Daily Devotional For Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Good morning and good day Southside! Today, we start reading the Proverbs of Solomon in the One Year Chronological Bible. Proverbs 1:2-7 give us the biblical purpose of the Proverbs:
“Their purpose is to teach people wisdom and discipline, to help them understand the insights of the wise. (3) Their purpose is to teach people to live disciplined and successful lives, to help them do what is right, just, and fair. (4) These proverbs will give insight to the simple, knowledge and discernment to the young. (5) Let the wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. Let those with understanding receive guidance (6) by exploring the meaning in these proverbs and parables, the words of the wise and their riddles. (7) Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline” (NLT).
One of the best reasons to read and study Proverbs is that all of us need more biblical, ethical and godly advice on how to live in this sinful world. We don’t need more information; we need God’s wisdom. When we have God’s wisdom, we have the understanding to know both how the world works, how to live in it, which helps us to come more alive and experience that abundant life Jesus promised us in John 10:10.
Early church father Eranaeus (125-202 AD) once said this, “The glory of God is man fully alive” (Source: Quoted in Donald G. Bloesch, A Theology of Word and Spirit, p. 127). Proverbs 2 warns us about sin and how to avoid it. Proverbs 3 reveals to us that a life of God’s wisdom is prosperous and long. Unfortunately, some pagan (ex. Joel Osteen, Benny Hinn, Joyce Meyer, Clefo Dollar, & Kenneth Copeland) in the “prosperity Gospel” group have taken this to mean a “health and wealth” lifestyle. Their motto is, “name it and claim it.”
I do not mind bursting your bubble here. There is no such thing in Scripture of a prosperity Gospel. In fact, just the opposite appears. Jesus referred to how poor He was when He was here in Matthew 8:20. And these pagan preachers also seem to ignore Paul’s words about himself in Philippians 3:7-11. To me such pagan preachers live by the character Gordon Gekko in the movie Wallstreet who says this:
“Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms. Greed for life, money, love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind” (Source: Gordon Gekko).
This is why we must also set our hearts on the Giver, not the gift. A former atheist and now Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis writes:
“The settled happiness and security which we all desire, God withholds from us by the very nature of the world; but joy, pleasure and merriment he has scattered broadcast. We are never safe, but we have plenty of fun, and some ecstasy. It is not hard to see why. The security we all crave would teach us to rest our hearts in this world and oppose an obstacle to our return to God; a few moments of happy love, a landscape, a symphony, a merry meeting with our friends, a bath or a football match, have no such tendency. Our Father refreshes us on the journey with some pleasant inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home” (Source: C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, p. 115).
We live in a culture that is obsessed with obsessing us with idols of materialism, money, possessions, power, prestige, position and people. None of us are immune to this, even the best of us. We are hit multiple times a day with ads and commercials attempting to convince us our lives are bad and incomplete because we do not have this product and if we do, not the latest model of it. We live in a culture of idols. Proverbs 3 warns us about the dangers of these. In Proverbs 3 wisdom is asking, “Are you paying attention to me? My biblical teaching will lead you to a life of peace and contentment.”
All of us have to ask ourselves, “Is the idol of the American dream working for us?” Or is it misleading you? As you reach for it, does it seem to move more out of reach with more false promises? In Mark Rutherford’s novel, The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane, he writes this: “If your religion doesn’t help you, it is no religion for you; you had better be without it” (Source: Mark Rutherford, The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane, p. 266). Meaning whatever has your attention, has you. If the idol of the American dream has penetrated your heart, this idol has already become a life-robbing idol. That is the thief Jesus talked about above in John 10:10 and his purpose.
This is why Solomon in the Proverbs tells us to stay alert. It is his way of mirroring the robot’s warning in the classic TV show, Lost In Space, when danger was around: “Danger Will Robinson. Danger.” When we forget our relationship to Christ, this does not release us into freedom, but into false theology. This results in spiritual pain. Our main problem is not our wandering wills, but our false beliefs. We accept these false beliefs as truth and they lead us down a dangerous path spiritually. Why? Our minds give credit to lies. Old Testament scholar Raymond C. Ortlund writes this:
“So much American religion makes us the immovable ones, the center around which God orbits. American religion is not about us changing and repenting and adjusting to who God is. It is about God making us feel better about ourselves without our having to change” (Source: Raymond C. Ortlune, Preaching the Word: Proverbs—Wisdom that Works, p. 62).
Shouldn’t we want to change so that we become more like Christ and less like our culture? This is what gives us confidence. Our confidence is not in the Proverbs themselves, but in Christ. We will look at this more tomorrow. God bless.
Reflection Assignment: Take a moment and reflect on your idols. If you are unsure, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal them to you. Have you ever thought the “American Dream” can be an idol? Why or why not? Why do you think the “health & wealth” preachers are successful with their lies? What beliefs in your past did you hold as true, but came to realize they were false? What did you learn from this?
Scripture To Meditate On: Proverbs 1:7, "Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, please forgive me when I at times are ungrateful with what You have already given me. Forgive if at any time I have wanted a god who makes me feel better about myself. Lord, I need Your wisdom. Please give it to me. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly