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
25:13 (KJV):
13 As the cold of snow
in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them that send him: for he
refresheth the soul of his masters.
Proverbs
25:13 (AMP):
13 Like the cold of snow (brought from the mountains) in the time of harvest, so
is a faithful messenger to those who send him; for he refreshes the life of his
masters.
Thoughts for the Day:
This verse
from Proverbs expresses how it feels to someone when a
faithful messenger delivers the message sent by him and compares it to the end
of harvest time. In Bible days messages were sent by "runners" on foot or riders
by horseback. These couriers had to be persistent and faithful to overcome all
the obstacles they faced in order to get their messages through. They were, many
times, hindered by inclement weather, bandits by the wayside, darkness of night,
sickness in body, and weariness of the journey. It really did take a
faithful messenger to get the job done. Masters who had this type of servant
were truly refreshed in their souls when they knew important messages got
through and the messenger returned with a reply.
The verse in
today's study compares it to the end of harvest time which brought great relief
to the farmer. When the cold weather arrived with its snow, it definitely
marked the end of the harvest season. By then, the farmer could rest knowing
that the crops were in the barn, and the land had been made ready to lie fallow
over the winter. They could now enter a refreshing time after all their toil
through the growing season. This same feeling is used to express how the master
would feel when his faithful messenger accomplished his mission.
Faithfulness is a
virtue that so many lack today, as we are witnessing mates who are unfaithful to
their partners, employees and employers unfaithful to one another, families who
undermine each other, and people who no longer keep their word. As
Christians, we are called to be faithful in all of our ways, even as our Lord
was faithful. We need to operate in integrity in all we do, and be a good example to
all who know us. We could start with being faithful to keep our word.
As the moral climate of
our society has been deteriorating, lying has become a major problem.
The business world is particularly plagued by this problem--men’s
dishonesty with each other, meetings "forgotten," company theft,
promises not kept, contracts broken, etc. Lawyers have increased in
numbers over the last decade, mainly because of irresponsibility and
broken contracts among men due to lying. What constitutes a lie
according to the Bible? Anything that is not the truth, is a lie; and
God’s Word, the Bible, tells us what is truth. The Bible is the standard
or measuring rod we must use in determining truth.
Sadly, Christians are
also succumbing to this epidemic of lying. Lying to each other has now
become so commonplace, that Christians too, have become liars and have become
unfaithful in their dealings with others. Each of us have had our trust
in people undermined, or in some cases even destroyed because of lies.
We would all agree that lying is an ugly evil. The Bible is filled with
admonitions against being unfaithful and lying. One of the Ten
Commandments states:
Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbour.
One of the biggest
faults of many Christians, and our society as well, is that we tend to
over-commit and then we are unable to keep our word. It is disheartening
to see this shift prevalent in businesses. They commit to the jobs, but are
unable to produce them on time. Thus, the standard for
business practices is shifting to not expecting things to be completed on time. Business
people must now factor in lengthy time delays just to compensate for
people’s lack of business ethics.
People who tend to
over-commit sometimes have a pride problem and are people pleasers. They
want people to like them so they offer to do things for them. Because they are
over-extended, they are often unable to keep their all promises; thus
they become dishonest. In business it
is usually greed that tends to cause them to over-commit. They want more
business and more money, even when they must work from a backlog that
was promised timely.
We can be
overcomers through the power of the Holy Spirit and become a faithful
witness for our Lord.
Prayer for the Day:
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You for allowing me to know many faithful people. It is certainly
refreshing to be acquainted with those who are trustworthy and honest. Lord,
also help me to be an example of one who is faithful and steadfast in God. Lord,
I do want to walk in integrity, so please remind me when I forget anything that I have
promised to someone. Help me not to over-commit, and Lord, not only do I not
want to be a liar
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