Tiny Devotional for Monday, 07-12-2021

A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, heard from Malcolm Gladwell lately?

A good person will obtain favor from the Lord,
But He will condemn a person who devises evil.
Proverbs 12:2, NASB

11/36 of my favor

I love this chapter of Proverbs; it’s ALIVE to me! And thus, I am forced to consider how many errors and weaknesses I find in myself, because the power of the wisdom is revealed because I lack it. 

I remember praising myself for being good, shortly after I had returned to the fold of believers. I had just discovered the discipline of fasting, and was trying it out. Walking across Coffey Barracks, I was thinking something like “Look at me: I’m so virtuous! I don’t smoke, drink, or do drugs; I don’t even eat!”

I had yet to discover that pride was also a lethal lifestyle. That lesson was 3P: PAINFUL, POWERFUL, and PROTRACTED.

So, I do not claim to be good, ALTHOUGH it’s definitely true that I have obtained favor from the Lord. That’s really a function of who the Lord is, though, not of my character. About all I have done is stop sowing seeds of destruction (mostly). Result: I don’t have Destruction Weeds growing up to block my view of His goodness.

We need to go to Romans 1:18-32 to discover how God condemns those who devise evil. Hint: it’s not fire from Heaven. I used to think the unpleasantness I experienced was God smiting me for my wickedness. Actually, it was just the logical consequence of my behavior. 

For today, and every tomorrow: May we all see the favor that God has given us.


Peace be on your household.


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