Daily Devotional

I am in Proverbs now and I feel like every verse is a life lesson waiting to be learned! As I meditated on this verse I thought about Solomon who wrote the book of Proverbs and how he might have learned this lesson from David, his father. Much of David’s life was taken up with fleeing from Saul. And then when he finally was able to rest from that, his eldest son, Absalom, attempted to dethrone him. And yet David didn’t retaliate, even when he had the opportunity. The stories must have made a great impression on Solomon. Earlier in Proverbs 24:17-18 he writes, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; lest the LORD see it, and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him." 

Read Psalm 33 and you will see that David’s trust was in God and believed, like the words in Daniel 2:21 that “God removes kings and raise up kings.” Besides the practical lessons we can learn from all these portions of scripture, the lessons Solomon learned from David reminds me of the relationship between Timothy and Paul that Pastor Jim pointed out to us last Sunday and the importance of who we choose to influence our lives. Solomon was one of the wisest people in history and he learned from someone who “was a man after God’s own heart.”  His humility is a type of parable that depicts the life of Christ (“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Phil. 2:5-8).

“Lord Jesus, help me not to be a 'know it all.' Help my heart to be open to the wisdom of others who follow your heart, and help my pride not get in the way of trusting that You are in charge.”

"New King James Version (NKJV)
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved."