#17 2016 Devotional Prov.16:3. The purpose of these devotionals is to draw closer to God by memorizing selected passages of Scripture. Further, to view the passage in context and grow spiritually by applying His Word to our daily living with family, friends and others. All passages are taken from the NIV.
Proverbs 16:9
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
Proverbs 16 is part of a large section of individual two line proverbs not always connected one to the other, often the thoughts expressed are antithetical. It is a large section starting at Ch. 10 through Chapter 22. Chapter 16 is about the inability of man to control his destiny and the control of God in the affairs of men. The chapter is framed in two verses v.1 and v. 33, God gives the answer to man’s inner thoughts and He directs the visible attempts to find one’s way.
The first 9 verses are about the Lord working out the courses of our lives. For those who follow Jesus we trust the leading of the Holy Spirit, we make decisions informed by our faith.
Verses 10-15 form a unit, the King here seems to be in the place of the Lord. The proverbs are connected and are about the acceptable actions of men; practice justice, honesty and righteousness. The King speaks words to the wise.
Verses 16-32 continue with the values the King commands: wisdom, guard your way, be humble, trust in God, and speak gracious words of healing.
At verse 27-30 there is antitheses: plotting evil, causing conflict, promoting violence and perversity. Verse 31-32 brings us back to the values of the King: righteousness and patience.
We turn to the verse for the week, verse 9. People have dreams and desires, we plan, we work hard towards goals and benchmarks. We all want to be successful but often our success is measured by, or at the very least influenced by the values of the world. As followers of Jesus what should be our course in this life? How should we measure success? Scripture teaches that all meaningful and honest work done in the name of Jesus is acceptable to God. It becomes successful when done in the Spirit intentionally and obviously not financially successful, not quantitative but measured spiritually.
The second part of the verse is about God’s guidance, His will is done in our lives. There is is a delicate balance in our lives where God’s will and our dreams and desirers informed by our faith coalesce. What a blessing when we are in God’s will, it is as verse 20 teaches: “Whoever gives heed to instruction, prospers, and blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.” Praise be to God!
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