Tiny Devotional for Sunday, 10-06-2020

A great good morning to my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped in, we’ve got pinto beans.

My son, if you have become a guarantor for your neighbor,
Or have given a handshake for a stranger, 
Proverbs 6:1, NASB

For a long time, I didn’t enjoy reading Proverbs 1-9. I thought, “These just say that wisdom is good, over and over. I want Proverbs 10!”
How wrong I was!  While I did recognize a FEW bits of wisdom (Proverbs 3:5-6 for example), I couldn’t wait to get to chapter 10. How much life-giving wisdom did I miss?

For example,  Pr 6:1. It’s every bit as practical as any of the jewels in the latter two-thirds of Proverbs. 
“If you have been” is a formal set-up for a corrective action. The sense of it is almost  “Don’t do this! OOPS! You already did it!”
The corrective action is described in my post of October 6.

Moral 1: Papa Pat, there is a reason these first nine chapters are here. Why are you just realizing that now? (and what ELSE have you missed?)

Moral 2: Don’t put your family and yourself at risk to help someone with little or no investment in your well-being. By virtue of hard work and good management, you have accumulated some wealth. Now YOU can help OTHERS out; that’s GOOD! But don’t risk anything you can’t afford to lose.

JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE IS IN NEED, 
THAT DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD  “FIX” IT! 

Seek wisdom; your “help” might cripple them!

ALSO: If you have a surplus (not tithe money!), feel free to give (or not) to the people who ask for help in the WalMart parking lot. God knows their truth; we don’t have to.


Peace be on your household.

Comments

  1. mylonDecember 8, 2020 at 10:38 AM

    Even if we can't fix stuff we can encourage, text, and check on folks. That is big mojo! Thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Habakkuk21December 8, 2020 at 12:29 PM

      I remember times when I got a word at the right moment. Much rather have that; and, I still have the memory of the love that was extended to me.

      Delete

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