This is a 30-day devotional on the Book of Proverbs originally written in 2006. It is filled with exhortation and encouragement to live Godly lives while waiting for the Lord’s return! I pray that you will be blessed by it.
Tag: Wisdom
Thought for the Day – Cure All
~Job 28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
When the Christian is in the middle of a crisis, as Job was, he must ask himself this question:
Am I where I should be in my walk with God?
There’s no sense asking this question if the believer is living his life in rebellion and does not want to know the answer. The Christian who truly wants to know will seek God’s face and will search His Word to find out the answers. (II Timothy 2:15)
The Lord spoke and said that the fear of God is wisdom and departing from evil is understanding. (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 1:7, Proverbs 9:10, Proverbs 15:33) When a believer rightly fears God and has a moral reverence for God, he will desire the things of God – and the one who does not fear God won’t desire the things of God. (Job 13:3, Galatians 4:9) The one who desires to walk more closely with God will have the need to be in the Word, studying and learning, and applying it to his spiritual walk. The results produce a Christian who receives understanding from His God.
Are there areas in your life where you do not acknowledge God’s words? Do you pick and choose what you will obey? To obey only in certain areas is quenching the Holy Spirit’s work in your spiritual life. (I Thessalonians 5:19) Are you in the midst of a trial and it is due to neglecting God’s Word and His instruction? You will not receive wisdom and understanding if you are in direction contradiction to what God is saying and the word of God says that is rebellion. (Nehemiah 9:17, Proverbs 17:11) Repent of this rebellion and fix your eyes on God’s word. Let His Holy Spirit instruct you in the way you should go. (Psalm 119:105)
Seeing your God with the reverential awe He deserves will humble you and will open your heart to His instruction. Departing from known sin is a start. You know in your heart when you have sinned – admit that and turn away from it. It is then that you will receive that wisdom and understanding.
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Day 21 – Sowing Wisdom Reaps Kindness
Prov.31:26 “She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.”
When I was first saved, I looked at the Proverbs 31 woman as an impossible achievement. How could I possibly become like her? There are so many things about that woman that I lacked in my own life, I saw this task as impossible! It reminded me of eating that proverbial elephant!
I’m sure you’ve heard: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time!” I knew then that God would have to teach me a bit at a time because looking at the whole picture was so discouraging. From speaking with other believers, I find that I was not alone. Each believer had been in a similar situation in their own spiritual lives.
How do we go about becoming more like this wonderful woman in Proverbs 31? I think a good place to start would be with Proverbs 31:26 with wisdom and kindness. The two go beautifully hand-in-hand, don’t they? The Lord gives us wisdom according to James 1:5, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” Therefore, we are getting our wisdom from the perfect Source. The Lord has everything we need to guide us in His Word. There is much wisdom to be given to us if we just spend time in the Bible, my friend. No Bible, no wisdom. Much Bible, much wisdom.
When we get wisdom through God’s Word, our hearts will reflect it. The Word says But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart;(Mat 15:18a) 
What we sow in our hearts will be evident (reaped) in our actions and our words. I’ve never, ever, met a believer who walked with the Lord who was not kind. In fact, each of them excelled in this area of kindness, both in word and in action. This Proverbs 31 woman opened her mouth with wisdom and she “thought” about what she was going to say. She did not speak her mind but carefully weighed her words with what God’s Word had to say. Why do I know that? The rest of the Proverb shows that her tongue had the law of kindness. Do you really think that a woman who speaks her mind is being kind? The two contradict each other, don’t they?
What an excellent spiritual muscle to exercise for the believer. We cannot be used of God if we are unkind to others. Kindness, however, is one of the characteristics of God (Ps. 31:21 and Ps. 117:2). If we grow in wisdom and show one of its fruit, kindness, then we are becoming more like Him. We are becoming more like that Proverbs 31 woman. This woman’s worth is far above rubies according to God (Prov. 31:10). I can see why, can’t you?
Dear God…
Make me more like You
With each passing day
May my words be kind
To all who come my way
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Day 17 – Studying and Teaching
Prov. 15:28, “The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.”Prov. 16:23, “The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.”
How much do you study God’s Word in the course of a month, a week, a day? Is studying God’s Word the last thing you do? Reading is wonderful, but studying will open your eyes to the sin in your life. Maybe that is why not too many dive into the Word like they do other areas of the daily Christian walk. Solomon’s wisdom is compared to no other man that has ever lived. He asked God for wisdom and he received it. If Solomon didn’t use this wisdom to continue in righteousness, how much less will we if we don’t study the Word?
We have three books dedicated to his writings inspired of God. God doesn’t command us to study just to have head knowledge. He wants us to study so that we don’t need to be ashamed when someone confronts us with day-to-day life trials. we have the Word to stand on for defense! Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. (2Ti 2:15)
God wants to give us wisdom. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (Jam 1:5) He gave it to Solomon, why not to us? Solomon didn’t have the Bible like we do today. We have God’s Word to turn to any time we want yet we do not take the opportunity to study and seek wisdom. How sad is that?
When you encounter battles with those prickly people, do you have God’s Word to feed them with? Do you have verses committed to memory? Do you know where to turn in your Bible to defend your stand? Do you at least know the verse’s “address” so you can turn to it? The believer has everything we need at our fingertips to use in the battle of everyday life. The Marine would not go to battle without his rifle, would he? Why do we go to spiritual battle without our Sword?
Amuse me for just a moment as I make an analogy. The Marine has to memorize a creed about his rifle. Ask any Marine today to recite it and he’ll be able to do so without even batting an eye. I posted it here because there’s quite a lesson to be learned from it:
My Rifle (The Creed of a United States Marine)This is my rifle.
There are many like it, but this one is MINE.
My rifle is my best friend. It is my life.
I must master it as I must master my life.
My rifle without me is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless.
I must fire my rifle true.
I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me.
I must shoot him before he shoots me. I will…
My rifle and myself know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire,
the noise of our bursts, nor the smoke we make.
We know it is the hits that count. We will hit…
My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life.
Thus, I will learn it as a brother.
I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its sights, and its barrel.
I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage.
I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready.
We will become part of each other. We will…
Before God I swear this creed.
My rifle and myself are the defenders of my country.
We are the masters of our enemy.
We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until there is no enemy, but PEACE.
— Maj Gen WH Rupertus
Can you substitute the references to the Marine’s rifle with your own Bible? Ouch! Granted, the Bible is not useless on its own because it is the Word of God. However, if man does not pick it up and read it and use it, he cannot glean from it. Our Bible does not have any weaknesses but the rifles does as pointed out in this creed. However, everything else is quite compatible. I am not trying to spiritualize the Marine’s creed for his rifle. What I am trying to do is to point out the zeal the Marine has for his rifle and learning everything about it to survive the battlefield. How much more should the believer have zeal for his Bible and learning eerything about it to survive spiritual battles?
The Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path (Ps. 119:105). It is our Sword (Heb. 4:12) and our Guide (Ps. 32:8).
Why not equip yourself, Christian? In so doing, you will not battle to find an answer when a situation arises. You won’t have to learn to control your tongue because you will have already built up your defenses to fight off the flesh!
Dear God…
You have fully equipped us for battle
None of us lacks a tool for this trade
The Word guides and directs us daily
Shining brightly and never will fade.
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Day 9 – Wise and Discrete
Prov. 3:21-23 “My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.”
The Lord warns us not to allow the Word (and Its wisdom) to depart from our eyes. Our eyes rest on millions of images throughout the course of just one day. In those millions of images, how many of them make up the Word of God? The “theme” of the ruling images will be the “theme” in which the path of your life will go, my friend.
I love Noah Webster’s definition of discretion:
1. Prudence, or knowledge and prudence; that discernment which enables a person to judge critically of what is correct and proper, united with caution; nice discernment and judgment, directed by circumspection, and primarily regarding ones own conduct. “A good man–will guide his affairs with discretion. Psa 112.”
Proverbs 3:21-23 encourages us to keep sound wisdom and discretion. Wow! When we are in the Word of God and keeping it before our eyes, we have the capability of keeping sound wisdom and discretion. If every believer exercised discretion in their own lives, they would be very quick to monitor their own conduct. How many times have we seen a Christian with no discretion? They do not monitor their own conduct. In fact, they are busy monitoring the conduct of others instead. That is not what discretion is.
The Christian who exercises sound wisdom and discretion lives by Matthew 7:3, “And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? The Word of God provides abundance in teaching to the one who desires growth in the Spirit. A Christian who wants to be yielding to the Spirit is one who is wise. I also think of this as the meek and quiet spirit spoken of in 1 Peter 3:4 “But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” According to Noah Webster, meekness means:
1. Mild of temper; soft; gentle; not easily provoked or irritated; yielding; given to forbearance under injuries.
It is the wise Christian who practices meekness. It is the wise Christian who practices discretion. The Lord tells us that if we practice these things, we will receive grace, we will walk safely and we will not stumble. What does this mean that we will have grace to our necks? Noah says grace means?
1. Favor; good will; kindness; disposition to oblige another; as a grant made as an act of grace.
The neck turns the head in the direction the head should go. Oh my! What a beautiful picture of the saint who practices sound wisdom and discretion! Here’s what the Christian looks like:
- Wise
- Discrete
- Gracious
- Sure footed
- Mild tempered
- Soft
- Gentle
- Not easily provoked or irritated
- Doesn’t judge others before judging himself
This definitely portrays the beautiful fruit of the Spirit doesn’t it? Remember that fruit? It is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance! Won’t we strive to be alive in the Lord instead of dead? Being alive in the Lord is growing and continuing to grow in Him. If we are dead, we are not doing any growing at all… in fact, we are decomposing. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: (2Co 2:15)
Are we a sweet savour of Christ to other believers and the unsaved? Oh that we would guard our hearts, tongue and spirit against ole slewfoot and be diligent in the Word so we may be wise and discrete.
Dear God…
Let my eyes be fixed on You
Never losing focus or sight
May I keep Your Word in view
For in You I find my delight
