Daily Devotionals
Daily Devotional: Proverbs 17:21-24
Prov 17:21-24
He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow, and the father of a fool has no joy. A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. The wicked accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the ways of justice. The discerning sets his face toward wisdom, but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
Phil 4:4-7
Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
God only wants what is best for each of us. He made us so that when we have joy, we are more healthy than when we are filled with sorry, grief, or worry. We all know people who have grieved themselves to death. We know people who have high blood pressure or ulcers from worrying. Why do we do this when God has given us the most effective medicine that can be given, and it doesn’t even cost us a thing. Do not worry about anything! Pray about everything! Rejoice in the Lord!
Recently in a men’s Bible class we were studying the “fruit of the Spirit” as given by Paul. As we were looking at these things, it suddenly hit me! I still worry about some things at times because I don’t pray about them and then let God have them. Are you anxious about anything in your life? When Jesus was talking about this, he said “O you of little faith!” I think he was saying that we just don’t really trust God to take care of things in our lives. Why not?
James Elliot said: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.” Maybe we do believe God is able to do what we need done but we don’t want to think that we are giving up control. Maybe we are not keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and on things above. Maybe we are impatient. Or could it be that we are selfish and afraid that God will not give us what we think we want or do it our way? Whatever our excuse, we can rejoice always. We can have the peace that surpasses all understanding. We can be anxious for nothing. Trust God!
O Lord God, increase my faith. Help me be more thankful to you for all you have done for me, even things that were hard to accept at the time but proved to be for my good. Help me trust you enough that I give thanks to you, even when I do not see the end or understand why things are the way they are. Help me focus on Jesus and the prize you have waiting for me instead of the things in this world. Take away my anxiety and my fear of what might be and let you handle it, in your way, and in your time. Increase my faith. I pray in the name of Jesus.
Robert
