Daily in Christ Devotional 1 December 2020 with Neil Anderson
Topic: Seeing Life From God’s Perspective
Proverbs 3:7
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil
Daily in Christ Devotional 1 December 2020 Message
Wisdom was certainly the way of the Old Testament as the Book of Proverbs and other wisdom literature attest. However, in the Old Testament, wisdom was not understood as our ability to reason independently of God. Rather, it was an acceptance and knowledge of divine revelation. Biblical wisdom is seeing life from God’s perspective. When wisdom degenerates to rationalism, our walk with God is reduced to an intellectual pursuit rather than a living relationship. Proverbs 3:5-7 pictures the relationship God desires with us: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil.”
Turning away from evil signifies that there are moral boundaries. The will of God is to live inside those boundaries. We are free to live as the Lord leads as long as we stay morally pure and exercise biblical wisdom. Since all unbelievers are outside the moral boundaries of God, they can expect judgment. Christians living outside the moral boundaries can expect discipline. The writer of Hebrews would attest to the latter: “But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Hebrews 12:8).
