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 |
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
20 April 11
Dear special ones.
OK. I need to get my breakfast after sending this. Kaden and I came back from our walk. We mainly spent our time in the woods nearby where I surveyed the number of standing dead trees that I will probably be falling, hauling out, and milling up for Camp Adams.
Once again, I have a huge list of objectives. Blessings on you and your list.
Love, Dad/Ray
20 April 2011
Proverbs 20
Focus: “A king’s wrath is like the roar of a lion; he who angers him forfeits his life.” Proverbs 20:2.
Imagine finding yourself in open space in the presence of a 500-pound lion. There’s no place to hide, no weapons for defense, and running would be futile. I venture to say that you would behave yourself with the utmost of respect for that big kitty. It would be insane to try to get him to run away by throwing rocks at him or walking up close and smacking him with a stick. Things would be entirely different, however, if you were packing a loaded 10-guage shotgun with 00 buckshot. As a young guy I’ve experimented with the damage a shotgun can do at close range. The advantage has now been reversed—and that kitty had better behave himself!
The FOCUS VERSE is picturing our being in the presence of a person with limited “sovereign” power—a human king. The style of kings down through history has been that they rule their space with absolute local authority—at least they try. Lots of people down through time have FORFEITED THEIR LIVES because they made this kind of king angry—they were on the wrong side of what pleased him. But history also records many cases where these human kings were overpowered by subjects with virtual shotguns.
May I remind you that you are, at this very moment, living and behaving in the presence of THE KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS. He is absolute in His power and CANNOT be overthrown or overpowered. There is no escaping Him—no avoiding accountability to Him. But there is another FACT that adds to the incredible insanity of rebelling against Him—that is, HE LOVES YOU AND WANTS THE ETERNAL BEST FOR YOU!
I’ve come up with what I think is a pretty good standard for identifying a psychological disorder. When a person rebels and fights against the authority and directives of those who love him most—you have a disorder in the works! Teenage rebellion, for example, is almost always just that—a form of mental disorder. But rebellion against the Sovereign God Who loves perfectly—that is infinitely more insane!
“God hath not given us the spirit of fear (…nor, for that matter, the spirit of stupid); but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7, KJV). And a sound mind of true knowledge and wisdom that seeks to please God is the main objective of these proverbs.
“At no time is self-control more difficult than in times of success.”