Home > Work > God's Wisdom for Navigating Life: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Book of Proverbs
1 " You are loved for Christ’s sake, not because your heart and life are perfect. "
― Timothy J. Keller , God's Wisdom for Navigating Life: A Year of Daily Devotions in the Book of Proverbs
2 " Prayer: Lord, I praise you—though with fear and trembling—that you are the judge of all the earth. Deliver me from the temptation to want to sit in judgment on certain people. I cannot see into anyone’s heart or into their past enough to know what they deserve. Help me put these matters into your hands. Amen. "
3 " Salvation is not merely forgiveness and admission to heaven. It means life is healed, slowly but surely, in all its dimensions. "
4 " To become wise is to become a disciplined person, given not to impulsiveness but to self-examination, to circumspection, and to clear thinking. "
5 " ANNOYANCE. Conflict (Hebrew madon) in Proverbs does not refer to principled disagreements or respectful arguments. It is something God hates (6: 19) and at the heart of conflict is annoyance, a word that means contempt and disdain between people. Everything said in conflict is to belittle rather than convince. "
6 " Idolatries of the heart lead to foolishness in the life. "
7 " Lord, I don’t like some of the things I find taught in the Bible. I don’t like some of the ways you arrange the circumstances of my life. I confess I don’t even like the doctrine of grace—I’d rather earn my salvation so you owe me. In all these ways I refuse to let you be God. Forgive me. Amen. "
8 " Work and achievement, without the peace of God in our lives through the Spirit, will never be enough. "
9 " Those who have nothing can share nothing; those who are going nowhere can have no fellow travelers. "
10 " Change my heart so I can walk in your footsteps. Amen. "
11 " Lord Jesus, you answered your opponents wisely and brilliantly but patiently and constantly. How I want to give back to my critics—with verve—the same disdain they show me. But I want to be like you, not them. Change my heart to make it so. Amen. "
12 " This kind of foolishness is gullibility. “The simple believe anything” (14:15). They are too easily led and influenced. Like children, they may be overimpressed by the spectacular and dramatic, or they may need approval too much and so be taken in by forceful personalities who give it to them. They will support dictatorial leaders who promise them peace and prosperity. They can be intellectually lazy, not wanting to ponder and think out a matter. They are also likely to fall for get-rich-quick schemes (12:11). "
13 " While anger is not a sin in and of itself, it should be a passing thing, directed without excess to solve a problem, resulting in calm at the end (29:11). In the same way, God’s anger is for a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime (Psalm 30:5). "
14 " When we believe the gospel, the barriers of pride that divide us are taken away (Ephesians 2:14–16), and the lonely are put into families (Psalm 68:6; John 1:12–13). Salvation leads toward more and deeper relationships but sin toward being alone. "
15 " We have too much faith in our technology and our democratic institutions, and we are conditioned by our secular, materialistic culture to seek most of our happiness in fragile things like good looks, wealth, and pleasure. "
16 " Are you withholding your full trust in God until you get an explanation for some bad thing that happened to you? In light of Jesus’ undeserved suffering for you, are you willing to let go of that demand and commit your way to him? "
17 " Pride is an all-around evil. “Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind. "
18 " How do common phrases like “You have to always be true to yourself” create false worldviews that seem completely self-evident to people? "
19 " We can’t overcome workaholism if we love money and status too much. We can’t overcome bitterness or slander if we love our reputation too much. It is not just willpower but a reordering of our desires that will bring wisdom. "
20 " The more we take God out of the picture, the more we will feel things are meaningless. "