My prayer is that you read and study these devotional passages with me in an earnest desire to seek the Lord (Phil)

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THE THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

When those obscure incidents come along and we don’t have a clue what’s going on

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

Proverbs 3:5 (KJV)

Genesis 40

Not quite sure why Moses, by the understanding of most scholars, uses the word ‘King’ in verse 1 and ‘Pharaoh‘ in verse 2

Genesis 40:1-2 (KJV), “¹ And it came to pass after these things, that the butler of the king of Egypt and his baker had offended their lord the king of Egypt.  ² And Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the butlers, and against the chief of the bakers.”

• The Offense: They were high-ranking officials responsible for the king’s food and drink safety.
• The Suspicion: It is widely believed they were involved in a conspiracy to poison the Pharaoh, or at least negligence in their duties.
• The Outcome: The butler was eventually restored to his position, while the baker was executed, as interpreted from their dreams by Joseph.

The king of Egypt (Pharaoh) assigned Potiphar, his captain of the guard, to oversee the prison where state prisoners were kept

Genesis 40:3 (KJV), “And he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard, into the prison, the place where Joseph was bound.”

Interpretation

We are very fortunate that Jesus paid the price for us when we ‘offend’ our King

Ephesians 6:11 (KJV), “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Whomever the captain is, he recognizes Joseph’s value and appoints him to supervise two new prisoners

Genesis 40:4 (KJV), “And the captain of the guard charged Joseph with them, and he served them: and they continued a season in ward.”

Why would the captain of the guards assign Joseph, who was  still a prisoner, charge him over the other prisoners?

Genesis 39:21-23 (KJV), “²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.  ²² And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.  ²³ The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand; because the Lord was with him, and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.”

God had previously equipped Joseph with the ability to interpret dreams (his spiritual gift)

Genesis 40:8 (KJV), “And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? tell me them, I pray you.”

God desires for all of us to pray earnestly for spiritual gifts

1 Corinthians 12:28-31 (KJV), “²⁸ And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.  ²⁹ Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?  ³⁰ Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?  ³¹ But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.”

Zephaniah 2

This prophetic warning applies to us today

Zephaniah 2:1-3 (KJV), “¹ Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired; ² Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you.  ³ Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”

Jesus reiterates this warning to us

Matthew 24:7 (KJV), “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”

We should take heed to this warning

Zephaniah 2:2-3 (KJV), “² Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger come upon you.  ³ Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”

What we must do to prevent this judgement upon us

Zephaniah 2:3 (KJV), “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”

These prophetic words are directly from God and should be taken seriously

Zephaniah 2:5 (KJV), “Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! the word of the Lord is against you; O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabitant.”

In this verse, the word Lord refers to God Himself

Lexical Summary (3068) – Yhvh: LORD, GOD, LORD’S.  Brown-Driver-Briggs – proper name, of deity Yahweh, the proper name of the God of Israel.

 The Word of God clearly states that we who accept Jesus as our Savior are God’s chosen people and God will intercede for us and punish those who try to suppress us

Zephaniah 2:7 (KJV), “And the coast shall be for the remnant of the house of Judah; they shall feed thereupon: in the houses of Ashkelon shall they lie down in the evening: for the Lord their God shall visit them, and turn away their captivity.”

Zephaniah 2:9 (KJV), “Therefore as I live, saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Surely Moab shall be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, even the breeding of nettles, and saltpits, and a perpetual desolation: the residue of my people shall spoil them, and the remnant of my people shall possess them.”

Zephaniah 2:11 (KJV), “The Lord will be terrible unto them: for he will famish all the gods of the earth; and men shall worship him, everyone from his place, even all the isles of the heathen.”

Psalms 26

When we come before our Maker, we should want to be able to say this prayer before Him

David tells God to judge him by his works.  Will you be brave enough to tell God, go ahead and judge me!

Psalm 26:1 (KJV), “Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the Lord; therefore I shall not slide.”

David goes even further and tells God to examine him and prove to him that he is not worthy

Psalm 26:2 (KJV), “Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.”

The only way we can possibly come close to coming before God with a heart of preparation is to

Ephesians 6:11 (KJV), “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

And continuously put and keep it on all day

Proverbs 3

Allow the instructions of God, as disseminated by Solomon, lengthen and strengthen your days

Proverbs 3:1 (KJV), “My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments.”

Some translations replace the word ‘commandments’ with ‘law’, in either case…

Brown-Driver-Briggs  – 1.  instruction: a. human:: of a father.

Solomon is instructing us to not forget what he is telling us

• Allow God to give you the understanding He has to allow you to maneuver your way through life

When those obscure incidents come along and we don’t have a clue what’s going on

Proverbs 3:5 (KJV), “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

Proverbs 2:6 (KJV), “For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.”

2 Timothy 2:7 (KJV), “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.”

1 Corinthians 2:12 (KJV), “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know [understand] the things that are freely given to us of God.”

Don’t give anyone else other than God the credit for any achievement or success you have in life

Proverbs 3:7-9 (KJV), “⁷ Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.  ⁸ It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.  ⁹ Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase.”

Proverbs 3:6 (KJV), “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

The tree of life

What is the tree of life?  How did we lose it?  How can we get it back?

Genesis 2:9 (KJV), “And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

More details concerning the tree of life come after Adam and Eve’s sin

Genesis 3:22 (KJV), “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.”

God’s intention was to give Adam and Eve eternal life in existence with Him.  It was a mercy that God kept us from the tree of life. By barring access to the tree of life

Genesis 3:24 (KJV), “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.”

God showed compassion in His omniscience. Knowing that, because of sin, earthly life would be filled with sorrow and toil, God graciously limited the number of years men would live. To live eternally in a sinful state would mean endless agony for humanity, with no hope of the relief that comes with death.

To understand God’s wisdom and apply it in life grants us a way to the tree of life, eternal happiness and fruitfulness with Him

Proverbs 3:13 (KJV), “Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.”

Proverbs 3:18 (KJV), “She [wisdom] is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.”

Proverbs 11:30 (KJV), “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.”

Proverbs 13:12 (KJV), “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire [wisdom] cometh, it is a tree of life.”

Proverbs 15:4 (KJV), “A wholesome tongue [wisdom] is a tree of life: but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.”