This program of daily devotions is designed to take you through the Bible in three years. It is our desire to help you gain a better general understanding of God's Word.
Please understand that in a study this brief, we will be concerned with only the major emphases and context of the Scriptures.
Each day a devotion for one or two chapters is posted, beginning with chapter one of Genesis and going through chapter twenty-two of Revelation. You are free to print each page as it appears. If you miss a day, you may contact us and request that devotion. Please send your request, along with $.50 (p&handling) for each page to:
Bruce McGee,Pastor
205 Adams
Columbia, LA 71418
HERE
Bro. Bruce's commentaries for the books of
Genesis through 2Kings are
now available in hard copy for $7.50. Just
mail your request for COMMENTARY ON (BOOK NAME) to the address above.
PROVERBS
CHAPTER 2
1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
The GENUINE way to receive wisdom is to LISTEN TO GOD! God speaks wisdom through His Bible today. Studying the Bible is listening to what God says.
If a person will study the Bible with the same intensity that he seeks riches, he will have a genuine reverence for God (verse 5).
Once I had a friend who did prison ministry. He told me about a man he met in prison who had three doctorate degrees. When my friend asked him why he was in prison, he said he'd been caught stealing. Why was he stealing? He was trying to get enough money to go back to school for ANOTHER doctorate degree!!
REAL wisdom, the ability to make right decisions, is found ONLY from the "mouth" of God!
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
God has STORED "sound wisdom" in His Bible. He placed it there for the "righteous," or those who desire to follow His will.
God has provided the WORD so that we will have SUPPORT ("buckler"). God's Word will help keep "judgment," or deliverance, and therefore will PRESERVE the direction of His "saints."
9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
When a person chooses to follow God by studying the Bible and living accordingly, that person will be daily receiving wisdom from God. That wisdom will establish righteousness in his decision making.
He will have a PLAN. The word "discretion" is translated from the Hebrew mezimmah which means PLAN. The plan of the Bible is to teach people to make decisions according to God's will, and not from our OWN will.
The teachings of God's word will keep the child of God from following after "evil men," and "strange" women. Jesus said,
18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.
To be involved sexually with a person of the opposite sex outside of marriage is adultery.
AND IT IS DANGEROUS TO A PERSON'S HEALTH!!
Today there are some 35 STD's (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) in the world. Twenty five of them result in DEATH!! One out of every four people in the USA are infected with an STD!!!!!!
This year, over 5MILLION people will be infected with the STD called HPV (Human Papilloma Virus). This virus is deadly! It is the virus which is responsible for over 90% of all cervical cancer today.
And that's only ONE STD!!! Other STD's cause sterility, birth defects and some destroy the body in an awful manner.
Friends, God knows what He's talking about when He says that sex outside of marriage is DANGEROUS to the health!
And sex outside of marriage with a person of the SAME SEX is just as deadly! HIV is the most widely known STD transmitted in this way. But there are others, and they have just as deadly a cause and effect upon the participants. This sexual activity God calls an ABOMINATION (see Leviticus 18:22, and Romans 1:26-27).
God's plan for sex within the institution of marriage: one woman for one man for one lifetime.
ANY SEX other than God's PLAN is DANGEROUS!
"GOOD" men (or women) will follow GOD'S PLAN for sex. And the "upright" will be able to dwell in the land SAFELY. But those who choose another direction will be "cut off" by the diseases brought on by illicit sex. Please continue in Bible Study with us.
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." (John 10:27-28)
Temptations come to God's people just as much as anyone else. But God has GREAT PLAN! The plan is to follow the words of the Bible in making decisions. That will keep people from following those who would lead them to unrighteouness.