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Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — The Two Bears

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Read: Proverbs 13:10-20

Bible in a Year: Proverbs 13-15; 2 Corinthians 5

Where there is strife, there is pride, but wisdom is found in those who take advice. —Proverbs 13:10

Some years ago, my wife, Carolyn, and I spent a few days camping on the flanks of Mount Rainier in Washington State. When we were returning to our campsite one evening, we saw in the middle of a meadow two male bears boxing each other’s ears. We stopped to watch.

There was a hiker nearby, and I asked him what the conflict was about. “A young female,” he said.

“Where is she?” I asked.

“Oh, she left about 20 minutes ago,” he chuckled. Thus, I gathered, the conflict at this point was not about the female bear but about being the toughest bear.

Most fights aren’t about policy and principle, or about right and wrong; they’re almost always about pride. The wise man of Proverbs swings his axe at the root of the problem when he writes: “Pride leads to conflict” (13:10 NLT). Quarrels are fueled by pride, by needing to be right, by wanting our way, or by defending our turf or our egos.

On the other side, wisdom resides with the well-advised—those who listen and learn, those who allow themselves to be instructed. There is wisdom in those who humble themselves—those who set aside their own selfish ambition; who acknowledge the limits of their own understanding; who listen to the other person’s point of view; who allow their own ideas to be corrected. This is the wisdom from God that spreads peace wherever it goes. —David Roper

Dear heavenly Father, help me as I battle pride today. It’s so easy to take my eyes off You and focus on myself. Give me a humble heart.

Humility brings wisdom.

INSIGHT: The book of Proverbs is often quoted for its practical and down-to-earth advice for living. However, the pithy sayings that the book is noted for are not the only part of the book. Several entire chapters are dedicated to the virtue of wisdom and how important it is to everyday life. Wisdom is more than quick wit; it is living life in pursuit of God and His plans for us. J.R. Hudberg

Our Daily Bread

Our Daily Bread — Remembering Our Father’s Words

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Our Daily Bread

Psalm 119:89-93

I will never forget Your precepts, for by them You have given me life. —Psalm 119:93

Jim Davidson was climbing down Mount Rainier when he fell through a snow bridge and into a crevasse (a pitch-black, ice-walled crack in a glacier). As Jim stood bloodied and bruised in that dark ice cave, he reflected on his childhood and recalled how his father had repeatedly reminded him that he could accomplish great things if he pressed through adversity. Those words helped to sustain Jim as he spent the next 5 hours climbing out of that dark ice cave to safety with very little gear and under extremely difficult circumstances.

The psalmist seemed to climb out of his own crevasse of affliction and pain by recalling his heavenly Father’s words. He admitted that if God and His Word had not sustained him with joy, he would have died in his misery (Ps. 119:92). He expressed full confidence in the Lord’s eternal Word (v.89) and in the faithfulness of His character (v.90). As a result of God’s faithfulness, the psalmist made a commitment never to forget God’s words to him because they had a central part in rescuing his life and bringing him strength.

In our darkest caves and moments of affliction, our souls can be revived by our Father in heaven when we recall and fill our minds with His encouraging words. —Marvin Williams

THINKING IT OVER

What crevasse of discouragement are you currently in?

How can you use this time as an occasion to revive your

soul by filling your mind and heart with God’s Word?

Remembering God’s words revives our soul.

Bible in a year: Jeremiah 48-49; Hebrews 7