Read the Bible in a Year (14JUL19)

DAILY REMINDER – Today, July 14’s Bible reading is Proverbs 4-6.

NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, July 15’s Bible reading is Proverbs 7-9. May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.

PROVERBS MOMENT – (14JUL19) The writer of Proverbs 6 tells us that there are six things the Lord hates and seven that He finds detestable. The Lord hates a prideful look, lying tongue, murder of the innocent, schemer, feet quick to do evil, false witness, and a troublemaker. When we think about some of the characters of the Bible, a few fell into some of these categories. Let’s take a quick look at some of them so that we can learn what NOT to do that displeases the Lord.

Pride – This was Lucifer’s downfall. God made him to be a beautiful creature, but he allowed pride to enter his heart which sent him down a roller-coaster of no return. Instead of him submitting to his Creator, Lucifer though that he could be above Him. “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit” Isaiah 14:12-15.

Liars – “Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet” (Acts 5:1-2). This was a foolish couple who thought that they would lie to the Holy Spirit. They had agreed, by their own doing, to sell some property and give the proceeds to the apostles, but later decided to lie and keep a portion for themselves. No one made them make the pledge to the Lord, but when we make a vow, God expects us to keep it. The story ends with both the husband and wife being struck dead because of their deception. God hates falsehood.

Murder of the Innocent – The Children of Israel had fallen into much wickedness so much so that they were doing the same detestable practices as their heathen neighbors. They offered their innocent children as sacrifices to the god Molech, which angered the Lord and caused a curse to come down on them. “They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. Therefore the Lord was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance” (Psalm 106:37-40).

Schemer – Jezebel was a wicked woman whom King Ahab of Israel married, and she became his queen. When Ahab could not get his way regarding a plot of land he wanted, Jezebel devised a scheme to have scoundrels do her dirty work, so that her husband could get the vineyard. “So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them, and sent them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him.  In those letters she wrote: ‘Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people.  But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death’ ” (1 Kings 21:8-10). Jezebel was later thrown out of a window and eaten by dogs, for God did not take kindly to her wickedness.

Quick to do Evil – Queen Athaliah was the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. She was very wicked as they were and did much evil. When her son, King Ahaziah died, she was quick at her attempt to eliminate any perceived threats and/or competition to her throne. “When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family” (2 Kings 11:1). Joash, her grandson, would have been killed as well, but his aunt hid him in the temple where Athaliah never went. Once he was seven years old, he was crowned king and Athaliah was put to death.  

False Witness – Joseph had been sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. When he got there, God blessed his hands with everything that he did. He was placed in charge of his master, Potiphar’s house. That was until he was falsely accused by his master’s wife of trying to seduce her when he refused to sleep with her. “When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is how your slave treated me,” he burned with anger. Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden” (Genesis 39:19-21). The false accusation that was brought against Joseph by Potiphar’s wife caused him to be imprisoned, but God later blessed him where he became the governor of Egypt.

Troublemaker – Miriam, the sister of Moses, had a gripe against him. She complained of him having married a Cushite woman and that Moses was not the only one who was able to hear from God. The Bible says that Moses was a very humble man and did not esteem himself over anyone. Therefore, when Miriam and Aaron did this, God was displeased. He had all three siblings to come before Him so that He could settle the matter. The Lord let Aaron and Miriam know that He had a special relationship with Moses, so He did not appreciate them speaking against His servant. “The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them. When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, and he said to Moses, ‘Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed’ ” (Numbers 12:9-11). God healed Miriam after seven days, but this showed Aaron and Miriam that it was not a family matter, but a God matter when they stirred up trouble against His servant.

These are the things that God hates, and we have seen how He dealt with such things in the Bible. Let us walk blameless before the Lord, and adhere to His commands which is pleasing to Him. Something to ponder….

QUESTION OF THE DAY - (14JUL19) Have you ever had moments of regret where you wished that you had followed sound advice? Maybe you have said this to yourself, “If I knew then what I know now….” Many of us may have made different decisions regarding some things in life now that we have hindsight. Nevertheless, it is not too late, as long as you have breath, to wear Lady Wisdom as a garland around your head. The father in Proverbs tells his son, “At the end of your life you groan, when your flesh and body are spent. You will say, ‘How I hated discipline! How my heart spurned correction!’ ” (Proverbs 5:11-12). The father was warning his child of how many people make bad decisions and avoided correction, but when they got old, they were filled with regrets. They wish that they had made different choices and listened to the words of the wise.

Parents have often spoken of their children not listening to their counsel and words of wisdom. Many of those parents became wiser later on in life after avoiding wise counsel from their parents as well. They tried to prevent their children from making similar mistakes. God, as our Heavenly Father, does the same thing for His children. He has given us His Word that is full of the testimonies of various characters where we can learn from the challenges, mistakes, sins, and successes they had. For example, we would not know that God could part the Red Seas in our lives if we did not have the story of Moses and the Children of Israel to learn from. We would not know that the righteous are sometimes afflicted if we did not have the life of Job to take lessons from. God has given us His Word so that we can avoid many pitfalls and have faith that can move the mountains in our lives. When we read God’s word and pray, He helps us to be students of Lady Wisdom, so that we do not become entrapped by Lady Folly. We can all learn from the lives of others so we can avoid the enemy’s pitfalls along the way. Something to ponder….