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Pathways Through Proverbs
Daily Devotional
September 23, 2008
Today's Reading - Proverbs 23
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Following Scripture Verses
Proverbs Chapter 23
- When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before thee:
- And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite.
- Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat.
- Labour not to be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
- Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
- Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
- For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
- The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
- Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
- Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
- For their redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
- Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
- Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
- Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
- My son, if thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
- Yea, my reins shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
- Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.
- For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
- Hear thou, my son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way.
- Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:
- For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags.
- Hearken unto thy father that begat thee, and despise not thy mother when she is old.
- Buy the truth, and sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding.
- The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
- Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice.
- My son, give me thine heart, and let thine eyes observe my ways.
- For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.
- She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men.
- Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes?
- They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.
- Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.
- At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.
- Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things.
- Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast.
- They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick; they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again.
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Today's Pathway:
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Several months ago we looked at verse 17 which tells us not to be envious of sinners, but rather to fear the Lord. In today's verse Solomon gives the reason for that:
"there is an end" .
Most people do not want to think about the end of their earthly life, but the fact is that this life is drawing to a close for every one of us. I am one day closer to eternity today than I was yesterday. Maybe my life will end in death, or maybe I will be caught up in the rapture, but either way there is most definitely an end. I need to live every day as if it were the last one that the Lord was going to allow me to have. I may stand before God tomorrow at the Judgment Seat of Christ. It will be too late then for me to accomplish what I was given to do here on earth. It will be too late to evangelize. It will be too late to make a difference in the spiritual lives of others. It will be too late to live for the Lord and do those things which would allow Him to say "Well done" when I appear before Him. Thus, I need to get busy today.
Solomon concludes the verse by stating "thine expectation shall not be cut off." I think that there are two possible ideas here. First of all, as we have mentioned above, when my earthly life ends my eternal life is just beginning and my judgment approaches. Second, I need to understand that I should not waste my time in the pursuits of the ungodly, for while they have no expectation for the future other than torments in Hell, I have an eternity in Heaven to look forward to. Why should I envy sinners who are bound for the Lake of Fire when I, through the grace of God, am bound for Heaven? Why should I suffer the loss of reward forever in exchange for a few years of carnal pleasures here? I need to come to grips with my own mortality, and use my remaining time to serve the Lord.
Pastor Mark J Montgomery
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