Dumber Than a Bird - Monday October 20, 2014
For in vain is a net spread in the sight of any bird, but these men lie in wait for their own blood; they set an ambush for their own lives. Proverbs 1:17-18 ESV
The first chapter of Proverbs compares the calls of sin and wisdom. Today's passage tells us about sinners.
I like to consider myself smarter than a bird, but these two verses contain a powerful picture. Someone who is trying to catch a bird knows it is pointless to place a trap in plain view of a bird. But when we choose to sin, we are stupid sinners who dash to our own entrapment. Birds are smart enough not to go into a trap they see spread before them! But to willfully choose to sin something that we know could trap us-makes us more thoughtless than a bird!
But then the chapter continues, in one of the most sobering verses I have read: "Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me" (Proverbs 1:28 ESV).
Earlier, this chapter promises that if we turn from foolishness to wisdom, we will receive help. But now verse 28 tells us that there is a point when we could get so trapped in our sin that there is no way out! Even if we pray and earnestly seek God, it will be fruitless. Now God's mercies are new every morning, so whatever sin you find yourself trapped in, you keep calling on God! But what a sobering reminder that we could make a sinful decision that we know will trap us, and we could reject God's call to wisdom so many times that eventually He will leave us to our own devices! May God be merciful to us!
Submitted by:
Josh Whitney
The Rock Church
Salt Lake City, Utah
One-Year Reading Plan:
Jeremiah 35:1-36:32
1 Timothy 5:1-25
Psalms 89:14-37
Proverbs 25:25-27
[Read
Online]
© 2024 Great Commission Association of Churches, Inc All rights
reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher.
Online Bible Services provided by
The Bible Gateway (TM) a service of
Gospel
Communications Network.
SCRIPTURE REFERENCB-ES: Unless otherwise identified, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible B) The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are from the Holy, Bible, New International Version, copyright B) 1973, 1978, 1984 by InternaB-tional Bible Society; (NKJV) are from New King James Version B) 1982 by Thomas Nelson; (NLT) are from the New Living Translation, B) 1996, Tyndale House Publishers; (ESV) are from English Standard VersionB., B) 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers; (TM) are from The Message B) 1993 by NavPress Publishers.