Proverbs 3:27 When it is in your power, don’t withhold good from the one to whom it belongs. Proverbs 3:28 Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go away! Come back later. I’ll give it tomorrow” — when it is there with you. Proverbs 3:29 Don’t plan any harm against your neighbor, because he trusts you and lives near you. Proverbs 3:30 Don’t accuse anyone without cause, when he has done you no harm. Proverbs 3:31 Don’t envy a violent man or choose any of his roads; Proverbs 3:32 for the devious are detestable to Yahveh, but he is a friend to the upright. Proverbs 3:33 Yahveh’s curse is on the household of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous; Proverbs 3:34 He mocks those who mock, but gives grace to the humble. Proverbs 3:35 The wise will inherit honor, but he holds up fools to dishonor.
Don’t be devious
Intentionally bringing harm on others, or withholding good to them is detestable to Yahveh. He wants us to demonstrate his love, and when we choose another approach, we bring dishonor to him. God will mpt bless the home of someone like that, no matter how many wall hangings we have with Bible verses on them.
Proverbs 3:13 Fortunate is a man who finds wisdom and who acquires understanding, Proverbs 3:14 for she is more profitable than silver, and what she produces is better than gold. Proverbs 3:15 She is more precious than jewels; nothing you desire can equal her. Proverbs 3:16 Long life is in her right hand; in her left, riches, and honor. Proverbs 3:17 Her ways are pleasant, and all her paths, peaceful. Proverbs 3:18 She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who hold on to her are made fortunate. Proverbs 3:19 Yahveh founded the land by wisdom and established the heavens by understanding. Proverbs 3:20 By his knowledge the watery depths broke open, and the clouds dripped with dew. Proverbs 3:21 Maintain sound wisdom and discretion. My son, don’t lose sight of them. Proverbs 3:22 They will be life for your throat and adornment for your neck. Proverbs 3:23 Then you will go safely on your way; your foot will not stumble. Proverbs 3:24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; you will lie down, and your sleep will be pleasant. Proverbs 3:25 Don’t fear sudden danger or the ruin of the wicked when it comes, Proverbs 3:26 for Yahveh will be your confidence and will keep your foot from a snare.
the wisdom to pursue wisdom
My daughter, if you are looking for something to pursue, if you need a target for all of your life’s energies, let me suggest that you seek wisdom. If you aim for riches, you might gain them, and then find them not enough to satisfy. If you pour out yourself for a cause, even if it a good cause, you might succeed, and ruin your health doing it. Then, what good will you be to those who depend on you? Wisdom will never let you down. You will never find yourself saying “what a waste of time that was.”
Proverbs 3:1 My son, don’t forget my instruction, but let your heart keep my commands; Proverbs 3:2 because they will bring you many days, years of living, and well-being. Proverbs 3:3 Never let loyalty and faithfulness leave you. Tie them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:4 Then you will find favor and high regard with God and people. Proverbs 3:5 Trust in Yahveh with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; Proverbs 3:6 in all your roads know him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:7 Don’t be wise in your own eyes; fear Yahveh and turn away from evil. Proverbs 3:8 This will heal your body and strengthen your bones. Proverbs 3:9 Honor Yahveh with your possessions and with the first of your entire harvest; Proverbs 3:10 then your barns will be filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine. Proverbs 3:11 Do not despise Yahveh’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his reprimand; Proverbs 3:12 because Yahveh sets the one he loves right, just as a father does the son with whom he is pleased.
keep him first
My daughter, look at the “celebrities.” They are popular and you might be tempted to be like them. But look at the mess they have made of their lives. They are not truly successful. If you want to be successful, here is the secret: cultivate your relationship with God. Fear him, follow him, trust him, honor him with your wealth, and when he disciplines you, do not reject him for it. That is the secret to true success, and you can live with it.
LORD, give us wisdom to keep you first in our hearts.
Proverbs 2:1 My son, if you take my words and store up my commands within you, Proverbs 2:2 listening closely to wisdom and directing your heart to understanding; Proverbs 2:3 yes, if you call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, Proverbs 2:4 if you pursue it like silver and search for it like hidden treasure, Proverbs 2:5 then you will understand the fear of Yahveh and discover the knowledge of God. Proverbs 2:6 Because Yahveh gives wisdom; from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding. Proverbs 2:7 He stores up success for the upright; He is a shield for those who live with integrity Proverbs 2:8 so that he may guard the paths of justice and protect the road of his faithful followers. Proverbs 2:9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and integrity — every good path. Proverbs 2:10 Because wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will taste good to your throat. Proverbs 2:11 Discretion will watch over you, and understanding will guard you. Proverbs 2:12 It will rescue you from the evil road — from anyone who says perverse things, Proverbs 2:13 from those who abandon the right paths to walk in roads of darkness, Proverbs 2:14 from those who enjoy doing evil and celebrate perversion, Proverbs 2:15 whose paths are crooked, and whose roads are devious. Proverbs 2:16 It will rescue you from a forbidden woman, from a wayward woman with her flattering talk, Proverbs 2:17 who abandons the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God; Proverbs 2:18 because her house sinks down to death and her tracks to the land of the ghosts. Proverbs 2:19 None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life. Proverbs 2:20 So follow the way of the good, and keep to the paths of the righteous. Proverbs 2:21 For the upright will inhabit the land, and those of integrity will remain in it; Proverbs 2:22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous ripped out of it.
haunted house
I did not plan a Haloween themed devotional today, but it just so happened that I landed on this text. These are the words of a concerned father who wants his son to make wise choices in life. He encourages him to stay away from the forbidden woman. Her house sinks down to death, and if his son follows her tracks, it will lead to a land of ghosts. None return who go to her; none reach the paths of life.
I don’t celebrate Haloween, and I don’t encourage others to do so. Death is a serious matter to me. It is an enemy — an enemy my Lord is going to destroy.
But the image in today’s text is helpful because it reminds those who are tempted to go after an illicit relationship that there are dire consequences in doing so. She who has already abandoned her first companion and covenant will do the same again. Death is in her house. Avoid her. Don’t walk away. Run away.
LORD, give us the wisdom to stay away from those who transgress your boundaries.
Proverbs 1:20 Wisdom sings out in the street; she makes her voice heard in the public squares. Proverbs 1:21 She cries out above the commotion; she speaks at the entrance of the city gates: Proverbs 1:22 “How long, morally naive ones, will you love ignorance? How long will you mockers enjoy mocking and you fools hate knowledge? Proverbs 1:23 If you turn at my warning, then I will pour out my spirit on you and teach you my words. Proverbs 1:24 Since I called out and you refused, extended my hand and no one paid attention, Proverbs 1:25 since you neglected all my counsel and did not accept my correction, Proverbs 1:26 I, in turn, will laugh at your calamity. I will mock you when terror strikes you, Proverbs 1:27 when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when trouble and stress overcome you. Proverbs 1:28 Then they will call me, but I won’t answer; they will search for me but won’t find me. Proverbs 1:29 Because they hated knowledge, didn’t choose to fear Yahveh, Proverbs 1:30 were not interested in my counsel, and rejected all my correction, Proverbs 1:31 they will eat the fruit of their way and be full of their own schemes. Proverbs 1:32 Because the apostasy of the morally naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them. Proverbs 1:33 But whoever listens to me will live securely and rest securely from the dread of harm.”
we can’t handle this
We are introduced to four characters today, each of whom we will see developed in the chapters that follow: Wisdom is the voice calling in the streets. The others (the smorally naive ones, the mockers, and the fools) are the people who need wisdom, but choose to ignore her invitation. They are all idiots in the technical definition of the term. They need help from the LORD to live their lives rightly, but choose to ignore his help. They want to do it themselves. They each say “I can handle this.” So, when disaster comes, wisdom will say “you refused me then, I will refuse you now.’
LORD, we need your wisdom. Forgive us for being such idiots.
Proverbs 1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, don’t be persuaded. Proverbs 1:11 If they say — “Come with us! Let’s set an ambush and kill someone. Let’s attack some innocent person who does not deserve it! Proverbs 1:12 Let’s gulp them down, like Sheol, whole, like those who go down to the Pit. Proverbs 1:13 We’ll find all kinds of valuable property and fill our houses with plunder. Proverbs 1:14 Throw in your lot with us, and we’ll all share the bag” — Proverbs 1:15 my son, don’t travel that road with them or set foot on their path, Proverbs 1:16 because their feet run toward evil, and they hurry to shed blood. Proverbs 1:17 It is useless to spread a net where any bird can see it, Proverbs 1:18 but they set an ambush to kill themselves; they attack their own throats.[1] Proverbs 1:19 Such are the paths of all who make profit unfairly; it takes the throats of those who own it.
It sounds like there are some seriously unsavory gang members in Solomon’s time who only go around killing innocent people for profit. But a closer reading of this proverb shows that what the father is warning his son about is “all who make profit unfairly.” There are plenty of those kinds around in any age. What the father is telling his son is that such people are actually setting an ambush to kill themselves. To join them is suicide. They are on the wrong road.
LORD, keep us free from the pursuit of profit through cheating. Keep us off that path.
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Yahveh is the first knowledge; fools despise wisdom and correction. Proverbs 1:8 Listen, my son, to your father’s correction, and don’t reject your mother’s instruction, Proverbs 1:9 because they will be a wreath of favor on your head and pendants around your neck.
open to correction
The first rule of gaining wisdom is that you have to be willing to accept correction from others. Fearing God means bending my will to his will. Honoring my parents means listening to their instructions and adjusting my life to their correction. If I refuse to be open to changing my behavior on the basis of God’s word and my parents’ advice — I will not learn wisdom. I have no hope of getting the awards of wisdom if I refuse this first step in training.
Proverbs 1:1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: Proverbs 1:2 For knowing wisdom and training; for understanding insightful words; Proverbs 1:3 for receiving successful training in righteousness, justice, and equity; Proverbs 1:4 for giving cleverness to the morally naive, knowledge and discretion to a young man — Proverbs 1:5 a wise person should listen and increase learning, and a discerning person should obtain guidance — Proverbs 1:6 to understand a proverb or an allusive saying, the words of the wise, and their riddles.
wisdom — by the book.
If we want wisdom we should ask for it, but before we ask, we have to go through the first door. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the LORD. It is just too comfortable to remain in ignorance and self-reliance. Do you dare to imagine that there is another entire universe where things can go right because we followed the right instructions? Dare to seek wisdom from the only one who can really give it?
LORD, give us wisdom.
But wait. He already has given us wisdom, right here in this dusty old book of Proverbs. Is it wisdom to avoid the gift we already have, and seek another? No, that would be something else. Gaining God’ wisdom is a process, not an event.
LORD, give us the patience to learn your wisdom — by the book.
2 Kings 25:22 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over the rest of the people he left in the land of Judah. 2 Kings 25:23 When all the commanders of the armies — they and their men — heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The commanders included Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite — they and their men. 2 Kings 25:24 Gedaliah swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Don’t be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.” 2 Kings 25:25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah, and he died. Also, they killed the Judeans and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 2 Kings 25:26 Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, and the commanders of the army, left and went to Egypt because they were afraid of the Chaldeans. 2 Kings 25:27 On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he pardoned King Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. 2 Kings 25:28 He spoke kindly to him and set his throne over the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 2 Kings 25:29 So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes, and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life. 2 Kings 25:30 As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king, a portion for each day, for the rest of his life.
when the worst happens
Gedaliah’s assassination leads the Babylonians to release Jehoiachin from prison, and he stays in Babylon for the rest of his life. He is a thin thread of hope that one day there will be a monarchy again in Jerusalem. The story of the kings comes to an end. What God has in store for his people now is another king, who will come centuries later. Even when the world gives us its worst, and we fail miserably, God still has options. There is a throne in heaven, and the one on it is never wringing his hands in despair.
LORD, when the worst happens, we will still trust you.
Photo by Miguel u00c1. Padriu00f1u00e1n on Pexels.com
banished from his presence
2 Kings 24:18-25:21 (JDV).
2 Kings 24:18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 2 Kings 24:19 Zedekiah did what was evil in Yahveh’s sight just as Jehoiakim had done. 2 Kings 24:20 Because of Yahveh’s anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he finally banished them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 2 Kings 25:1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege wall against it all around. 2 Kings 25:2 The city was under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year. 2 Kings 25:3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food. 2 Kings 25:4 Then the city was broken into, and all the warriors fled at night by way of the city gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. As the king made his way along the route to the Arabah, 2 Kings 25:5 the Chaldean army pursued him and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. Zedekiah’s entire army left him and scattered. 2 Kings 25:6 The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. 2 Kings 25:7 They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. Finally, the king of Babylon blinded Zedekiah, bound him in bronze chains, and took him to Babylon. 2 Kings 25:8 On the seventh day of the fifth month– which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon– Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 2 Kings 25:9 He burned Yahveh’s temple, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down all the great houses. 2 Kings 25:10 The whole Chaldean army with the captain of the guards tore down the walls surrounding Jerusalem. 2 Kings 25:11 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, deported the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population. 2 Kings 25:12 But the captain of the guards left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and farmers. 2 Kings 25:13 Now the Chaldeans broke into pieces the bronze pillars of Yahveh’s temple, the water carts, and the bronze basin, which were in Yahveh’s temple, and carried the bronze to Babylon. 2 Kings 25:14 They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the priests’ service. 2 Kings 25:15 The captain of the guards took away the firepans and sprinkling basins– whatever was gold or silver. 2 Kings 25:16 As for the two pillars, the one basin, and the water carts that Solomon had made for Yahveh’s temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. 2 Kings 25:17 One pillar was twenty-seven feet tall and had a bronze capital on top of it. The capital, encircled by a grating and pomegranates of bronze, stood five feet high. The second pillar was the same, with its own grating. 2 Kings 25:18 The captain of the guards also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three doorkeepers. 2 Kings 25:19 From the city he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors; five trusted royal aides found in the city; the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty; and sixty men from the common people who were found within the city. 2 Kings 25:20 Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 2 Kings 25:21 The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So, Judah went into exile from its land.
banished from his presence
Judah had presumed upon the LORD’s favor too often and for too long. It was time for the consequences of their rebellion to visit them. God had an interest in preserving Judah because of his plan to save the world through Jesus. But he is God. He does not need anyone. He does not need you or me. We should think about that the next time we are tempted to transgress his will. God is real, and his anger is not to be trifled with. Just ask Zedekiah.
LORD, we surrender to your sovereignty. We thank you for your preservation by grace. Give us wisdom not to take it for granted.
Devotions 