When the wicked arise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous increase. Proverbs 28:28
Recommended Reading: Proverbs 28:8-12 “One who increases his possessions by usury and extortion. Gathers it for him who will pity the poor.9 One who turns away his ear from hearing the law, Even his prayer is an abomination.10 Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, He himself will fall into his own pit; But the blameless will inherit good.11 The rich man is wise in his own eyes,But the poor who has understanding searches him out.12 When the righteous rejoice, there is great glory; But when the wicked arise, men hide themselves.”
COMMENTS: We are living in an age lacking in good leadership, not a lack of leaders lacking willingness to make and act on their decisions but a lack of leaders who make and act on wise decisions and live a Christ centered and patterned life. Leaders who live a life worthy of imitating and make decisions that build and not destroy. Times of war do require using force to stop invading forces, but all too often leaders act in a way to destroy their subordinates and subjects in order to acquire their possessions instead of uplifting and benefiting their subjects. Leaders who work and rob to gain power and authority motivated by their own selfish and all too often destructive objectives and goals. Goals that only give priority to himself or herself without regard to the needs and goals and even God given rights of others – especially those under their authority.
Yet Christians are called to conduct themselves in subjection to governing authority, even unworthy authority. To love those who hate and be good citizens as an example to others and as an act of love and obedience to the Christ who saved them and provided secure eternal life and hope and rescue from the current world only offering suffering and persecution and death. Truth is life on this world will not last forever no matter if filled with comfort and ease or filled with suffering and pain. Treating this world as a platform of obedience to God’s commands and calling instead of as a place we should and need to have all our needs and wants satisfied.
Is the leadership of your country and local government worthy of their position? Do they govern wisely and according to scripture instruction and counsel? Or do they govern foolishly only for personal gain without regard to the need of others. The answer to these questions may be more obvious to those suffering but truth is “power corrupts and ultimate power ultimately corrupts”. History supports this.
Proverbs 28 is a strategic guide for wise leadership. Verse after verse compares good leaders to bad ones, and verse 28 ends the chapter by telling us that when wicked people rise to places of authority; they drive away good people; they perish; but after they’re gone, righteousness spreads. We come away from Proverbs 28, saying, “Dear Lord, give us leaders who have true wisdom.” Those who govern best fear God and reverence His Word.
Praying for our leadership is vital. Consider how Joseph and David and Esther and even the first century Christians dealt with leadership they were subject to. If that leadership is to be confronted like Moses confronted pharaoh, then that direction must clearing come from God with His direction following. But more commonly Christians are called to lead through suffering without foolish arrogant attitudes, a servant attitude.
Truth is our Bible gives us ample examples to instruct us in virtually all situations. But even more, the Holy Spirit is available to strengthen and encourage and remind and counsel us 24x7x365 so we need not lack. Examples from scripture show us results of allowing the Holy Spirit to abide in and counsel us along with long term blessings doing so can do. Church growth and eternal home received by all those faithful before us only confirms God has been and continues to be in control and victorious especially during hopeless times. HIS YET TO BE FULFILLED PROMISES – PROPHECIES ASSURE US HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN FAITHFUL AND VICTOROUS AND ALWAYS WILL BE. WE ARE ON THE BEST AND WINNING SIDE WHEN WE ARE ON HIS SIDE. SO whose SIDE ARE YOU ON?
John Adams in 1776 said “Statesmen…may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.”1
“Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion…are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments.”
Charles Carroll, signer of the Declaration of Independence
If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 339 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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