do; but it must also bring a great respect into our lives as well. If we lose sight of the importance of this law in our lives we then lose that respect for God that He demands through His law. This is the fear of The Lord that we all speak about. It must be the most precious thing in our life in order for us to fully realise the importance of our Creator and King! Once we realise that and uphold that we then begin to realise that it is more important than money or even food…
Points to Ponder:
What is valuable to you?
What do you think is valuable to God?
Saturday Reading: Psalms 27 7-14
Key Verse: Psalms 27 14
14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.
Devotion:
If you are in peril and needed help how many times will you call out for help before you stop calling? I know that I would probably carry on calling until I could not shout any more… So why should we look at our situation here on earth in any other light than that too? We are in peril on this world, just waiting for the end. We know there is help out there and we are told that it is close by… so we should be raising our voices and shouting out for that help!
No matter what situation we find ourselves is we can find hope through God’s grace and mercy that He has promised us. No matter where we are we can always lift up our prayers to our God. We don’t have to be in front of an altar, we don’t have to have the right clothes on, we don’t have to prepare ourselves other than to turn our backs on the world and turn toward our God in the knowledge that He is listening.
When God first showed us what He could do for us we turned to Him and said, “show me”. When He first asked us if we wanted help we said “yes”. When He then asked if we will follow we said “yes”. But have we continued on in that path that He laid down before us or have we tried to take short cuts and wander off to look at other things along the way?
God has given us His Word so that we can find the path He has given us. We need to continue on in that same Word so that we can continue on along that same path. Nothing has changed from God’s side, but we have changed as we grow because we are either feeding off His Word and growing stronger with Him every day, or we are feeding off the world and growing weaker every day.
The more that we continue to drag the world along with us the more weight we find we try to carry with us. That is not going to allow us to grow stronger with God because we know in our hearts that we are not sticking close to Him. We need to focus on God from our hearts and not just through words; then we shall see just how much He can strengthen us in our walk with Him.
Points to Ponder:
Do you feel weary?
Are you allowing His Word to strengthen you?
Friday Reading: Psalms 119 25-32
Key Verse: Psalms 119 28
28 My soul melteth for heaviness: strengthen thou me according unto thy word.
Devotion:
We start out like everyone else, reaching out to the world, clinging to it, depending on it and then wondering why we are disappointed in it when things go wrong. The world gives us short term fixes and nothing long term because it is tending toward chaos rather than stability. The more our leaders talk about things the more desperate they seem to be to fix things as ‘the wheels fall off’ the parts they thought they were in control of. If we are placed in positions of authority we find that we have to face the unexpected at times and have to work out how to deal with it – that is just life.
Is it any different when we become believers in Christ? Well, the world is the same place and we are surrounded by the same problems and the same worldly outlooks; so it does not seem very different. But when we look to God and His Word for answers instead of looking toward the earthly solutions we begin to find a whole new life that has promise and that has a future that is stable. We still do need guidance as to what God’s Word means because we come in from the outside and wonder at what is written down. We need strength to stick to the rules that God lays down so that we can be encouraged and built up in the right ways.
We do need to accept God’s Word as the truth and then to try and live by that truth; we need to cling to His Word so that we remain strengthened in what lays ahead. And then we also have to be willing to stick with it because if we get weak and grow weary of doing what God wants us to do, we will turn back to those earthly ways that we have found wanting all along. We do not have anything in this world that promises us an eternal life other than God’s Word. Satan will try to tempt us into his lies but that is only so that he can take us away from the truth and prevent us from worshipping God.
We can look back at the disasters of this world and we think that there is no hope. We look at the pain and suffering and we wonder how this can be. We need to remember that the god of this world wants to reign in and with chaos so that he can continue to dash our hopes and forces us to think that there is no hope. That is not true. God has shown us we do have hope. He is the God of the living, the God of the whole universe and He has promised us eternal life if we keep His commandments and believe that His Son died for our sakes.
Points to Ponder:
What gets you down on this planet?
Do you know God’s promises?