Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for the day and his Word, and ask him to care for, bless, and teach his people through the reading.
Read
Scripture Passage
24 The way of life winds upward for the wise,
That he may turn away from hell below.
25 The Lord will destroy the house of the proud,
But He will establish the boundary of the widow.
26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord,
But the words of the pure are pleasant.
27 He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house,
But he who hates bribes will live.
28 The heart of the righteous studies how to answer,
But the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil.
29 The Lord is far from the wicked,
But He hears the prayer of the righteous.
30 The light of the eyes rejoices the heart,
And a good report makes the bones healthy.
31 The ear that hears the rebukes of life
Will abide among the wise.
32 He who disdains instruction despises his own soul,
But he who heeds rebuke gets understanding.
33 The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom,
And before honor is humility.
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Pr 15:24–33
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
The wise way turns upward from death through repentance, humility, pure speech, family faithfulness, thoughtful answers, prayer, cheerful encouragement, and teachability. Pride, greedy gain, wicked thoughts, careless words, and refusal of correction lead away from life.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Proverbs 15:33
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, but before honor is humility.
Bryan and Ellie never select a best verse. Verse 33 gathers together the devotion's final emphasis that wisdom starts with fearing the greatness of God and humbly receiving his instruction and correction.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Repent and turn onto the way of life. Fear the Lord, humble yourself, listen to correction, choose family love over greedy gain, and pray in Jesus' name, trusting that God hears because Jesus is the righteous one.
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Oh, no, we're not going to show them your toes. Well, good morning. Yeah, they're pink, too. That's right. Well, good morning. Good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. Yeah, they're kind of red, pink. Well, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions.
This is where every day we get together. We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2021, we'll make it through all the wisdom literature. Today, we're at Proverbs chapter 15, verses 24 through 33. Why don't we go ahead and have some coffee? You want to drink your milk? We'll pray and we'll get into God's word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. We thank you for your word. Father, we pray now that as we read your word, you would care for us, bless us, teach us. In Jesus' name, amen.
All right, you ready to read the Bible with me? Okay. Here we go, we're at, ooh, good sneeze. Proverbs 15, verse 24, we'll start here. The way of life winds upward for the wise that he may turn away from hell below. So the way of life is up. Do we want to go down? No, no way, Jose. We turn away from death. We were going this way towards death and we go, whoa, no way. We turn around and we come back. That's called repentance. So the way of life. That's right, that's right. Okay, let's do verse 25.
The Lord will destroy the house of the pride, but he will establish the boundary of the widow. Does the Lord like pride? No. Does he love the widow? Does he take care of her? Like is he taking care of Grandma Spencer? Yeah, yeah, he establishes the boundary of the widow. What about verse 26, you ready?
The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant. Yeah, does God love? Does God love the words of people who love Him? But what about the thoughts of people who don't love Him? Does He like their thoughts?
No, right? Because their thoughts are for themselves, or for their idols, and stuff like that, right? And he says, mm-mm. Nope, I don't want those. Let's do verse 27. He who is greedy for gain troubles his house, but he who hates bribes will live. Do you like when Daddy tries to make lots of money and ignores you, or do you like when Daddy spends time with you? Spends time with me.
Really? Yeah, right. It's only going to be trouble if a mommy or daddy is just trying to make a ton of money, but they are doing things wrong. Yeah, right. This says that we can't be serving money. We can't love bribes. We need to work hard, but we need to love our family. Well, let's go to verse 28. The heart of the righteous studies how to answer. But mommy like me. Mommy loves you? Yeah. Oh, good.
Well, the heart of the righteous studies how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours forth evil. Okay, be careful. Ellie, be careful how you talk. Be careful how you speak, because the heart of the righteous thinks about, how can I answer with wisdom? How can I answer with kindness? How can I answer and have a word fitly spoken in season?
Is it easy to say whatever we want? Yeah, if we just say whatever we want. But sometimes, sometimes are we able to say things we shouldn't? Yeah, yeah, sometimes. Can we scream at people when we shouldn't? Yeah, that's not good. Right, or we can say things that we shouldn't say. But if we, we should stop and we should think twice as much as we say. And let your words be few. Okay, ready? Verse 29.
The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous. Who does God hear? He hears the prayer of the righteous. Did you know that Jesus prays for you? Yeah, Jesus is the righteous one. Well, God's not the righteous one. Oh yes, God is the righteous one. And he hears people who pray in the name of Jesus.
But does he let us pet kitty cats? Yeah, he also lets you pet kitty cats. That's true. He's good like that too. But the Lord is far from the wicked. He doesn't want to hear from them. But when we pray in Jesus, we know that he hears us. God not do that. Well, Jesus is God. You're right to say that the Father is not Jesus.
But the moon is you. Well, we're not talking about the moon, though. The moon is totally different. God made the moon. It's blue, and the sun is... what? The sun is kind of like white and yellow? Yes, it's yellow. And the moon is kind of white and blue?
Well, let's keep reading, okay? Verse 30. I see it charging on me, and it's got purple on it. Okay, let's keep reading. Verse 30. The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good rapport makes the bones healthy. So, there's a cheerful look. A cheerful look can bring joy. When you smile at people at church when they're having a hard day, can it make them have a better day? Yeah, it sure can. The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and a good report makes the bones healthy. When you bring someone good news, it can help them. Yeah, that's why we should tell them about Jesus. Ready? Verse 31.
The ear that hears the rebukes of life will abide among the wise. Oh, sometimes does daddy have to rebuke you? Tell you, oh Ellie, that wasn't good. But does my ear not hear anything? Oh, your ear hears lots of things. When mommy corrects you, what do you think this is saying? Do you think you should ignore mommy or hear mommy? When you talk to mommy, my ear hears something. Yeah, but when mommy says, Ellie, don't do that, do you need to listen to her?
Yeah, because when we listen to a rebuke, it means that we sit with wise people. Alright, let's keep going. Verse 32. He who disdains instruction despises his own soul, but he who heeds rebukes gets understanding." If we want to love our soul, if we want to get understanding, we need to listen to a rebuke. We need to be able to take constructive criticism. We need to be able to hear what people are saying so we can grow.
Okay? All right, let's keep going, verse 33. The fear of the Lord is the instruction of wisdom, but before honor is humility. Oh man, so we need to fear the Lord. We get wisdom by fearing God. Is someone going to die? Well, someone's not going to die right now, but we get wisdom first by fearing the Lord.
We need to see God as big and we need to see us as small. Well, we need to see God as big and us as small. And the moon is big. Well, you're right, the moon is far away. But listen, listen to Daddy. We need to see God as big and us as small. We need to humble ourselves and fear God. I'm a little girl. You are a little girl. and you have a big God.
Okay, let's go ahead and pray. You ready? Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day, and we thank you for the wisdom you have given us in your Word. We pray that you would be great in our eyes, that we would love you in your Word. We would fear you and listen to your rebukes. In Jesus' name, Amen. Well, may the Lord bless you today. May you love him with all your heart. May you listen to his instruction, bow to his will, and may you enjoy the peace that comes with following his path. I'll see you tomorrow. You want to say bye? Bye.