Proverbs Devotional 10.26.20

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 26

Reflect:

For October, I’d like you to simply read slowly through the entire proverb each day. Think about the verses that have stood out to you over this year, the things God has spoken to you about, and the wisdom that was revealed to you. Use this time as a summary review of our time together over the last nine months.

As you read the Proverbs, you’ll notice that they are comprised of different translations. My hope is that doing this will help you to read Proverbs afresh. Following the reading is a short prayer that sums up the proverb. God Bless!

Proverbs 26 (The Message)
We no more give hon­ors to fools
than pray for snow in sum­mer or rain dur­ing har­vest.

² You have as lit­tle to fear from an un­de­served curse
as from the dart of a wren or the swoop of a swal­low.

³ A whip for the race­horse, a tiller for the sail­boat—
and a stick for the back of fools!

⁴ Don’t re­spond to the stu­pid­ity of a fool;
you’ll only look fool­ish your­self.

⁵ An­swer a fool in sim­ple terms
so he doesn’t get a swelled head.

⁶ You’re only ask­ing for trou­ble
when you send a mes­sage by a fool.

⁷ A proverb quoted by fools
is limp as a wet noo­dle.

⁸ Putting a fool in a place of honor
is like set­ting a mud brick on a mar­ble col­umn.

⁹ To ask a moron to quote a proverb
is like putting a scalpel in the hands of a drunk.

¹⁰ Hire a fool or a drunk
and you shoot your­self in the foot.

¹¹ As a dog eats its own vomit,
so fools re­cy­cle silli­ness.

¹² See that man who thinks he’s so smart?
You can ex­pect far more from a fool than from him.

¹³ Loafers say, “It’s dan­ger­ous out there!
Tigers are prowl­ing the streets!”
and then pull the cov­ers back over their heads.

¹⁴ Just as a door turns on its hinges,
so a lazy­bones turns back over in bed.

¹⁵ A shift­less slug­gard puts his fork in the pie,
but is too lazy to lift it to his mouth.

Like Glaze on Cracked Pot­tery

¹⁶ Dream­ers fan­ta­size their self-im­por­tance;
they think they are smarter
than a whole col­lege fac­ulty.

¹⁷ You grab a mad dog by the ears
when you butt into a quar­rel that’s none of your busi­ness.

^18-19 Peo­ple who shrug off de­lib­er­ate de­cep­tions,
say­ing, “I didn’t mean it, I was only jok­ing,”
Are worse than care­less campers
who walk away from smol­der­ing camp­fires.

²⁰ When you run out of wood, the fire goes out;
when the gos­sip ends, the quar­rel dies down.

²¹ A quar­rel­some per­son in a dis­pute
is like kerosene thrown on a fire.

²² Lis­ten­ing to gos­sip is like eat­ing cheap candy;
do you want junk like that in your belly?

²³ Smooth talk from an evil heart
is like glaze on cracked pot­tery.

^24-26 Your enemy shakes hands and greets you like an old friend,
all the while con­niv­ing against you.
When he speaks warmly to you, don’t be­lieve him for a minute;
he’s just wait­ing for the chance to rip you off.
No mat­ter how cun­ningly he con­ceals his mal­ice,
even­tu­ally his evil will be ex­posed in pub­lic.

²⁷ Mal­ice back­fires; spite boomerangs.

²⁸ Liars hate their vic­tims; flat­ter­ers sab­o­tage trust.

Respond:

Father, protect me from pride. Keep me from walking the path of the fool. Please help me see people as You see them and walk in Your wisdom and grace. Keep me from being a gossip and a quarrelsome person. I give You today and all that it has in store for me. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 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 29:25