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I die devotionals, Nathan Dooley

For if you cry for discernment | P2-V3

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The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

Proverbs 2; I die daily devotional.

3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding;

DISCERNMENT

For if you cry for discernment… how amazing it is that our bodies can cry for something as though there is Someone else on the other side?

Well, and because … God is!

When these bodies, our human bodies—no more than vessels that consist of flesh and blood, innocent in and of themselves—are tested and tried by the forces of good and evil, principalities and powers that mean to destroy our lives, react to the spirits of those who possess them, will one day testify and reveal the true nature of the person he or she once was … on that great and terrible day of the Lord come (Joel 2:11,31).

So the eyes fill with tears, legs give way, knees crash to the ground, the human body … defeated.

But what is the language of our cry?

Is it a cry for discernment or a cry in hatred against God?

LIFT YOUR VOICE

Lift your voice for understanding… how amazing it is that our bodies are designed to speak. We have voices to inquire the knowledge of God, but how do we inquire? With respect—the fear of the Lord?

Our bodies are defeated in sin, the innocence of blood cries out! But the spirit says to God… “Am I my body’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:6-13) Yes! Or do we not know that our bodies are the temples of the living God (2 Corinthians 6:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19)?

So we need to lift up our voices for understanding:

“Help me, God, a sinner, have mercy on me; please Father, help me understand!”

Discipline is not meant to be soft, but to give understanding in righteousness. And to be righteous requires much discipline, even to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Are we carrying our crosses?

Our death was defeated at the cross of Christ, and the sin of the world was taken away by the blood of Christ.

Our soul and spirit are redeemed in Jesus Christ, so wipe your tears, strengthen your legs, and rise; praise God…

lets go!

No enemy has power over you, so don’t fear, don’t be afraid, and practice righteousness! God keeps His promises in the name of His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ. Lift up your voice in faith and believe, then move on, we have souls to save!

Lets go Church!

Amen.

  • Why do you think its important we cry for discernment?
  • What do you learn as you talk to God about discernment (write down your inspirations).
  • When you lift up your voice for understanding, what is the condition of your heart when you do?
  • Where are you when you pray and ask for understanding (track the layers of understanding you mature upon by journaling)?

RECOURCE

[BP]

Proverbs 2 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; 3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. 9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, 12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; 15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; 16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; 17 That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God; 18 For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead; 19 None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. 20 So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; 22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.

COMMENTARY

Matthew Henry (P2-V3) Commentary
2. We must be much in prayer, v. 3. We must cry after knowledge, as one that is ready to perish for hunger begs hard for bread. Faint desires will not prevail; we must be importunate, as those that know the worth of knowledge and our own want of it. We must cry, as new-born babes, after the sincere milk of the word. 1 Pt. 2:2. We must lift our voice for understanding lift it up to heaven; thence these good and perfect gifts must be expected, Jam. 1:17; Job 38:34. We must give our voice to understanding (so the word is), speak for it, vote for it, submit the tongue to the command of wisdom. We must consecrate our voice to it; having applied our heart to it, we must employ our voice in seeking for it. Solomon could write probatum est-a tried remedy, upon this method; he prayed for wisdom and so obtained it.

I die devotionals, Nathan Dooley

My son if you receive my words | P2-V1

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The Pursuit of Wisdom Brings Security

Proverbs 2; I die daily devotional.

1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you,

I love the language of promise this verse speaks; my son, if you will receive my words. I mean do you hear the confidence and truth by those words? The option is presented to us as we hear these words, and we can test them on family and friends to see how they respond. I think we’ll be surprised. I think we’ll learn by the attitude and behavior of those who hear this verse whether they’ve received these words or not, but I think the more challenging inquiry will be whether family and friends have treasured them; treasure my commandments within you.

RECEIVE AND TREASURE

Any one of us can say that, “Yah… I’ve received these words. I know the commandments by heart and believe Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.” But what if you know a person that will confess this and yet behave in a way contrary to the confession … it becomes a contradiction … no?

But see, whether the words have come to your ears through holy men or a broken vessel, the words themselves remain pure and true to that power they belong of—the Word of God.

So if we are going to receive these words, we must see past the human flesh to the Spirit of God; Philippians 2:12 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

We are in absence of the time when the apostles walked the earth with Christ to testify of the glory of the Kingdom at hand, and the glory to come, the Son of Man. But the words of which these same apostles that lived so long ago remain today, being heard from ear to ear, until all will hear.

But the option remains, if we receive, and that is something only you can answer and behave to reflect. When we behave as though we’ve received the glory of Christ’s coming by these words Wisdom speaks, then the treasure of the commandments within will become who we are (Eph 3:6, Jas 2:5, Rom 8:17, Tit 3:7) according to promise.

  • How does this verse speak to you?
  • What does it mean to receive these words of wisdom?
  • What is the greatest commandment?
  • Why should I treasure these commandments within me?

RECOURCE

[BP]

Proverbs 2 (NASB)—blueletterbible.org
1 My son, if you will receive my words And treasure my commandments within you, 2 Make your ear attentive to wisdom, Incline your heart to understanding; 3 For if you cry for discernment, Lift your voice for understanding; 4 If you seek her as silver And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding. 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8 Guarding the paths of justice, And He preserves the way of His godly ones. 9 Then you will discern righteousness and justice And equity and every good course. 10 For wisdom will enter your heart And knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11 Discretion will guard you, Understanding will watch over you, 12 To deliver you from the way of evil, From the man who speaks perverse things; 13 From those who leave the paths of uprightness To walk in the ways of darkness; 14 Who delight in doing evil And rejoice in the perversity of evil; 15 Whose paths are crooked, And who are devious in their ways; 16 To deliver you from the strange woman, From the adulteress who flatters with her words; 17 That leaves the companion of her youth And forgets the covenant of her God; 18 For her house sinks down to death And her tracks lead to the dead; 19 None who go to her return again, Nor do they reach the paths of life. 20 So you will walk in the way of good men And keep to the paths of the righteous. 21 For the upright will live in the land And the blameless will remain in it; 22 But the wicked will be cut off from the land And the treacherous will be uprooted from it.

COMMENTARY

Chapter 2

Solomon, having foretold the destruction of those who are obstinate in their impiety, in this chapter applies himself to those who are willing to be taught; and,

  • I. He shows them that, if they would diligently use the means of knowledge and grace, they should obtain of God the knowledge and grace which they seek (v. 1-9).
  • II. He shows them of what unspeakable advantage it would be to them.
    • 1. It would preserve them from the snares of evil men (v. 10-15) and of evil women (v. 16-19).
    • 2. It would direct them into, and keep them in, the way of good men (v. 20-22).

So that in this chapter we are taught both how to get wisdom and how to use it when we have it, that we may neither seek it, nor receive it in vain.

Matthew Henry (P2-V1) Commentary
Job had asked, long before this, Where shall wisdom be found? Whence cometh wisdom? (Job 28:12, 20) and he had given this general answer (v. 23), God knoweth the place of it; but Solomon here goes further, and tells us both where we may find it and how we may get it. We are here told,

  • I. What means we must use that we may obtain wisdom.
    • 1. We must closely attend to the word of God, for that is the word of wisdom, which is able to make us wise unto salvation, v. 1, 2.
      • (1.) We must be convinced that the words of God are the fountain and standard of wisdom and understanding, and that we need not desire to be wiser than they will make us. We must incline our ear and apply our hearts to them, as to wisdom or understanding itself. Many wise things may be found in human compositions, but divine revelation, and true religion built upon it, are all wisdom.
      • (2.) We must, accordingly, receive the word of God with all readiness of mind, and bid it welcome, even the commandments as well as the promises, without murmuring or disputing. Speak, Lord, for thy servant hears.
      • (3.) We must hide them with us, as we do our treasures, which we are afraid of being robbed of. We must not only receive, but retain, the word of God, and lodge it in our hearts, that it may be always ready to us.
      • (4.) We must incline our ear to them; we must lay hold on all opportunities of hearing the word of God, and listen to it with attention and seriousness, as those that are afraid of letting it slip.
      • (5.) We must apply our hearts to them, else inclining the ear to them will stand us in no stead.