The Devotional - A Look at the Book #588

The Devotional - A Look at the Book #588

by Jesse Abel

Papa J's rules for Livin #11

When your favorite coat shrinks… it is not because it is old or washed too many times. Also, it is not because the color is faded and the collar is frayed or for the holes in the pockets. The answer is simple; and your waist line knows the truth. Proverbs 23:1-8

The Devotional

Once while on ambulance duty we responded to a call for help, it was nearing midnight and the emergency was that someone was screaming. The noise as the farmer explained was coming from his field where a few cows would normally be during the day. By the time we arrived the screaming had stopped but there was an auditable sound of someone crying deep in the field. We called out and immediately the young girl began begging for help. I thought I was walking in mud, later I found out what it was. The girl was in her late teens or early twenties and she was literally covered with cow manure and so too were our shoes and medical gear. It is humorous; but it is also sad… since Proverbs 23 captures in context the reason she was in the field. She had met two men at the local bar. They promised to drive her and her car home, but first, they took her to the cow field with the thought of taking advantage of her drunken condition. She ran into the field to escape her pursuers. However; being drunk and full of panic, her temporary mental condition was that of a little girl not yet in her teens. In the ambulance the girl identified two men on the roadway as the two men who brought her to the field. They had stayed on the roadway next to her car watching the whole thing. When the state police arrived, the men were questioned and arrested; their response was… we were just having some fun with her, we wouldn’t have done anything! Neither of the men had any cow manure on their shoes or clothing; the fact is that one must have showered in his after shave. After catching a whiff of him, I felt better smelling like a cow!

Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes 1:12-18 – If you are a student of the Holy Bible (the only source of truth and wisdom) you will identify with the statements of Solomon here. But this is not to say that we should avoid the wisdoms of the world as some monks and other religious sects seek to do. However the more wisdom one has the more grievous the task and if you do not see the task at this moment, then you do not have to worry, just keep studying.

The works of man are piled high and the depths of human wisdom is exposed by the application of what man knows. When something is claimed as truth from a secular view, those who have Wisdom from God are able to see that the Laws of Creation; clearly oppose. Of course the wisdom of the world does not see this since this wisdom is simply, applied darkness. Thus Solomon is correct. The task of straightening out the crooked path of darkness is grievous to the preacher; God’s man.

Many young men and women leave home and are faced with the decision. Do I follow tradition or the faith in God of my parents? This communion within their heart of hearts often leads them to the threshing floor to sort out the wheat from the tares. The journey may seem as a top of the world experience and carry them away for long periods of time. They learn madness and folly and consume worldly isms. In this is grief, simply because this knowledge is filled with the sorrows the world faces each day; without answers. This too, is vanity and tossing to the wind.