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:
7 The robbery of
the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment.
8 The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.
Proverbs 21:7-8 (AMP):
7 The violence of the wicked
shall sweep them away, because they refuse to do justice.
8 The way of the guilty is exceedingly crooked, but as for the pure, his work is
right and his conduct is straight.
These verses tell
of the fate of the wicked who are thieves and violent men, in contrast to the
fate of those who are pure in their affairs. Robbers think that they can get by
with their deeds, but the Bible tells us differently. In the book of
Galatians we are told that we all shall reap what we sow.
Galatians
6:7-9:
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he
that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we
faint not.
These scriptures
use an analogy of planting seed into the ground and then it grows and produces a
crop. When evil deeds are sown, the scripture tells us that there will be
a crop of corruption, while on the positive side when we sow good seed it will
produce a crop that will have eternal value. That is why when we give to
the works of God, we shall receive eternal rewards in the form of souls.
We cannot take our material goods to heaven with us but we will be able to meet
those people whom we helped come to know the Lord. We can reap those
acquaintances because we gave our time in prayer, our time in witnessing and our
financial aid that helped get the gospel out. We are told not to be weary
in well doing, for in time we shall reap, if we faint not.
The devil tries to
discourage us when we do not see instant results to our prayers and when we see
the wicked prospering for a season, but we must keep our eyes on Jesus and on
what He promised and not look at our present circumstances. That is what
faith is - not allowing the devil to talk us our of our blessings.
The Bible tells us
in Psalms 32:10: Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in
the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
Those that are
wicked will have many sorrows, while those who trust in God will find His mercy.
The scripture here tells us that mercy will be all around us. There is
another scripture that has always blessed me and it is the one found in the
last verse of the 23rd Psalm:
Psalm 23:6
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will
dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.
I wondered why the
scripture here spoke of "goodness" and "mercy" following us, as opposed to being
in front of us. The Lord revealed to me that goodness and mercy were
always behind us because we needed them to catch us and pick us up when we fall.
When do we need mercy? When we have failed the Lord. When do we
especially need someone to be good and kind to us? When we have made a mistake
and have fallen down. When we trust God, He is there for us, to help us up, so
we can go on walking with Him. How great is His love for us!
Men without God
are wicked by nature. We cannot change until we receive the mercy and
forgiveness of our sins through accepting what Jesus did for us through His
death, burial and resurrection. When we receive Him in our hearts and become a
child of God, then we have the privileges God has given to all of His children
available to us. We are then pure in the sight of God, and therefore our works
before Him become good works. Through following our Lord daily we are able to
live the overcoming life. The evil that we once loved, we now hate. The
power of the Holy Spirit purifies our thinking and we no longer desire the old
life we used to live, we now love the things of God. This is a wonderful
miracle -- a God who makes us pure and good like Him.
Psalm 37:35-37:
35 I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay
tree.
36 Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not
be found.
37 Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is
peace.
Dear Father in Heaven, I love you
so much. You have been so good to me. Thank you for Your mercy and
goodness to me over the years. I have not deserved Your great patience
with me, but I am thankful that You were there for me every time I fell down and
every time I failed You. Thank you for picking me up and forgiving me and
washing me clean so I could start again on that narrow path where my careless
feet went astray. Help me to be merciful, like You, to those in my life
who need Your mercy through me. Give me grace not only to forgive them,
but to love them as You have loved me. I ask this in the name of Your precious
son, Jesus. Amen.
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