Thursday, July 20, 2017
Daily reading assignment – Proverbs 11-12
Today’s devotional reading is Proverbs 11 and Proverbs 12. My focus today will be Proverbs 11:1; however, I invite you to refer to my devotional commentaries in the Book of Proverbs on my “Heart of a Shepherd” website to amplify individual verses in today’s scripture reading.
Like many chapters in the Book of Proverbs, chapter 11 reads like a shotgun scatters pellets…a plethora of truths that stand individually on their own without the necessity of being one coherent progression of thought. Our focus will be one proverb, Proverbs 11:1 which addresses the manner of people God would have us to be.
Proverbs 11:1- A false balance [deceit or crookedness] is abomination [shameful] to the LORD: but a just [right and honest] weight [having and exercising integrity] is his delight. ?
The subject of verse 1 is Integrity [adhering to a moral code or absolute standard]. In our day, government agencies certify weights and volume in goods and services. One agency certifies when you purchase a gallon of gas you get a gallon of gas. Another agency certifies when you purchase food items at the grocery store you are getting the weight and volume stated on the packaging.
For the sake of illustration, let’s put the setting of verse 1 in a butcher shop where meat is cut, weighed, wrapped and stamped with a description that certifies the cut and price of the meat based upon weight.
The use of unjust or inaccurate weights by dishonest shop owners has been the pattern of many down through the centuries. In our butcher shop analogy, a butcher, using a “false balance”, misleads a customer by presenting a cut of meat as weighing more than it really does…an act that is “abomination to the Lord”. Solomon reminds his son that God delights in men of integrity…men who commit to being honest; men whose word is as binding as a signed contract.
The application of verse 1 goes beyond the matter of weights and balances —at issue is the character of the whole man [after all, the literal meaning of “integrity” is completeness or wholeness].
Lesson – Dishonesty in word and action is an abomination to the Lord. He accepts nothing less than truth and sincerity.
Are you honest, sincere and forthright in business? Are you a person of your word?
God is delighted when His people walk with honesty and integrity. I challenge you—be that man!
Copyright 2017 – Travis D. Smith