LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
Thursday 2nd September 2021
DON’T BE WISE IN YOUR OWN EYES
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 3
Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. Proverbs 3:7-8
One of the significant challenges of those who have had education is intellectual pride. With a little education, people feel so confident about their importance that they seek to make themselves ‘gods’. This attitude fueled the first temptation in the Garden of Eden. It remains our greatest temptation.
· Don’t be wise in your own eyes. This statement is a warning against self-sufficiency, self-conceit, and self-reliance. This caution aims to help us avoid thought that we are so wise without any need of God. We must not see this warning as a repudiation of education and learning. The Lord gave us a brain to work with and a world to learn from. He is all for our learning and discovery. However, wisdom warns us not to be so impressed with our knowledge or point of view that we forget the one who gave us the brain and the creation we learn.
· Fear the Lord and depart from evil. When we show reverence to the Lord in all our learning, it keeps us from using our knowledge as a rebellion against God. The fear of the Lord has an added advantage; it leads to the departure from evil. It is the mark of the wise person that he fears the Lord and walks in righteousness.
· Health to our flesh. From God alone comes real well-being and soundness of being. He knows the right way to achieve the right ends. He knows how to satisfy us truly. He can free us from that which does us harm. Health naturally proceeds from a peaceful and well-ordered life when it is submitted to God.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, you are the all-wise and all-knowing God. Help me not to be wise in my own eyes. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
