Insightful Musings on the Scripturesby
Ray Sparre, NU class of '67
Ray has a wealth of experience as a Husband, Father, Pastor, Missionary, and student of the Word. He believes and practices his faith where the rubber meets the road. You'll find his writings to be practical, insightful, and grounded in a truly Christ-centered world view.
Below are links to a printable daily Bible reading guide which Ray has followed, and an archive of all his daily devotional writings for 2010 and 2011.
| Daily Reading Guide | 2011 Devotion Archives | 2010 Devotion Archives |
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27 Feb 11
Greetings, special people.
It’s now 2:19pm. I did this composition this morning, but didn’t have time to get it off. We’ve been to church, ate lunch, then I got in a few minutes of nap. Now we need to prepare for our little sing thing at Pheasant Pointe. After that I need to roll to Dallas, OR, to pick up my 8-year-old granddaughter, Samara, and take her to dinner—in follow up of a birthday promise. Whew! Fun!
Be blessed…as you follow the recipe for blessing.
Love, Dad/Ray
27 February 2011
Proverbs 27
Focus: “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” Proverbs 27:12.
The first definition listed in my dictionary for the word “prudent” is this: “Using good judgment or common sense in handling practical matters.” I would assume that we all have a desire to be characterized by that description. But there sure is a broad range of individuality in how prudence is applied. In fact some would likely judge my version of prudence as imprudent—and visa versa.
I’m inclined to equate the word “danger” with “risk.” I already know I’m kind of a strange one, but here is evidence of some of my general internal wiring: I’d rather take the risk of taking a well-planned risk than to risk the consequences of not taking it. Does that make any sense? It does to me. How could I ever know whether or not I can do something if I don’t try it? How could I ever know what would happen if I do this or that if I don’t do it? I judge that my prudence and refuge is more contained within my planning and calculating than in my total avoidance of anything risky. In fact, totally avoiding risks strikes me as risky.
Just living here is risky. There are dangers looming on our horizon from all kinds of angles. I sense that there is a kind of frenzy going on in our society right now—worry and fear over the economic, disease, international, terrorist, nuclear, criminal, etc. threats escalating all around us. It wasn’t that long ago that our nation was on an economic roll—business was booming—but not now! “If you don’t buy gold now, you will be financially destitute when the bottom falls out!” (I think there must be a lot of gold to be made by scaring people into buying gold!) “If you don’t take this super-duper nutritional supplement, you are sure to develop this big bad disease.” “If you don’t arm yourself now, you will easily become an unprotected victim.” “Store up lots of food and water now so that you and your family can survive during pending disaster.” All kinds of voices are yelling at us.
So, how in the world do we sort it all out and make prudent decisions for taking refuge. I guess I’ve generally concluded that I can’t sort it all out—I’m not equal to the task—I can’t seem to come up with a foolproof refuge. I’m going to just carry on living, doing business, sharing the love of God, and entrust the rest to the One Who can sort it all out. He is my refuge. And I think that trusting Him is my best demonstration of prudence. After all, He has it sorted out, not just for time, but for ETERNITY.
“I will say of the LORD, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress, my God in Whom I trust” (Psalm 91:2).
“One ought never to turn one’s back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger.
But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!” - Sir Winston Churchill