21 September 2009 Devotion for Today “Wisdom Will Save You” Proverbs 2:12-15

21 September 2009 Devotion for Today “Wisdom Will Save You” Proverbs 2:12-15

12 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men,
from men whose words are perverse,
13 who leave the straight paths
to walk in dark ways,
14 who delight in doing wrong
and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,
15 whose paths are crooked
and who are devious in their ways. (Proverbs 2:12-15)

Have you ever met someone that you knew that you could not trust, or been in circumstances where everything looked right, but there was just something about it that you did not understand? Something inside your spirit tells you, “This is all wrong- or there is something “up” with this!” I remember many years ago a church member asked me to drop by to visit this elderly person who was wheelchair bound. I had never met this person but came by the house and introduced myself. She invited me in and we had a conversation for a while. Immediately, however, I sensed evil- not from the woman- but from the room where I sat. She seemed very pleasant, but also nervous. I attributed that to the fact that I was a stranger to her. However, as we talked together in the living room, my eye caught a glimpse of what appeared to be some rather expensive-looking video or camera equipment through the open doorway in the next room. It was mounted on a tripod with professional studio lighting and other items sitting around which seemed to belong to a professional cameraman. In the conversation, the woman, who was in her late seventies, explained that her grown son lived with her, and that she was having problems with him. She went on to explain how she simply had to leave the place that had been her home for so many years, but that she had no where else to go. I could not really understand what she was trying to tell me. Was there abuse going on? I had to know, so I asked her. She said that there wasn’t, but there were “other” things going on that she was just not comfortable with, but I could tell that she did not trust me enough at this point to tell me. I remember coming down with a severe headache. I did not stay long, and prayed with the woman, and got in my car and drove away with my head aching and a heaviness in my heart that I could not explain.

Not more than two weeks later, I picked up our local newspaper to read a startling article telling of a local man who had been arrested for producing child pornography in his home. I checked the address and noted the name instantly. The arrest was made at the home of the elderly woman that I had visited. It frightened me to think that I had been in a place where so much evil had gone on! The tragic thing was that the elderly woman’s home was confiscated and that she had also been charged as an accomplice in the crime. Later the charges were dropped but she was moved to a nursing home. I thought, “How tragic!” Then I remembered the feeling of oppression I felt and how I just wanted to get out of there.

In the Proverbs, Solomon tells us about the importance of Godly wisdom, and how His wisdom has the ability to protect us from the presence of evil and especially evil person. Most of us, like myself, are naïve. We take things at face value. It doesn’t often occur to us that there are people in the world who have dedicated themselves to the evil as I described above. But God makes His wisdom available to us through discernment that helps us to see that, even though we do not have the facts immediately available, our suspicions are aroused and our senses become keener. That’s the time when God is trying to warn us of danger, as if to say, “Look Out!”

Does a threatening situation face you this week? That’s the time to seek the face of God instead. Run, don’t walk, to the nearest place of prayer you can find and say, “Dear Jesus, please protect me from the evil that I sense lurking about me right now! I don’t understand it, and I can’t see it clearly. All I know is, I feel that I need Your protection today. Hold me up in Your arms of refuge and keep me off the paths of devious people. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.

Have a blessed day!