Forsake foolishness and live, and go in the way of understanding. Proverbs 9:6
Recommended Reading: Proverbs 9:1-12 “Wisdom has built her house,She has hewn out her seven pillars;2 She has slaughtered her meat, She has mixed her wine, She has also furnished her table.3 She has sent out her maidens,She cries out from the highest places of the city,4 “Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!”As for him who lacks understanding, she says to him,5 “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed.6 Forsake foolishness and live,And go in the way of understanding.7 “He who corrects a scoffer gets shame for himself,And he who rebukes a wicked man only harms himself.8 Do not correct a scoffer, lest he hate you;Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.9 Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;Teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
COMMENTS: Thanksgiving and Christmas and even New Year’s Day are all special days for gatherings with family and friends demanding much work in preparation. Decorating and making gathering places clean and beautiful. Preparing meeting places or churches or homes so everything looks perfect. Family gatherings, especially including those from distance who are visited infrequently are especially special. But all too often what is remembered is not the work and preparation but mean or thoughtless remarks from last gathering. Those wounds, because they haven’t been healed by forgiveness given, the infection of that unforgiveness quickly and sometimes violently erupts into even harsher and mean words which will only get worse if unchecked in future years. Sad thing is family gatherings are more commonly becoming more like the “Soap Operas” that flood afternoon television especially on American broadcast networks. Actors and sets on those shows are perfect and beautiful but the character and actions of most actors on those shows are beyond terrible and sinful. But such is becoming more and more common in American families and families in every country too. That has always been true but I have to believe, due to revivals in past generations that family settings were warmer and more loving and simpler in our grandparents and great-grandparents generations. God was a center focus in family gatherings and church was the center of gatherings and activities. When television came into most homes, Christ-centered morality and conduct and values were a dominant theme and guide in those shows broadcasted in 1950’s and early 1960’s. This also includes society’s view of human sexuality and morality and marriage. This has also negatively impacted respect for others and especially those of opposite sex. Yet society still has not recognized the reason for that. They still think immoral behavior is acceptable if consensual without drawing any realization that such is a giant and closer step towards rape and molestation of children and adults. Without moral restraints opportunity and power enable more and more to force their lustful passions on others willing or not. How much further down the road we as a society and world are on do we need to go down before rape and child molestation and even worse will become “normal healthy behavior” in society? We only need to look back at history at countries and societies who went down the same path. Their end was violent and permanent. Have you ever asked yourself why America isn’t mentioned in Biblical Prophecy? It isn’t because America didn’t exist during time prophecies existed. Rome didn’t when gave Daniel and the other prophets of the Old Testament prophecies related to end times. Could it be America will be judged and destroyed and not exist during those times yet to come? Revivals are happening and many are being saved in Muslim and Communist and many impoverished countries while churches in democratic – free countries are nearly empty. My own church is a beautiful impressive structure and pastor’s sermons are powerful but pews are still mostly empty. Why? Free will is given by God to all while His gift of Grace and Redemption is only embraced by some and only by a few who appear to be doing well on their own.
Proverbs 9 describe a woman working hard preparing a banquet. She started by building a house for the banquet with 7 pillars. Then she planned a menu and then prepares the feast. Finally she sent invitations to (vs. 5). This chapter describes this woman as “Wisdom” and benefits of accepting her invitation and coming to her banquet of blessings.
Then the chapter concludes with another woman, a foolish woman, who also sent invitations offering a meal of “junk food” that is appealing to the taste but ruins the soul.
During the Holidays sweets are more available so temptations are stronger but gaining weight and poor health are the result. Result is greater difficulty and less appeal of healthy food, so temptations of Thanksgiving and Advent Season correlate to spiritual teaching of this proverb.
God has a wonderful way of offering us only what is good for us, like the first woman described in Proverbs 9. But satan has powerful and sinister way of making his destructive evil both appealing and God’s healthy food unappealing to us.
Well, when it comes to cookies and candy and leftovers, it is better for me to have all those tasty foods out of the house and out of accessibility than to rely on my discipline and willpower to avoid them. I think that is true spiritually too. Better to flee temptations than to allow them to be around and hope willpower will be sufficient to resist or overcome their influence. So we need to also include in our New Year Resolutions removing those things and opportunities for exposure to sin and temptations whether it be junk foods or visuals or objects that cause us to be tempted or even just distract us from Him better work and nourishment. I invite you to also join me in seeking His councel to reveal those things needing removed and determination to remove them or us from them. AMEN? AMEN!
The Scriptures are radiant with divine wisdom. This wisdom shines with the glory of God. John Piper
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 335 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.
My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.
Published by donsdevotions
Don McDaniel - Who am I?
Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever.
Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me.
I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private.
However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool.
Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry.
He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 .
I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine.
I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward.
Don & Arlene McDaniel
In His Service,
Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ )
You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials. View all posts by donsdevotions
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