Papa Pat Tiny Devotionals

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, excellent cold-brew coffee! When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, And when the wicked perish, there is joyful shouting. Proverbs 11:10, NASB The above statement is: TRUE .  Here’s a logic problem for you: If the city is rejoicing, and there is joyful shouting, that means the wicked have perished and it’s going well with the righteous. That statement is: FALSE .  First, there are many reasons for rejoicing and joyful shouting.  Example: if the local baseball team wins the World Series, you’ll see LOTS of rejoicing and shouting. Is righteousness involved in that? The ONLY possible application I imagine is if the team members were committed to a righteous lifestyle that included a lot of batting practice and fielding drills. But honestly, the rejoicing is because of the win, not because of the righteousness. This is a trivial example. The second objection t

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, have some brand-name Cheerios. The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, But the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Proverbs 10:11, NASB The mouth of the righteous IS a fountain of life, but the hand of the righteous will knock you down if you don’t shut up and get with the program. Do not be deceived by previous pleasant experiences drinking from the fountain; you go too far, and the mouth is temporarily overruled by the hand. That just may be the reason you find yourself lying flat on your back, looking up at the ceiling (or the sky). The righteous dispensed a bodacious amount of teaching, and healing, and all things sweet and kind, but you still kept playing the fool. And so, IT’S CLOBBERING TIME... ...until you gain a bit of insight, and demonstrate that you’ve learned the benefits of cooperation. That’s an ENTIRELY different experience than what happens wh

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, the rice is ready. Calling to those who pass by, Who are making their paths straight: Proverbs 9:15, NASB Unless you are much more of a scholar than I am, here’s something you don’t know from this verse alone: This verse concerns the Woman of Folly. I think I have two things to say about that. 1. There are special temptations that are directed at the folks who are doing it right.   I say that, because the writer explicitly states that she is calling out to those who are making their paths straight. I don’t think she would be wasting her time, if she didn’t hook the occasional righteous fish.  2. It’s easy to be lead astray if you don’t look at context. “A text without a context is just a pretext;” that’s worth remembering. Here’s something else to consider: if the Bible discusses rules about bobsled riding 100 times, and rules about elk hunting 1 time, then it’s safe to re