“A foolish woman is clamorous; she is simple, and knoweth nothing. For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city, To call passengers who go right on their ways; Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither; and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him, Stolen water are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant. But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.” Prov. 9:13-18
Today’s Christian daily devotional
“Try some of these! They are my favorite.” I feel a hand shove a pixy stick into mine.
My best friend and I are sitting in the middle of the pillow fort we had created. Our eyes were still adjusting to the dark, but this did nothing to thwart our agenda. We were planning on eating as much sugar as our stomachs would let us get away with.
Mara’s chubby fingers disappeared into a bulging plastic bag. My eyes were bulging just at the sight of it.
“How much candy did you bring?” I asked in shock.
She spilled the contents of the bag to show off her spoil. Never in my life had I seen so much candy.
“My grandpa Joe gave me twenty dollars for my birthday and mom said I could spend half of it on whatever I wanted.” Popping a Laffy Taffy into her mouth, she smiled triumphantly.
“It looks like you bought the whole candy store!” I dove right into the chocolate covered malt balls without thinking twice. Who knew when this kind of jackpot of candy would ever be at my disposal again? My mom wouldn’t even let me eat sugared cereal.
“I spent the whole twenty.” Mara laughed.
“What is your mom going to do when she finds out?” her lack of concern intrigued me. I cringed at the thought of what my mother would do if I were so bold.
“Well, if we EAT the evidence, there is nothing she CAN do! I can always say I lost the ten.” Mara had a sparkle in her eye like I had never seen.
My nine-year old brain marveled at her devious yet genius plan. I felt fortunate enough to be on the winning end of it. The night was young and our pile of goodies was endless. We traded stickers, read ghost stories by flashlight and ate our fill of sweets until we were interrupted.
“Mara! Julia! Dinner is ready. Your pizza is here.” Her mom had ordered a special pizza for Mara’s birthday sleepover.
Normally, the warm smell wafting from the kitchen would be the only motivation I would need to move up the stairs. But, the smell actually made me nauseous. My eyes drifted to my partner in crime. Mara looked as bad as I felt. “I think I’m going to barf.” She said as we both crawled out of our makeshift fort. Slowly rising from our knees, we waddled up the stairs, holding our bellies.
In Proverbs 9:13-18 we are warned that the accepting the temptations of forbidden things never have a good ending. The end of the road of compromise is total destruction.
Although we can never escape temptation, we can be wise enough not to take the bait. When we arrive at the crossroads of temptation, if we make the choice to ask God what we should do and actually listen to His instructions, we can avert heartache and the consequences of bad decisions. This only happens because we were wise enough to not make them in the first place!
“Dear Heavenly Father,
I have made almost every choice in my life based on how I felt and what I wanted; hardly taking into account what you felt about it.
This is the root of every issue that I have. There is wisdom in restraint and I am now seeing the value of it.
Lord, can you help me to remember that you are only a prayer away? Help me to come to you when I am weak, and give me the strength I need to obey whatever your will is for my life.
In Jesus’ precious name, I do not trust myself to make the kind of decisions that will lead me into a life of blessing but I trust you, God. Amen.”
Thank you for reading today’s Christian daily devotional on verses: Proverbs 9:13-18
Please check back and see what we have for you tomorrow!
Author: Julia Shalom Jordan