A Devotional Look at the Book #509

A Devotional Look at the Book #509

by Jesse Abel

A Thought for today by Papa “J”

The backslider is like a scoop that digs up good and evil; but a person who seeks the righteousness of the LORD is like the plow that tills the soil and produces a good harvest. Proverbs 14:14

A DAY IN THE PAST, THE PRESENT OR THE FUTURE

In an earlier devotional I wrote about being in a foreign port; at the time I could not remember the country but it was France and the city was Nice. A few of us sailors were standing in line to exchange the American dollar into French francs. There was no such thing as a Euro dollar in those days. Sailors around women are dumb! You didn’t know that did you? Standing a few persons in line ahead of us was this young blonde girl and she was very pretty. As sailors we made a couple of comments (I was not a believer at this time) but really that is not an excuse to be a poor representative of the United States of America. An older gentleman standing behind the teenaged girl turned to us and replied in very clear; American English… “I am thankful that you believe that my daughter is good to look at and that she is a well developed young woman; likewise you men should be thankful that I am a mild mannered person, who will politely ask you this once, to control your tongues!” We made a very quick apology! Now, who but a bunch of sailors would not know that it is dangerous to run your tongue in the currency exchange line? There are no nationals in these lines; they are all foreigners and most of them speak English!

2 Peter

2 Peter 2:12-17 – Moving into verse 15 is like stepping into the life of Balaam, in fact; the apostle Peter uses the character of Balaam as an example of biblical depravity. As with all of the Word of God; this is serious; I do not know of one prophesy of Balaam that sounds corrupted. So this brings to my mind some critical issues. The four prophecies of Balaam concerning Israel and the Messiah are found in Numbers 22:5 through Numbers 24:1-25.

This can mean that God uses an individual who is motivated by the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life to expound from the Living Word of God, biblical truths that the world of people like Balak fine offensive and at the same time confuse and misguide the saint. God calls such activity a reward of unrighteousness. Notice too, something that may be overlooked by many, the apostle Peter clearly states that Balaam like all false teachers had forsaken the right way and went astray and then Peter says that it took a donkey speaking like a man to restrain the “madness of the prophet”. I take this to mean that Balaam was a true; but false teaching prophet of God.

Verse 17 – These men are wells without water; when you hear them speak they do not satisfy the soul of the listener but they do confuse that soul. A storm brews in these men and carries them from one false issue to another and I believe they know that the gloom of darkness waits patently for their arrival. Ask me if I think I covered this subject well…? NO, I do not believe I did!