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 18:1-3(KJV):
1 Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.
2 A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself.
3 When the wicked cometh, then cometh also contempt, and with ignominy reproach.

Proverbs 18:1-3(Amp):
1 He who willfully separates and estranges himself (from God and man) seeks his own desire and pretext to break out against all wise and sound judgement.
2 A (self-confident ) fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his personal  opinions and himself.     3 When the wicked comes in (to the depth of evil), he becomes a contemptuous despiser (of all that is pure and good), and with inner baseness comes outer shame and reproach.

Thoughts for the Day:

These verses in Proverbs tell us that those who seek to live without God and without other people are not only selfish, they also seek their own way and refuse all wisdom and good judgment. Verse 1 gives us a description of a hermit or recluse who has abandoned society to pursue their own way and do their own thing.  This is sinful, as God created man for two purposes.  One, He desires a personal relationship with us; and then, He desires men to live together in harmony so they will be a help and blessing to one another. After God created Adam, He said, it was not good that man should live alone, so he made him a companion and helper.

Genesis 2:18: "And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him."

The Lord is the inventor of marriage and families. He created men and women and desired that they live together in harmony and raise families.  In today's society the devil is actively trying to destroy marriages and families in many different ways.  One of his most successful ploys is to separate families.  This is done in different ways.  Homosexuals are trying to redefine the family unit by sanctioning men to live with men sexually, (as well as women living with women, the same way). The Bible definition of a family is a husband and a wife who procreate by having children.   This is the core family.  Certainly when a member of this family dies or leaves the others are still considered family.  Some families also include others in their circle by inviting them to live with them.  This may be a extended family member, or others, who are adopted in love by the family because they need a home.

The devil also separates families by divorce. It is sad to say that most divorces are caused by selfishness.  Each party wants their way and is not serving their mate. As Christians we must love one another and lay our lives down for one another.   If this is not done at the basic level in a marriage, then our Christianity is hollow.  In our society doing our own thing is glamorized.  We have all heard statements like: "We should be fulfilled. "We should not waste our lives in a bad marriage. "We should not put up with the things in our mates that we do not like. "We have our rights and they should come first.  "We should not live for our mates and our children, but for our own careers and goals." These are just a few things the enemy uses to begin his case for divorce. 

As Christians, our goal should not be to please ourselves, but to please Him who gave His life for us.  If we are truly committed to God, we will seek to obey God and serve Him in all of our ways.  The first place our Christian love gets tested is in our homes.  If we can not love one another there, how then, can we love others outside our homes? 1 Corinthians 13 in the Bible gives us a definition of what true Christian love embraces.  The word "love" is used loosely in the world.  It usually means an emotional feeling, a desire to be with someone, and can even be just physical lust for someone.This is not the definition of God's love. He loves back, when He is not loved. He laid His life down so that we might have life.  God is a giver not a taker. As His children, we are challenged to be like Him. We can only do this as we allow Him to live in and through us.

Verse 2 of our study verses describes many a person in today's society.  They have no delight in understanding God's ways nor even listening to another's opinions. They are prideful and just revel in their own personal opinions. Verse 3 goes on to describe how a wicked person who serves himself will go deeper into the depths of evil, as selfishness will lead a person into many evils.  A person who does not overcome selfishness will end up committing many other sins. The baseness of their own heart will cause them to commit overt sins that will, to their own shame, eventually be seen by all.  Many of our public figures today have had to endure shame when their secret sins were exposed.  We can avoid this kind of life if we seek God and seek to do His will.  When we serve and obey God, we will serve those around us in love.

Prayer for the Day:

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for loving us. Lord, You loved us even when we were unlovely. I am ever grateful for Your love.  Fill me today with Your love so that I can be like You and love the unlovely and be kind to everyone, including the wicked.  Lord, You love everyone, as You send Your rain on the unjust, as well as the just.  Help me to love those who touch my life that are not always kind to me. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that my character does not change when people come against me.  I truly want to be able to bless my enemies and do good to them.  I know I can only do this through allowing Your love to come through me.  I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.