Tag Archives: riches

I die devotionals, Nathan Dooley

Honor the LORD from your wealth And from the first of all your produce | P3-V9

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The Rewards of Wisdom

Proverbs 3; I die daily devotional.

 9 Honor the LORD from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;

“Our Father in Heaven … Holy … is Your Name.” When we look from the ground to the stars, the mirror to our scars; the idea of wealth feels real when the value is us. The first of our produce should be a prayer in faith, to God. The value that produces currency, is not money; it’s belief. And so the next time you read the letters on a dollar bill, take notice how we’ve went from “IN GOD WE TRUST” to ‘DIGITAL‘ because that precious reminder of trusting God is long past due. The first of every breath, every thought, every experience, is to honor our Lord and Savior, Christ the Son of God, Jesus. It could be that our children become leaders of the most wealthy on the face of the planet, every person subject to their wisdom, their every decision, but if they have not God? All of the achievements to success and wealth will have amounted to a debt of eternal hell. I thank God for the prayer of grace that has been ever present at the work of the cross, the heart of God; grace that stretches from the eternal east to the eternal west—Gen 3:24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. Jesus is our tree of life. There is no amount of wealth that will buy belief, it’s a matter of faith, it is the gift of God in Jesus Christ that canonizes our relationship to God our Father in Heaven (not the Roman Catholic Church or any other Church than the One Jesus said, and upon this rock I’ll build My church Mat 16:18). “Jesus, I trust you.”

RESOURCE

Proverbs 3 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments; 2 For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you. 3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4 So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man. 5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil. 8 It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD from your wealth And from the first of all your produce; 10 So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine. 11 My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD Or loathe His reproof, 12 For whom the LORD loves He reproves, Even as a father  corrects the son in whom he delights. 13 How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding. 14 For her profit is better than the profit of silver And her gain better than fine gold. 15 She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways And all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who hold her fast. 19 The LORD by wisdom founded the earth, By understanding He established the heavens. 20 By His knowledge the deeps were broken up And the skies drip with dew. 21 My son, let them not vanish from your sight; Keep sound wisdom and discretion, 22 So they will be life to your soul And adornment to your neck. 23 Then you will walk in your way securely And your foot will not stumble. 24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid; When you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. 25 Do not be afraid of sudden fear Nor of the onslaught of the wicked when it comes; 26 For the LORD will be your confidence And will keep your foot from being caught. 27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it. 28 Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it, ”When you have it with you. 29 Do not devise harm against your neighbor, While he lives securely beside you. 30 Do not contend with a man without cause, If he has done you no harm. 31 Do not envy a man of violence And do not choose any of his ways. 32 For the devious are an abomination to the LORD; But He is intimate with the upright. 33 The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the dwelling of the righteous. 34 Though He scoffs at the scoffers, Yet He gives grace to the afflicted. 35 The wise will inherit honor, But fools  display dishonor.

COMMENTARY

Chapter 3

Matthew Henry (P3-V9) Commentary
II. We must make a good use of our estates, and that is the way to increase them, v. 9, 10. Here is,

  • 1. A precept which makes it our duty to serve God with our estates: Honour the Lord with thy substance. It is the end of our creation and redemption to honour God, to be to him for a name and a praise; we are no other way capable of serving him than in his honour. His honour we must show forth and the honour we have for him. We must honour him, not only with our bodies and spirits which are his, but with our estates too, for they also are his: we and all our appurtenances must be devoted to his glory. Worldly wealth is but poor substance, yet, such as it is, we must honour God with it, and then, if ever, it becomes substantial. We must honour God,
    • (1.) With our increase. Where riches increase we are tempted to honour ourselves (Deu. 8:17) and to set our hearts upon the world (Ps. 62:10); but the more God gives us the more we should study to honour him. It is meant of the increase of the earth, for we live upon annual products, to keep us in constant dependence on God.
    • (2.) With all our increase. As God has prospered us in every thing, we must honour him. Our law will allow a prescription for a modus decimandi-a mode of tithing, but none de non decimando-for exemption from paying tithes.
    • (3.) With the first-fruits of all, as Abel, Gen. 4:4. This was the law (Ex. 23:19), and the prophets, Mal. 3:10. God, who is the first and best, must have the first and best of every thing; his right is prior to all other, and therefore he must be served first. Note, It is our duty to make our worldly estates serviceable to our religion, to use them and the interest we have by them for the promoting of religion, to do good to the poor with what we have and abound in all works of piety and charity, devising liberal things.
I die devotionals, Nathan Dooley

So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence | P1-V19

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The Enticement of Sinners

Proverbs 1; I die daily devotional.

19 So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors.

This verse reminds me of the 6th commandment—Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder.—in parallel to what Jesus said, Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, ‘You good-for-nothing,’ shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

GAINS BY VIOLENCE

The gain is a fiery hell. Anger is a powerful emotion, powerful enough to convict us of murder before the court with a verdict – guilty. Where there is anger in the heart against a person, there is violence, and that violence makes us guilty before the court of God. This can be difficult to accept let alone hear; as one speaking from experience, especially when thinking upon the person of faith that abused me and my family, in the past. I, personally, was guilty of this sin of murder—not like actually murdering someone, but—by the violence in my heart to hate and desire punishment for that person who did us wrong, and still has yet to make it right (in my opinion). But there is a couple verses later in our proverbs (that we won’t see until October of 2022), that have helped me process the necessary change in my heart about this unresolved past offense. I’ve learned to trust in the vengeance of our Lord with that person 1 Timothy 1:20“…whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme“; yet hoping for mercy upon that person, as much as mercy would be extended upon me or anyone else guilty of murder. I pray that our understanding of justice will reconcile us to God—in the name of Christ our Lord, Jesus.

Proverbs 24:17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; 18 Or the LORD will see it and be displeased, And turn His anger away from him.

  • Have I committed murder?
  • Am I guilty of anger toward anyone?
  • Do I trust in the vengeance of the Lord?
  • Have I accepted responsibility for my sin?
  • Will I confess my sin of anger?
  • Lord, will you please forgive me, and help me?

RESOURCE

Proverbs 1 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naïve, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.  8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching; 9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause; 12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; 13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil; 14 Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse,” 15 My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, 16 For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood. 17 Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird; 18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. 19 So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors. Wisdom Warns 20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; 21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: 22 “How long, O naïve ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? 23  “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 24 “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30 “They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices. 32 “For the waywardness of the naïve will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. 33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

COMMENTARY

Matthew Henry (P1-V19) Commentary
Herein,

  • (1.) They are like the silly bird, that sees the net spread to take her, and yet it is in vain; she is decoyed into it by the bait, and will not take the warning which her own eyes gave her, v. 17. But we think ourselves of more value than many sparrows, and therefore should have more wit, and act with more caution. God has made us wiser than the fowls of heaven (Job 35:11), and shall we then be as stupid as they?
  • (2.) They are worse than the birds, and have not the sense which we sometimes perceive them to have; for the fowler knows it is in vain to lay his snare in the sight of the bird, and therefore he has arts to conceal it. But the sinner sees ruin at the end of his way; the murderer, the thief, see the jail and the gallows before them, nay, they may see hell before them; their watchmen tell them they shall surely die, but it is to no purpose; they rush into sin, and rush on in it, like the horse into the battle. For really the stone they roll will turn upon themselves, v. 18, 19. They lay wait, and lurk privily, for the blood and lives of others, but it will prove, contrary to their intention, to be for their own blood, their own lives; they will come, at length, to a shameful end; and, if they escape the sword of the magistrate, yet there is a divine Nemesis that pursues them. Vengeance suffers them not to live. Their greediness of gain hurries them upon those practices which will not suffer them to live out half their days, but will cut off the number of their months in the midst. They have little reason to be proud of their property in that which takes away the life of the owners and then passes to other masters; and what is a man profited, though he gain the world, if he lose his life? For then he can enjoy the world no longer; much less if he lose his soul, and that be drowned in destruction and perdition, as multitudes are by the love of money.
I die devotionals, Nathan Dooley

Find all kinds of precious wealth | P1-V13

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The Enticement of Sinners

Proverbs 1; I die daily devotional.

13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil;

If you have not watched “THE LORD OF THE RINGS” and “THE HOBBIT” trilogies, it will be quite the adventure if you do. Let me give a little insight as to the relevance.

There is a character by the name of Smeagol, who finds a precious gold ring, and by it becomes possessed by this dark evil power. The evil ring “blesses” Smeagol with extraordinarily long life, but it consumes him. Smeagol was a normal person (or Hobbit), but the ring, over time, literally transformed him, his body, into an unidentifiable harmless creature. The person that was once Smeagol became… “Gollum”. Gollum crept his way into the deep darkness of the Misty Mountains, keeping hidden this ring of evil power he called, “my Precious”, until… well… you’ll have to watch the trilogies.

MY PRECIOUS

What happened to Smeagol, or rather, Gollum, at the end of the story is what happens to those who are described by our verse—We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil. Those who’ve placed their hope in precious pleasures to experience in this life forfeit their own soul, becoming possessed by an idea that deludes them into their fate of what it means to be evil. They become the outcome of the Ring-bearer, which ultimately, ends in death, despair, and alone to burn—forever.

  • What in this life describes for you, “my Precious?”
  • Are you enticing people away from the gospel?
  • Does your character reflect Jesus Christ?
  • Are you possessed by sin?
  • Will you let go of the “ring”?

RECOURSE

Proverbs 1 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel: 2 To know wisdom and instruction, To discern the sayings of understanding, 3 To receive instruction in wise behavior, Righteousness, justice and equity; 4 To give prudence to the naïve, To the youth knowledge and discretion, 5 A wise man will hear and increase in learning, And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel, 6 To understand a proverb and a figure, The words of the wise and their riddles. 7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.  8 Hear, my son, your father’s instruction And do not forsake your mother’s teaching; 9 Indeed, they are a graceful wreath to your head And ornaments about your neck. 10 My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. 11 If they say, “Come with us, Let us lie in wait for blood, Let us ambush the innocent without cause; 12 Let us swallow them alive like Sheol, Even whole, as those who go down to the pit; 13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth, We will fill our houses with spoil; 14 Throw in your lot with us, We shall all have one purse,” 15 My son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, 16 For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood. 17 Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird; 18 But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives. 19 So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors. Wisdom Warns 20 Wisdom shouts in the street, She lifts her voice in the square; 21 At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; At the entrance of the gates in the city she utters her sayings: 22 “How long, O naïve ones, will you love being simple-minded? And scoffers delight themselves in scoffing And fools hate knowledge? 23  “Turn to my reproof, Behold, I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you. 24 “Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention; 25 And you neglected all my counsel And did not want my reproof; 26 I will also laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your dread comes, 27 When your dread comes like a storm And your calamity comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently but they will not find me, 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD. 30 “They would not accept my counsel, They spurned all my reproof. 31 “So they shall eat of the fruit of their own way And be satiated with their own devices. 32 “For the waywardness of the naïve will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them. 33 “But he who listens to me shall live securely And will be at ease from the dread of evil.”

COMMENTARY

Matthew Henry (P1-V13) Commentary
Here Solomon gives another general rule to young people, in order to their finding out, and keeping in, the paths of wisdom, and that is to take heed of the snare of bad company. David’s psalms begin with this caution, and so do Solomon’s proverbs; for nothing is more destructive, both to a lively devotion and to a regular conversation (v. 10): “My son, whom I love, and have a tender concern for, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.’ This is good advice for parents to give their children when they send them abroad into the world; it is the same that St. Peter gave to his new converts, (Acts 2:40), Save yourselves from this untoward generation. Observe,

  • 1. How industrious wicked people are to seduce others into the paths of the destroyer: they will entice. Sinners love company in sin; the angels that fell were tempters almost as soon as they were sinners. They do not threaten or argue, but entice with flattery and fair speech; with a bait they draw the unwary young man to the hook. But they mistake if they think that by bringing others to partake with them in their guilt, and to be bound, as it were, in the bond with them, they shall have the less to pay themselves; for they will have so much the more to answer for.
  • 2. How cautious young people should be that they be not seduced by them: “Consent thou not; and then, though they entice thee, they cannot force thee. Do not say as they say, nor do as they do or would have thee to do; have no fellowship with them.’ To enforce this caution,
    • I. He represents the fallacious reasonings which sinners use in their enticements, and the arts of wheedling which they have for the beguiling of unstable souls. He specifies highwaymen, who do what they can to draw others into their gang, v. 11-14. See here what they would have the young man to do: “Come with us (v. 11); let us have thy company.’ At first they pretend to ask no more; but the courtship rises higher (v. 14): “Cast in thy lot among us; come in partner with us, join thy force to ours, and let us resolve to live and die together: thou shalt fare as we fare; and let us all have one purse, that what we get together we may spend merrily together,’ for that is it they aim at. Two unreasonable insatiable lusts they propose to themselves the gratification of, and therewith entice their pray into the snare:-
      • 1. Their cruelty. They thirst after blood, and hate those that are innocent and never gave them any provocation, because by their honesty and industry they shame and condemn them: “Let us therefore lay wait for their blood, and lurk privily for them; they are conscious to themselves of no crime and consequently apprehensive of no danger, but travel unarmed; therefore we shall make the more easy prey of them. And, O how sweet it will be to swallow them up alive!’ v. 12. These bloody men would do this as greedily as the hungry lion devours the lamb. If it be objected, “The remains of the murdered will betray the murderers;’ they answer, “No danger of that; we will swallow them whole as those that are buried.’ Who could imagine that human nature should degenerate so far that it should ever be a pleasure to one man to destroy another!
      • 2. Their covetousness. They hope to get a good booty by it (v. 13): “We shall find all precious substance by following this trade. What though we venture our necks by it? we shall fill our houses with spoil.’ See here,
        • (1.) The idea they have of worldly wealth. They call it precious substance; whereas it is neither substance nor precious; it is a shadow; it is vanity, especially that which is got by robbery, Ps. 62:10. It is as that which is not, which will give a man no solid satisfaction. It is cheap, it is common, yet, in their account, it is precious, and therefore they will hazard their lives, and perhaps their souls, in pursuit of it. It is the ruining mistake of thousands that they over-value the wealth of this world and look on it as precious substance.
        • (2.) The abundance of it which they promise themselves: We shall fill our houses with it. Those who trade with sin promise themselves mighty bargains, and that it will turn to a vast account (All this will I give thee, says the tempter); but they only dream that they eat; the housefuls dwindle into scarcely a handful, like the grass on the house-tops.