Bragging On Jesus

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, 11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.

No Vacations
 Yet Sweet Rest!

R Aylor

I don’t know about you but for me it’s usually when I'm lying in bed and should rise, shine and rejoice in the day the Lord has made that this scripture comes to my mind.

However its truth about slumbering and resting is clearly applicable at other times and in other areas of life as well.

You see, my idea of rest, relaxation and even vacation need a correct Christian world view understanding.

Of course regular sleeping is good… it is a gift from God… it is letting your body take a vacation from its work… it gets rejuvenated so it can do everything better including work. However sleep turns bad when I sleep the day away so much that I become depressed and nothing gets accomplished so my day can become a fail big fail. And the sad thing is that I can get used to it… and it becomes my routine…

Solomon tells his son that poverty sneaks up on us like a robber and all our self centered lazy desires for our “me” time surround us like an armed man. They steal our joy and zest for living a life of purpose… They encircle us and our sins of laziness take our life hostage.

Along the same lines we should never let our guard down against satan and become spiritually lazy… We may need a vacation from work but never a vacation from Jesus or Gods word. That’s when the thieves of spiritual laziness break in. Rather Jesus is the one to go to for true rest. He said beginning in:

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Proverbs In 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 6:6 Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. 7 Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, 8 she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.

Go To The Ant

R Aylor

We are a little people but unlike the ant our lack of self discipline seems to make us even smaller than we are. At first it sounds like Solomon is addressing slugs and is trying to get them to learn from the ant, but we know he is speaking of mankind.

For us, distractions like advertisements, politics, and millions of other things in our culture divert us and try to turn us aside from our path… As broken people, we are lazy and selfish; we don't keep our word.

We choose our most agreeable teachers by listening to our most liked news cast or our preferred preacher but are afraid or to lazy to search God’s word ourselves to prove them right or wrong.

In our tiny mind we fashion us up our own god and may even call him by the same name as the Jesus of the Bible. Our feelings trump truth. Instant gratification is our usual motivation for anything and everything.

But of course the ant… The ant follows her God given instincts to work with purpose. She apparently has no choice but man is given intellect and conscious and ability to reason and plan and seek out prudence and wisdom…

When we ignore and pervert knowledge of the good and common graces that light our path toward truth, we loose direction, becoming even more ignorant and bigger sluggards despondent to the energizing joys that come from godly disciplines.

Like A Master Workman

R Aylor

Long before the valleys low, mountains high and hills


Before the first grain of dust, on earth upon the fields



I was before him filled with joy, and He was pleased with me


Twas all good, with no beginning, One God in Three



So when he marked and drew a circle, I too was there


And when he made the heavens, all this I shared



He steadied the sky and established the deep


He set boundaries for waters, they all heard him speak



He marked out the earth, I offered my hands

In his own image created We man



He sent me to earth and I willingly went


To the world I created now broken and bent



I was paid wages for their hatred and sin


For their good I lived, died and rose again



Yet it was for Gods glory, his praise and his name


That he chose you and made you, that his only Son came



This good news of great joy for the human race


Is all to the praise of his glorious grace

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 6:5 save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Run, Buck & Flap Your Wings

R Aylor

Solomon has been talking to his son about getting trapped by our own words… In verse one we learned not to make pledges or give security to strangers or even neighbors who want our approval or support for things that go against our God.

In verses 2-4 we found out what to do if we make those kinds of mistakes with our mouth… If so then we have been trapped by our own words. We are to give our eyes no sleep until we go to them and set our words straight with Gods word.

Today is more like a review for the last two devotions on this subject.

Now in verse 5 we see the two analogies Solomon has given us. Let me read it again. “save yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the hand of the fowler.”

If an antelope is snagged by a rope what will he do? I suspect he will buck against that rope to the right and then to the left… running to the end as fast as he can jerking the one holding the other end to the ground if possible that he might hopefully let go with his hand and the gazelle be free.

If a bird is captured and held in someones hand what will he do? That’s right.. wiggle and flap as hard as he can!

Thats the desperate attitude we need to have if we have put our Lord in a bad light. If we have stood up for the wrong things by supporting our neighbor… Maybe we agreed with their bad characterization or gossip or opinion about another person and they hoped for their downfall… and you or I actually agreed with them. Our words have trapped us in a sin. We misrepresented the gospel of grace and love that the Lord showed us sinners who were rebels against him. For we are ambassadors for Christ. We run and buck our hardest to get out of this loose around our neck. We must flap our wings and squawk at the top of our lungs to release our wrong words.

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 6:2 if you are snared in the words of your mouth, caught in the words of your mouth, 3 then do this, my son, and save yourself, for you have come into the hand of your neighbor: go, hasten, and plead urgently with your neighbor. 4 Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber;

Trapped By Our Own Words

R Aylor

As believers, we all have shortcomings and we sin. However, if we do not apologize to others when we misrepresent Christ, we have no testimony to show for repentance… if we even had it.

Solomon set the conversation for us in verse one with the scenario that if… if… we have aligned and supported someone on some issue that goes against what is right and true… If we have comforted or encouraged someone in them turning away from Gods word… Solomon is now telling us to stop what you’re doing and run to your neighbor to set things right.

He says that in making things right we are saving ourselves as though our words have caught us in a snare or trap if you will. Our words have went out… and we were snared… Like a small bird our neighbor has us in his hand… Our words have made us his… He can use them against us using our reputation as security… Our words were our pledge to him. Now he uses them to continue to rationalize his own sin.

In Solomon’s illustration there were actually two caught in the snare of sin; us and our neighbor. And so as believers we first turn to Christ and then run to our neighbor to set our words right before him and at the same time possibly save him from the snare of sin as well.

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 6:1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, have given your pledge for a stranger,

Man's Mouth

Mans mouth has always been a big problem for him. The reason of course is because it shines out reflections of our heart which is bent towards sin.

Jesus said beginning in Matthew 15:18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person…

As we will see here in the first part of Proverbs 6, Solomon is talking much about our words. In verse 1 he talks about putting security up for our neighbor and giving a pledge for a stranger. We can do both of these things with the words of our mouth.

Think about the people you choose to fellowship with… those who you admire and are drawn to… like the text says… they might be our neighbor or they could be a stranger who you recently met…

A way one might put up security or give a pledge for them is by giving your word as in stating your position to them. “Yes I support you in this lifestyle”… “of course you have to be who you feel you are” or… though you only hear one biased side you say “Divorce is definitely the right thing to do”… You don’t want to offend a friend or stranger or even one of your children so you say… “I understand your reasons for wanting an abortion at this time in your life… I agree… I just want what’s best for you”… Maybe you’ve met a stranger or really come to connect on a different level with a co-worker of the opposite sex… And you have been discussing your own marriage with them… even saying you think you are falling out of love with them. Then you ask them out on a date…

All these things are how our words act as security and pledges to our neighbors and others. In the verses which follow that we’ll look at next time Solomon tells us what to do… Let me give you a hint: Turn and run! Run to Jesus and yes, run back to those to whom you misrepresented Gods truth and make things right.

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 5:7 And now, O sons, listen to me, and do not depart from the words of my mouth.

Squirrel, Squirrel, Squirrel!!!

R Aylor

As I look back over the previous chapter it appears that from Proverbs 4:4 to 5:6 Solomon has been telling his sons the words of his father king David as they were told to him. Yes Solomon’s sons are receiving instructions now from two great kings that span two generations.

Thats how it should be. We should tell our children the truths of God and they should tell their children and it should continue and form a legacy for the Lord to his glory.

But yes, as we have noticed before… Solomon tells his sons to listen quite a lot.

Like his sons, at times Jesus disciples also had hearing problems… I believe it was after the feeding of the 5000…

In Mark 8:18 Jesus ask his disciples: …having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?

That’s similar to what Solomon is saying… listen and understand… then keep these truths close to your heart so they won’t be swept away.

How many times have we told our children something… “Billy are you listening to me?” “yes I heard you mom”; but like a dog who catches a glimpse of movement out of one eye… his brain seems to be wiped clean and re-written with squirrel, squirrel, squirrel.

Why is it so difficult to get children to listen to instruction?

Maybe it is because we have learned to prioritize life to a different set of standards than they have. Though in some context ours is still a work in progress, they are only beginning to work on it. Their minds are filled with different things than ours. I believe that is why we should try to explain the “why’s” to them when we talk about the wisdom of God. Ask them to tell you what kind of men and women they want to become when they grow up. As they develop and mature ask them to write their goals including characteristics like what kind of husband or wife they would like to be… What contributions they might want to make in the community… what passions of service they might have for the Lords mission on earth.

When it comes to the Lords ways, we are just as slow to hear and understand and remember as our children.

Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Let us be desperate to listen to the Lord. See his words as rubies and gold… treasures which we will not let depart or be replaces with the fools gold of the world.

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 6:12 A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech,

The Heart Effects All We Do

Daniel Castor

A worthless person, a wicked man. This seems pretty harsh doesn't it. Is what a man says really tied to how he should be identified? You better believe it! A man who goes about all day talking of sex and making jokes of perversion... would we not call him a pervert? And a person who's only concerned with their finances and their means of gaining more... would we not call them greedy? Would it not also be true that one who has crooked speech is a crooked man?

Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

The words we speak lay bare the conditions of our heart! No excuses! We must fill our heart and mind with pleasant and holy things. Let's hide Gods word within our heart so that when we speak that is what naturally flows out.

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Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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The Path To Life

Proverbs 5:5 Her feet go down to death; her steps follow the path to Sheol; 6 she does not ponder the path of life; her ways wander, and she does not know it.

The path which the forbidden woman walks that Solomon is speaking of will lead to ultimate separation from everything pure and  true. It is a sad thing that she does not even know her steps follow the path to Sheol. Her heart does not contemplate her life or purpose or existence. In her own eyes she is making the best of the path she has found herself on and does not consider changing to another path or going another direction. But her feet trod the path that turns away from all things good and ends with eternal separation from God. Can you imagine an existence where every hint of goodness has been removed? That is her final destination.

Not so for the those who rest in the righteousness of Jesus. Even in our death we have life because of His death and resurrection. We also have eternal joy and fellowship with him adopted by him with a full inheritance.

In the book of John Jesus refers to himself as the way which would indicate that he is the true path that leads to life.

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Yes the path for believers ends much different than those who ignore Christ.

In Philippians 1:23 Paul talks about life on earth and death for a believer. Here’s what he says: I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

Pray

Proverbs in 365 Devotions

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Proverbs 5:4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.

Bitter As Wormwood

R Aylor

I used to really be into vitamins and herbs… I even owned an herbal store for a while. The herb known as Wormwood is a very bitter shrub. I grew some for a few years and sampled it a number of times… If I remember correctly it’s used to get rid of parasites, to flavor and preserve meats and… And I believe American Indians used it for a number of different things…

But like I said it is extremely bitter. Bitter herbs like wormwood can make one think of misery and are actually used by Jews in observance of the Passover where they remind the Jewish people of their bitter days in Egypt. They spent over 400 years in Egypt and much of that time was in bondage as slaves. This was the disagreeable experience that bitter herbs like wormwood reminded them of.

In today's text Solomon is referring to the forbidden woman as he calls her… He compares her to wormwood. Why? The forbidden woman will not make your life sweet and pleasant but rather extremely bitter.

She will cut you with deep wounds which likely will scar your life permanently. She may even injure or sever a great many relationships in your life. She burns bridges that led to a productive and purpose filled life. She promises instant satisfaction but what follows instead is ongoing bitter chains of misery.

Sin, oh what a great liar! As Ravi Zaccharias says: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.”