Proverbs Devotional 3.10.20

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 10

Reflect:

Proverbs 10:26

26 Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes,
so the slacker is to the one who sends him on an errand. 

Have you ever taken a big swig from a drink expecting one thing but getting something else? Once I drank a glass of milk, not knowing that it had spoiled, and I got the shock of my life! It took me a second or two to figure out what was going on. And in that brief moment, I ended up swallowing some of the milk before I knew what was happening. All I wanted to do was get that nasty milk out of my mouth! It was terrible. That’s the idea behind “vinegar to the teeth,” only it was the wine that had soured and turned to vinegar. Rather than enjoying a nice drink, one ends up doing whatever they can to get that nastiness out of their mouths. Soured milk or vinegar, it doesn’t matter, the point is, it’s not a pleasant experience. 

The idea of “smoke to the eyes” is used to drive the point of the proverb home. I can relate to this too. I like to smoke meat. Low and slow is what they say when it comes to smoking meat. It can take anywhere from 8 to 16 hours, depending on what you’re smoking. Inevitably at some point in the process, you will get smoke in your eyes. It is painful and debilitating. When it happens, you’ll Immediately feel a burning sensation in your eyes! You instinctively squeeze your eyes closed as they tear up in an attempt to flush out the smoke. It stops you dead in your tracks! 

In the same way that vinegar tastes sour, and smoke irritates the eyes, a lazy person aggravates his employer! The employer is exacerbated because the lazy person fails to carry out their responsibilities. As you read through the proverbs, you’ll see that the lazy person is the epitome of a fool. We are not called to be lazy.

Respond: 

Are you lazy? Don’t let laziness keep you from doing the tasks you have before you today. Honor your boss, spouse, teammate, or friend, don’t be an irritant to them. Make it your goal to live a Colossians 3 kind of life. “23 Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people, 24 knowing that you will receive the reward of an inheritance from the Lord. You serve the Lord Christ.” (Col. 3:23-24)

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: