BBD 04.23.15 Behaving Wisely (New)
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>
The Addictions Kit - Biblical Help for Addictions by Ed Wrather is now
available for download from Amazon. The Addictions Kit provides practical Biblical steps to defeat
your addiction that actually work.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIYLNLM
If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at http://www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day”
and read the devotional there.
The Burning
Bush Devotional
04.23.15
Behaving
Wisely
And David behaved wisely (The
Hebrew word is sakal) in all his ways, and the Lord was with him. Therefore, when
Saul saw that he behaved very wisely, he was afraid of him. But all Israel and
Judah loved David, because he went out and came in before them. - 1 Samuel
18:14-16 NKJV.
18-year-old
Austin Hatfield who lives in Hillsborough County, Florida, is in the hospital
in serious condition; because…he kissed a snake! Oh, he not only kissed the
snake on top of its head once, but 13 times, and that last time was when the
Cottonmouth (aka Water Moccasin) bit Austin on his face. Reportedly, Austin had
caught the snake while swimming and decided to keep it. Apparently he had
also performed the snake kissing on a previous occasion. A friend, James
Belcher, said they were at Austin’s home when this incidence occurred.
Belcher says that, “We were sitting in the kitchen and he ran out of the
room saying, ‘Hospital, hospital, now, now.’” (yahoo7news 04.23.15; WTVY 04.22.15)
In this life there are some things we know, without being told,
that we should not do. Kissing a
poisonous snake is one of them! However, is kissing a poisonous snake any
worse than smoking a cigarette when you know it causes cancer and heart
disease? Is kissing a poisonous snake any worse than drinking or doing drugs
when you know the horrible toll they will take on your body? The difference
only seems to be in the time frame. Kissing a poisonous snake results in
immediate negative reinforcement whereas with smoking, drinking, or doing drugs
the negative consequences may take years to have full effect. Austin Hatfield
may possibly recover from his snake bite, but smoking, drinking and doing drugs
will likely result in permanent damage.
King David behaved wisely (sakal)
before the people and the Lord. In other words, David didn’t go around kissing
snakes! David behaved wisely when confronted with the jealousy of Saul. Saul
threw a spear at David intending to kill him. However, David did not throw the
spear back, although he could have. David acted wisely by not overreacting and
harming Saul, the Lord’s anointed.
The Hebrew word sakal
carries the idea of prospering through wisdom and understanding. We see the
word used in regard to David’s behavior. The word is also used 69 other times
in the Old Testament including Joshua 1:8,
“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate
in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is
written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will
have good success.” The word “success” in Joshua 1:8
is the Hebrew word sakal. Someone who
has “sakal” is a person who is
teachable; and, able to learn and obey the Lord.
You too can have “sakal.”
You can avoid kissing poisonous snakes and behave wisely following the example
of David. Don’t overreact when there is opposition in your life. Do develop God
honoring relationships with other believers as David did with Saul’s son,
Jonathan. Do grow in wisdom by studying the Word of God. Then, you will behave
wisely and have “good
success.”
Copyright © 2015. Ed Wrather. The
Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998
the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather
began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent to prison
facilities throughout the United States and Canada.
Visit the
Burning Bush websites:
The Burning Bush websites
received visits from 184 countries in 2015 including from 27 cities in Iran.
Celebrating 17 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more than
14,000 subscribers across the world.
The New Pastor's Training Manual is available for download on Amazon. Here is the link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PJ8UTGS If you prefer
a paper copy of the book you can order it from the Burning Bush website at http://bit.ly/1uXDBnk
You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.
There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.
Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn profile with
endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105
Please pray for Justin Lewis who
is battling cancer. He is a 35-year-old Christian with a wife and four
children. Unless God intervenes there is little hope for him. He has recently been at MD
Anderson in Houston for about ten days with super chemo and needs to go back
soon for another super chemo treatment. They found new places of cancer on his
last scan. He is very weak and needs to gain some weight and strength prior to
the next treatment. Thank you for all of your prayers for Justin and his wife
and four children!! (Update: Justin has now completed two super chemo
treatments and is currently undergoing a third. He will have another scan at
the end of this treatment. The great news is that he was able to work four days
before going back for his third treatment!! Thanks for all of your prayer for
him, they are making a difference!!)
Prayer Requests: Please pray for
an end to the racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace
and love. Please also pray for Shane Hall who is a young pastor who has cancer
and for all those afflicted with this terrible disease. My sister, Reta’s
surgery for removal of kidney and cancerous tumor went better than expected.
She will now have targeted chemo by pill or injection for nodules in her lungs.
Please pray too for Beverly who has been recently diagnosed with cancer. Many
prayer needs are posted at the Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page.
You can also post your prayer requests there (Of course, I am always in need of
prayer - please pray for me.).
If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org
There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.
Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.
You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.
--
To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org