DAILY BIBLE READING

 Jun 7: Prov 13-15
Jun 8: Prov 16-18
Jun 9: Prov 19-21
Jun 10: Prov 22-24
Jun 11: 1King 5-6; 2Chron 2-3
Jun 12: 1King 7; 2Chron 4
Jun 13: 1King 8; 2Chron 5
Jun 14: 2Chron 6-7; Ps 136

NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S READING

·         There’s not a lot to add this week.  We continue in Proverbs for about half the week (see last week and also devotions below).

·         The rest of the week we read about Solomon’s temple – the furnishing and dedication, including (next Monday) the well-known response/promise of the Lord, “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray…..”

·         Psalm 136 is included because its refrain, “His love endures forever,” was also part of the dedication prayer.

DEVOTIONS

The wisdom of Proverbs is so practical and down to earth.  It’s just common sense stuff.  I sometimes wonder if preaching defaults too much and too often to the large issues of life – theological essentials, major Christian disciplines, significant social issues – and misses where most of us live.

Recently a church member suggested I watch a 20-year-old movie that he said would give me insight into his business world.  The film chronicles a true story in the world of money, politics, power, deal-making, all intertwined with luxury, sex, alcohol, and profanity.  It’s certainly not the world I live in everyday.

But it’s a world Solomon and the other writers of Proverbs would have insisted matters to God.  Many of their wise sayings would apply precisely in that context –

·         15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

·         15:22, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”

·         15:23, “A man finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word!”

·         19:2, “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.”

·         19:11, “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.”

·         23:4-5, “Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint.  Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle.”

·         24:33-34, “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest – and poverty will come on you like a bandit and scarcity like an armed man.”

None of those Proverbs even mentions “God” (though many of the proverbs do, and the “fear of the LORD” is the controlling motif for the whole book).  They are just about living out life with applied wisdom.

God cares about more than your faith, your worship, your witness, your prayers, your big decisions.  God’s wisdom transforms your every day world.