**Special Note** Devotionals in 2020 will go out every day. You are encouraged to read the chapter from Proverbs that corresponds with the date. Today we are reading Proverbs chapter 9. There is a link for you to read the Proverbs chapter online or you can read the chapter in your Bible. The devotionals will not follow the Sunday sermons.
Proverbs Devo 1.9.20
I. Prayer to enter the Lord’s presence:
Be still for a moment. “Lord, I give the day that is now past to you. It is yours. I give the day that is to come to you; help me to see where you are working and to join you there. Speak to me during these moments. I commit them and myself to you.”
II. Prayer of Confession:
“Lord, you are faithful to forgive me and cleanse me of my sin when I confess it to you. I confess my sin(s) of ______________. Thank you for forgiveness.” (1 John 1:9)
III. Prayer of Thanksgiving:
Choose to be thankful, speak out loud of what God has done.
“Thank you, Father, for _________________. Fill my heart and my mouth with gratitude throughout this day.”
IV. Scripture Reflection
Read: Proverbs Chapter 9
Reflect:
Proverbs 9:1-4, 13-16
Wisdom has built her house;
she has set up its seven pillars.
2 She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine;
she has also set her table.
3 She has sent out her servants, and she calls
from the highest point of the city,
4 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
13 Folly is an unruly woman;
she is simple and knows nothing.
14 She sits at the door of her house,
on a seat at the highest point of the city,
15 calling out to those who pass by,
who go straight on their way,
16 “Let all who are simple come to my house!”
Wisdom and Folly: Both are personified as a woman. Both are calling out to the passersby. Both give an invitation to enter and dine with them. But what do they offer? Wisdom offers a banquet of choice food and wine, while Folly offers stolen water and bread. Notice too that Folly is using the same words as Wisdom. Folly is deceptive! She pretends to be wise, yet she is anything but wise. She is just like the simple, the inexperienced ones she is calling out to. Her references to stolen water and food ate in secret, are really just calls to toy with immorality. It’s a way for her to glamorize and spice up sexual activities that are outside the bounds of marriage. She doesn’t want you to pay attention to the potential consequences or the cost. She wants you to come in and live for the moment. Yet we’ve been warned about her paths earlier in Proverbs, we know it leads to death!
Wisdom offers us a banquet—her food represents all the benefits wisdom desires to give us. But if we’re to appropriate those benefits, we’ve got to choose to go in and eat. As we dine on Wisdom’s cuisine, we metabolize her teaching and use it to guide our actions – her food is life giving! Stephen Thorson sums up this idea best when he says, “How sad it would be for someone hungry to come to Wisdom’s banquet table and then turn away without eating.”
Respond:
You have a choice before you today. Whose table will you eat at? Let me suggest that you choose Wisdom’s table, the banquet of life. Don’t be deceived by Folly. Remember, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and discipline.” Don’t be a fool; don’t delay in making a choice. Today, if you hear His voice—Wisdom’s voice, Christ’s voice—do not harden your hearts.
V. Prayer for others:
Pray specifically for the concerns of your life and the lives of others.
VI. Prayer of commitment:
“Lord God, I commit to love you with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my strength and with all my mind and to love my neighbor as myself. Empower me today to love you and others with everything that I am.” (Luke 10:27)
This Week’s Scripture Memory:
Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.