Proverbs , Wisdom and Wealth
(Devotion edited by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER: A prayer of Commitment
Teach us, good Lord,
to serve you as you deserve:
to give, and not to count the cost;
to fight, and not to heed the wounds;
to toil, and not to seek for rest;
to labour, and not to ask for any reward,
except that of knowing that we do your holy will;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Ignatius Loyola, 1491-1556
Read:
Proverbs 3:9-10, 27-28. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
9Honor the Lord with your wealth,
with the first fruits of all your crops;
10then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine.
27Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
when it is in your power to act.
28Do not say to your neighbour,
“Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
when you already have it with you.
(Proverbs 3:9-10, 27-28 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Ancient Israel was gradually being taught the ways of God. Such ways often contradicted conventional social wisdom (see v.27. I know some businesses today whose policy is to never pay an invoice on time even though they do have the money) But God’s lessons on topics developed over a thousand years often growing sharper and more intense until culminating in Christ’s teachings. Our passage is from seven hundred or so years before Jesus.
How does it agree with Jesus’ teaching about wealth? And it what ways does Jesus add a whole new understanding of wealth and its impact on us for good or ill?
Examine your current use of wealth. Does it look more like Proverbs (which is good)? Or does it look more like Jesus (which is better)?
Proverbs , Wisdom and God
(Devotion edited by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER: The Shield of God
May the strength of God pilot us.
May the power of God preserve us.
May the wisdom of God instruct us.
May the hand of God protect us.
May the way of God direct us.
May the shield of God defend us.
May the host of God
guard us against the snares of evil
and the temptations of the world.
May Christ be with us,
Christ before us,
Christ in us,
Christ over us.
May your salvation, O Lord, be always ours,
this day and for evermore. Amen.
Part of the ‘Breastplate’ of St Patrick, 389-461
Please remember in your prayers today all those from Living Faith Church who are starting the Safe Water September challenge. A fundraiser to provide sustainable safe drinking water in Vanuatu and Zimbabwe. https://www.safewaterseptember.org.au/About
Read:
Proverbs 3:1-7. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
My son, do not forget my teaching,
but keep my commands in your heart,
2for they will prolong your life many years
and bring you peace and prosperity.
3Let love and faithfulness never leave you;
bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.
4Then you will win favour and a good name
in the sight of God and man.
5Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
7Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
(Proverbs 3:1-7 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
The first 7 chapters of Proverbs reads as a father passing down his wisdom to his son. This reads as a very gendered monologue set in the culture of its time but that does not mean it is devoid of value for us. ‘Leaning on your own’ understanding can refer to every society’s view that it is smarter, wiser, and more civilised than all who came before whether the generation including one’s parents or as long ago as bronze age Israelites. A self-satisfied arrogance prevents a person (or community) from recognising hard won insights and wisdom, or the possibility that God visited them with a gift that is also meant for us.
What wisdom did you find today? How will you integrate it into your life?
God of hope
(Devotion edited by Ros McDonald)
Image: Bibbulmun Track, WA, Wayne McDonald
Prayer:
Life-giving God,
you long for us to be agents of hope, sowing seeds of hope.
Yet at times in the midst of uncertainty
we lose sight of who and what we are called to be and do.
Life-giving God,
give us open hearts, minds and lives.
Breathe new life into us so we may arise anew.
May we stretch our wings and soar on the winds of the Spirit,
carried by your grace and liberating hope.
(Sourced from Abundant Grace Liberating Hope, 2018)
Read:
Jeremiah 32: selected verses
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of Judah.
Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ‘Your cousin is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.’”
I knew that this was the word of the Lord; so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver.
This is what the Lord says: You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague it will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon’; but this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
Thought for the day:
Our passage today is set around 590BCE during a time of war, famine and plague. Whilst Jerusalem is being besieged by Babylon, Jeremiah has been placed in lockdown because he was predicting defeat. Even so, in a lull in the fighting, God told Jeremiah to buy a field outside the city walls, in land held by the enemy, promising that one day God’s people would be able to live on the land and farm it. Jeremiah purchased the land because God’s promise gave him hope that a better future would come to pass. His action helped the future to become a reality.
I like Jeremiah. He gives me courage to do something that looks silly. In the middle of stage 4 lockdown, I am training for a hike. Every day for my permitted one hour of exercise I put on my pack and boots, grab my poles, and walk around the local streets. I live in hope that there will come a time when we can travel more than 5km from our homes.
What hope-filled steps are you taking to be ready for the future God has in store?
Finish by rereading the prayer.
Proverbs , Wisdom and Choice
(Devotion edited by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
God who is with us
at our beginning and our ending,
be with us now.
Help us to find you
in the chaos of our lives.
Let your light shine in our darkness
so that we may be guided
to walk in your ways all the days of our life.
(Prayer by Ulla Monberg, in The Book of a Thousand Prayers, compiled by Angela Ashwin, Zondervan 2002)
Read:
Proverbs 2:1-12. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
2turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding—
3indeed, if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5then you will understand the fear of the Lord
and find the knowledge of God.
6For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
7He holds success in store for the upright,
he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless,
8for he guards the course of the just
and protects the way of his faithful ones.
9Then you will understand what is right and just
and fair—every good path.
10For wisdom will enter your heart,
and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
11Discretion will protect you,
and understanding will guard you.
12Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men …
(Proverbs 2:1-12 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
In verses 7-8 you might wonder how God protects, shields and guards us? How does God give us success? Is the writer suggesting that if you follow the ways of wisdom that God will pull some strings behind the scenes as a reward? That would seem out of kilter with the whole flow of these proverbial sayings. They seem to be indicating that the whole purpose of wisdom is to give you the tools to make good choices that will naturally lead to a safer and richer life. God’s involvement here in Proverbs is the source of all wisdom. God as wisdom incarnate is depicted symbolically as a confident woman in Proverbs 8.
A better safer richer life is not the result of God fixing things but as a result of listening to God in the first place and making good choices. Bearing in mind that Christ always enables us to rise up again after making pour choices, a better way is to avoid the ‘fall’ in the first place. Wisdom offers us this possibility.
Do you see gathering this sort of wisdom as practical and life enhancing?
Proverbs for You
(Devotion edited by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
O Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace.
help me in all things to rely upon your holy will.
In every hour of the day reveal your will to me.
Bless my dealings with all who surround me.
Teach me to treat all that comes to me throughout the day with peace of soul,
and with firm conviction that your will governs all.
In all my deeds and words guide my thoughts and feelings.
In unforeseen events let me not forget that all are sent by you.
Teach me to act firmly and wisely,
without embittering and embarrassing others.
Give me the strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day
with all that it shall bring.
Direct my will, teach me to pray,
pray you yourself in me. Amen.
(Prayer at the beginning of the day, Metropolitan Philaret of Moscow, 19th century)
Read:
Proverbs 1:1-7. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
1The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
3for receiving instruction in prudent behaviour,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4for giving prudence to those who are simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
6for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.
7The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
(Proverbs 1:1-7 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Here is a book which is written for a select group of readers; those who would like to become wise. Is that you? If you could gain wisdom and understanding about one thing in your life right now, what would that one thing be? Ask God for the wisdom you need.
Our Jewish Family
(Devotion edited by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
O God,
You desire truth in the inmost heart;
forgive me my sins against truth- the untruth within me, the half lies, the evasions, the exaggerations, the lying silences, the self-deceits, the masks I wear before the world.
Let me stand naked before you, and see myself as I really am.
Then grant me truth in the inward parts and keep me in truth always. Amen
(George Appleton c. 1902-93. Adapted in The Book of a Thousand Prayers, compiled by Angela Ashwin, Zondervan 2002))
Read:
Romans 9:1-5. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
(Romans 9:1-5 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Does it surprise you that the early Christians all thought of themselves as Jews? The battles over whether Jesus was the Messiah of the Jews was all considered an internal squabble. Why don’t we see the faithful Jewish people (as opposed to secular Jews) as followers with us of Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jesus.
What do you make of Paul’s distress about them missing out on all the benefits that Christ brings? Have you ever felt that way about anyone? Willing to give up you salvation if it meant they could be saved instead?
Has this passage shifted anything in your thinking? If so, what might change in your life?
Feeling Small
(Devotion edited by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
All beings pay you homage,
those that think and those that cannot.
The universal desire, the groaning of all creation aspires towards you.
Towards you all beings that can read your universe raise a hymn of silence.
The movement of the universe surges towards you;
of all beings you are the goal,
you who are beyond all things.
(Gregory of Nazianus c. 330-389AD )
Read:
Mark 4:30-32. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
Again he said, “What shall we say the kingdom of God is like, or what parable shall we use to describe it? It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade.”
(Mark 4:30-32 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
We are in a world that assumes being small and overlooked is the same as being powerless. Jesus refutes this. With his handful of mostly illiterate followers in a poor occupied, irrelevant country, he defies the world of power-men, money and might. God’s growth takes place where the powerful are not looking; amongst the so-called ‘little’ people. The most natural thing in the world is for the little seed to grow.
In serving God, have you ever felt little and ineffectual? Perhaps there is good news in here for you today.
Strengthening God
(Devotion edited by Ros McDonald)
Image: Giant Tingle trees, Valley of Giants, W.A., Wayne McDonald
Prayer: Cascade through us
You, Spirit-Friend, who are the light of the dreary and the life of the weary, rise up within us this day!
Leap up like the sun over dark valleys and enlighten both our path and our minds.
Surge up like the springtime sap in vines and enliven our hands for fruiting and our spirit for loving.
You, Spirit-Friend, who are older than the beginning and younger than the end, cascade through us with your light and life until we spill over with wonder, love and praise.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Sourced from Jesus our Future, Bruce Prewer, 1998)
Read:
Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)
Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Thought for the day:
Isaiah is writing to a people who have grown weary in their faith. Instead of judgement, here God gives them a word of encouragement, reminding them of the strength that comes from faith in the “everlasting God, Creator of the ends of the earth”. Many of us are weary from living in lockdown and all that means for us. May we draw strength today from the encouraging words in the bible, and from prayer.
Finish by rereading the prayer.
Wisdom
(Devotion edited by Graeme Harrison)
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the love that follows me through all my days. Thank you that you inform my mind with your truth and you strengthen my will with your grace. I thank you for every evidence of your Spirit’s leading as you reveal your purpose for my life.
Dear Father make me a human channel through which your divine love and grace flows.
Adapted from Busy People and Private Prayers by John Baillie. Used with permission from publisher., David Clarkson. 2014
(Quoted in LFC Elders Prayer Diary 3)
Read:
Romans 12:9-16. Read this 3 times, each time asking God’s help and thinking about those words or phrases that leap out at you.
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
(Romans 12:9-16 NIV)
Thought for the Day:
Paul collects a grab bag of insights describing what it is like to live the Christian life in the world he lived in.
If it was you passing on wisdom to a new Christian about how to live as a follower of Christ in Australia in 2020, what might be on your list?