Daily Devotional
               Betty Miller shares her daily devotionals which are based on the book of Proverbs in the Bible.   

  The Wisdom of God

Verses for the Day:

Proverbs 2:10-15(KJV): "When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths."

Thoughts for the Day:

These verses tell us that when we have God's wisdom and His Word in our hearts and when His knowledge has become pleasant to us, that we will receive the discretion and the understanding that will keep us in a variety of ways.   First of all, God's Word that gives us wisdom will deliver us from evil men.  One of these ways is that we no longer desire to hang out with those that have wickedness in their hearts or speak froward things.  What does "froward" mean? It means contrary, adverse or unfavorable. Verse 12 tells us, if we listen to the wisdom of God and obey His Word, even men that speak froward (contrary, adverse, or unfavorable) words against us, will not be able to hurt us. One of the temptations when men speak against us, is to retaliate with ugly words.  In fact, one of the things that destroys many marriages is couples that continually argue with railing words for railing words.  What is the wisdom of God in circumstances of accusations made against us? Let us look at 1 Peter 3:8-12:

"Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:
11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
12 For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil."

The only way any of us can obey these scriptures is to ask the Lord to empower us to do so.  We must have the Holy Spirit to help us be kind to those that are unkind to us and to overcome evil with good. If we do not choose to obey God in situations where we are tempted to enter into strife, we will end up just as mean and evil, as those who would persecute us. 

Verses 13-15 describe those kind of people who leave the right path of God's love and begin walking in darkness.   Then, they become blinded to the truth.  This takes them the next step into evil -- they begin to rejoice in their evil ways and delight in the way of the wicked. Their ways become crooked.  Today we call them crooks.  They end up going down the wrong path and are lost. We must pray for all those that we know who are walking in the wrong ways.   And we must especially pray for our brothers and sisters in the Lord who fall into the trap of railing, or speaking wrongly against us. We must attempt to keep the peace and walk in kindness regardless of where they are walking. They may be guilty for what they are saying against us, but we will become guilty in a different way if we retaliate. We must choose to walk in love. 

Prayer for the Day:

Dear Father, I come to you today in Jesus' name and I really desire to have your wisdom and knowledge. I honestly want to walk in such a way that I can be kind to those who speak against me, and I truly want to seek their good.  I know that without the Holy Spirit I cannot do this, so fill me with your Spirit today.  Let me be kind and loving;  and change my heart from being defensive and argumentative, to being loving and kind.  Help me speak the truth in love, yet without an angry tone. Help me to remember that you will defend me.  Lord, when I see faults in others, help me to also check my own heart and motives for faults. Then Lord, deliver us all from those things that are not pleasing in your eyes. I choose to be a peacemaker today, not a trouble maker. I am trusting you to change those around me, as well as change those things in me that would cause us to engage in any unkind speaking. Amen.