Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Proverbs 30:7-10
Prov 30:7-10
7 Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: 8 Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, 9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. 10 Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.
James 4:13-16
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
When we accomplish anything worthwhile, it is easy for us to become proud and think that we have done it on our own. We forget that all we are able to do is only because God is with us and blessing us. He gives us our abilities and he provides us with the opportunities to use them. While it is not wrong for us to enjoy the fruits of our labors, we need to remember to thank God for them.
In the busy rush of life, it is easy to forget God. We too often forget to talk to him regularly, unless we have a major problem. We forget to thank him unless we need something else. We may go through the ritual of saying a thank you prayer before we eat (at least some of our meals), but even these are too often not from the heart. (We start eating and then ask ourselves if we prayed or not.)
True Thanksgiving is from the heart with a genuine realization that God provides us with all we have and all we are. He decided that we would be born in the time and place where we are. He gave us parents who love(d) us and who took time to teach us to love Him. He gave us mental and physical abilities to earn a living. He has made it possible for us to have our sins forgiven in Jesus, and along with this he has given us a worldwide family who loves us (even though they have never met us in person). Thank you, Lord, for loving me!
O Lord God, I do thank you so much for all you have given me in my life. Thank you for the physical family in which I was raised. Thank you for parents who loved me enough to teach me about you. Thank you for my siblings and their families. I thank you for your great spiritual family and all the joy and encouragement they provide to me every day. Thank you for Jesus, my Savior, my Lord, my brother, and my best friend. Thank you for this country in which I live and all the freedoms that I too often take for granted. Thank you for loving me! In Jesus’ name.
Robert
