January 2, 2008

Today's Reading - Proverbs 2
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Following Scripture Verses

1. My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2. So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3. Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4. If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5. Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
7. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11. Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12. To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13. Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14. Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15. Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
16. To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17. Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18. For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19. None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20. That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21. For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22. But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Today's Pathway:
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My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; - Proverbs 2:1

Proverbs 2 opens with eight steps that a Christian needs to take in order to begin to understand Who God is. The first two are contained in today's text. The first step requires a man to receive the Word of God. This simply means to be willing to accept It. This would be accomplished through reading or hearing the Scriptures. It implies that a believer needs to put himself in a position where he can read and hear the Bible. He needs to be under Bible teaching and preaching in a New Testament church, and he needs to be spending time regularly in the Word of God on his own. Of course, in the bigger picture, a person needs to do more than accept the Bible with his senses; he needs to accept it with his mind and heart. Turning pages in the Bible without attempting to understand It's content, or day-dreaming in a church service, is not sufficient to satisfy the demands of this principle.

Step two involves internalizing the Scripture. We are to hide Its commandments with us. This means that we hear them, know them, and memorize them. If we complete our daily devotions, but have not been challenged or changed by the Word, or worse yet do not even remember what we read, what good did it do to spend the time reading? Psalm 1:2 says this of the blessed man:

"But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night".

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."

Spend time in the Word, and then let the Word spend time in you.

Pastor Mark J Montgomery