September 1, 2008

Today's Reading - Proverbs 1
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Following Scripture Verses

1. The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel;
2. To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding;
3. To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity;
4. To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion.
5. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
6. To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings.
7. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
8. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
9. For they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck.
10. My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
11. If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause:
12. Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit:
13. We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil:
14. Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
15. My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:
16. For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.
17. Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.
18. And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.
19. So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.
20. Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:
21. She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying,
22. How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23. Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24. Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25. But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26. I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28. Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29. For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30. They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32. For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33. But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Today's Pathway:
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"Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:" - Proverbs 1:14

This verse occurs in the middle of a passage in which Solomon is warning his son about getting involved with sinners. Throughout the preceding verses he mentions different violent actions that these transgressors want to commit, and want his son to join in with. In today's proverb they once again call upon the young man to participate with them, but they add something new. They say, "Let us all have one purse." In other words they are calling upon this man to join with them financially. He is to invest in their behavior so that he can reap the material benefits of their wicked actions.

Here is a warning: be careful where you put your money. I have known of people who gave or lent their money to unscrupulous men who used those funds to harm others. They may have promised a rich return, but the money was still used for unScriptural activity.

I think it is wise for a man who makes investments for his retirement or for increased wealth to be very careful about where those investments go. I wonder how many Christians have a portfolio that includes the liquor industry, or the tobacco industry, or gambling, or Hollywood? Believers who would never dream of buying alcohol will invest in mutual funds that include a variety of vineyards, wineries and breweries. Businesses today are so intertwined that it can be difficult to determine exactly what the produce is that you are investing in, but I believe that the Lord would be pleased if our money followed Biblical guidelines.

We need to be careful about the charities we support as well. Many seemingly innocent charities give money to abortion rights groups, homosexual rights organizations, and a variety of other anti-Biblical causes. We may not work with those people, but when we have "one purse" with them, we are still providing assistance to them.

It isn't enough to simply not participate in the sins of the ungodly. We need to be sure not to finance them as well.

Pastor Mark J Montgomery