Written by Chuck Swindoll, these encouraging devotional thoughts are published seven days per week.
Read Proverbs 19:21
King Nebuchadnezzar enjoyed the kind of power and privilege no single human had ever experienced. He built an empire that eventually swallowed two other great civilizations, Assyria and Egypt. At the time, no one man controlled more of the world than he. According to the man’s written testimony, Nebuchadnezzar became intoxicated by his own wealth and power. His position as the most powerful man on earth gave him a skewed perspective on life and the world.
Read Proverbs 21:1
Some people find the concept of God’s ultimate and complete sovereignty a little unsettling. Let’s face it, we like our autonomy; we find comfort in calling our own shots. Even so, the wise men of Israel, writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit, affirmed God’s ultimate authority to administer the world as He sees fit and regardless of human will:
The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD;He turns it wherever He wishes. (21:1)
Read Proverbs 10:3, 29
Since our generation so admires human ingenuity and worldly wisdom, we tend to give people praise that only God deserves.
Read Proverbs 9:10–11
At first glance this list of Old Testament proverbs may appear like a hodgepodge of random thoughts. A closer look, however, reveals a common theme we tend to overlook or ignore, and that is the theme of God’s absolute sovereignty over His creation. By sovereignty, I mean God’s right as the King of the universe to rule as He sees fit—without question, limitation, accountability, or resistance.
Read Proverbs 22:17–18
Read Proverbs 7:2–3
Solomon recognized a tragic truth about humanity: we desperately want to do things our own way, and we hate being told what to do. As the prophet Isaiah wrote, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6 NIV 1984). So Solomon urged his sons to avoid mistakes he had made, encouraging them to heed God’s Word and to make obedience a lifelong habit.
Read Proverbs 6:20–23
Solomon offered several insights about the value of placing God’s Word at the centre of our lives. Let’s begin with Proverbs 4:4, where the wise king recalled the instruction of his own father, David:
Then he taught me and said to me,“Let your heart hold fast my words;Keep my commandments and live.”
Read Proverbs 6:20–23
Yesterday I stressed the value of memorizing God’s Word and talked about how doing so has benefited me in practical ways throughout the years. Memorization, however, is only one of many ways to interact with Scripture.
Read Proverbs 4:4
Few things are more obvious and alarming in our times than biblical illiteracy. Even though the human mind can absorb an enormous amount of information, mental laziness remains a scandalous and undeniable trend in popular culture and even within the church. Fewer people than ever know the most basic contents of the Bible, and that was not the case until roughly 50 years ago.
Read Proverbs 3:1–6
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