Daily Devotional For Tuesday, September 16, 2025
Good day Southside! Yesterday we looked at Proverbs 3:5-6. When we come to Proverbs 3, the writer divides this chapter into 2 parts: (1) Proverbs 3:13-26 shows wisdom as the visible secret of the universe. (2) Proverbs 3:26-35 shows wisdom in the saga of life and the saga of death. For the writer, Solomon, wisdom is important to God since God used wisdom to create this entire universe (Proverbs 3:19-20). This runs contradictory to what we have been told by the evolutionists and Darwinists. To them, there was this great explosion of matter called The Big Bang and over billions of years, everything currently in our universe came to be. Years ago pastor and Christian author John Piper, reflecting on this for Thanksgiving wrote this:
‘Picture yourself as a farmer in the Near East, far from any lake or stream. A few wells keep the family and animals supplied with water. But if the crops are to grow and the family is to be fed from month to month, water has to come on the fields from another source. From where?
Well, the sky. The sky? Water will come out of the clear blue sky? Well, not exactly. Water will have to be carried in the sky from the Mediterranean Sea, over several hundred miles and then be poured out from the sky onto the fields. Carried? How much does it weigh? Well, if one inch of rain falls on one square mile of farmland during the night, that would be 27,878,400 cubic feet of water, which is 206,300,160 gallons, which is 1,650,501,280 pounds of water.
That’s heavy. So how does it get up in the sky and stay up there if it’s so heavy? Well, it gets up there by evaporation. Really? That’s a nice word. What’s it mean? It means that the water sort of stops being water for a while so it can go up and not down. I see. Then how does it get down? Well, condensation happens. What’s that? The water starts becoming water again by gathering around little dust particles between .00001 and .0001 centimeters wide. That’s small.
What about the salt? Salt? Yes, the Mediterranean Sea is salt water. That would kill the crops. What about the salt? Well, the salt has to be taken out. Oh. So the sky picks up a billion pounds of water from the sea and takes out the salt and then carries it for three hundred miles and then dumps it on the farm? Well, it doesn’t dump it. If it dumped a billion pounds of water on the farm, the wheat would be crushed. So the sky dribbles the billion pounds of water down in little drops” (Source: John Piper, “The Great Work of God: Rain. And they have to be big enough to fall for one mile or so without evaporating, and small enough to keep from crushing the wheat stalks.
How do all these microscopic specks of water that weigh a billion pounds get heavy enough to fall (if that's the way to ask the question)? Well, it's called coalescence. What's that? It means the specks of water start bumping into each other and join up and get bigger. And when they are big enough, they fall. Just like that? Well, not exactly, because they would just bounce off each other instead of joining up, if there were no electric field present. What? Never mind. Take my word for it.
I think, instead, I will just take Job’s word for it. I still don't see why drops ever get to the ground, because if they start falling as soon as they are heavier than air, they would be too small not to evaporate on the way down, but if they wait to come down, what holds them up till they are big enough not to evaporate? Yes, I am sure there is a name for that too. But I am satisfied now that, by any name, this is a great and unsearchable thing that God has done. I think I should be thankful - lots more thankful than I am. Grateful to God for the wonder of rain, (John Piper).
John Piper’s point is that since God with wisdom can work out the wonder of nature and rain, just imagine what will God accomplish with His wisdom to, for and through you and me. Every second you and I are sustained by God’s wisdom even though we rarely acknowledge it or see it. For atheist and now Christian apologist C.S. Lewis writes this:
“At present we are on the outside of the world, the wrong side of the door. We discern the freshness and purity of morning, but they do not make us fresh and pure. We cannot mingle with the splendors we see. But … some day, God willing, we shall get in” (Source: C.S. Lewis, The Weight Of Glory & Other Addresses, pp. 13-14).
This brings us to Proverbs 3:27-28, “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it when it’s in your power to help them. (28) If you can help your neighbor now, don’t say, ‘Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll help you’” (NLT). Jesus Christ died to get us in His heaven through His sacrifice and help, that was brought about by God’s wisdom and planning. Therefore, as believers, we are to help one another as much as possible. We cannot give what we do not have, but when it is without our means, power and ability to help, wisdom says, “Do it. Give it away.” This led the Apostle Paul to claim he was a debtor, not an owner. Look at Romans 1:14, "I am debtor . . .” (GNV).
So, when we look at Proverbs 3:27-28 and apply this biblical principle to this, the implication is this: if you have any good you can do for anyone then you legally own it BUT morally they own it. The government cannot force us to be generous with one another nor can anyone come into our homes and start helping themselves to what we legally own. To those people, God says this in Exodus 20:15. Yet, what the Bible says to you and me is that we are not to withhold. Why?
It is sin. We sin not only through the bad things we do to another but also through the good things we withhold. We are to be generous as Jesus was and is to us. He withheld nothing from us in terms of salvation and eternal life. Every day all around us God gives us opportunities to bless people and to add life to them through graciously being generous to them. We cannot do everything every time but we can do something some of the time.
Assignment: Reflect – what good have you been withholding that would bless someone and add life to them? If you believe God owns it all, then ask Him to give wisdom on who to be generous with, how and to what extent.
Scripture To Meditate On: Galatians 6:10, “Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Jesus, please give me the wisdom to use what You have given to me as Your steward to bless and give life to others. Thank You that You are a generous giver and I want to emulate that characteristic of You in my own life. Forgive me when I have been selfish and think everything You have given me is mine. I love Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly