MEMORISE: He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shail suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Proverbs 29:1
BIBLE READING: 2 SAMUEL 12:1-13 (KJV)
1 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
2. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:
3. But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
4. And there came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
5. And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
6. And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
7. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
8. And I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
9. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
10. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.
11. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbor, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun.
12. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.
13. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
Read yesterday’s Open Heaven Devotional here
Many a time, we do things that are wrong without knowing it. We just act as we like, whereas we are hurting other people or exhibiting a bad attitude. Those who are wise listen when people correct them and take to correction where appropriate. Those who are foolish however make excuses and ignore the correction.
When we study the life of David and Saul, we will see the lot of the wise and the foolish ones. When Saul did wrong and Samuel corrected him, he made excuses and even tore Samuels garment in his refusal to take to correction in the presence of his subjects (1 Samuel 15:13-27).
For David on the other hand, when Prophet Nathan corrected him, he immediately became sober and did all that he could to right his wrong (2 Samuel 12:15 -18). At the end of the day, we see one of the reasons why God rejected Saul and loved David their attitude to correction.
When people tell you that you get angry easily and you say, No, I don’t get angry easily, it is just some useless people around me that get me angry, or that you are lazy and sleep too much, but you respond, The body is not wood; it needs rest once in a while, after all even Jesus slept while He was here on earth, or even that you talk too much and you say, Do you want me to become dumb? then you have a problem and you must attend to it immediately.
When God sends people to a person yet he or she keeps giving excuses, our memory verse for today says that the fellow will be suddenly destroyed and that destruction will be without remedy.
If you want to see an example of this, look at Saul. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 3:19 that God so honoured the word of Prophet Samuel that not a word of his fell to the ground without being fulfilled, but when Samuel was pleading on behalf of Saul, God told him to stop wasting his time as He had already found a replacement for him (1 Samuel 16:1).
That little behaviour that your spouse, boss, colleague, family members or neighbours have been correcting you about can either make or mar you; it depends on whether you take the correction or not. That little thing can bring irredeemable destruction if you are not careful. A word is enough for the wise.
PRAYER POINT: What are those things people have been telling you that you need to correct? Take the feedback today and begin to make the necessary corrections in line with God’s word.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: PROVERBS 17:1-28, PROVERBS 18:1-24, PROVERBS 19:1-29, PROVERBS 20:1-30
Thank you for studying today’s Open Heaven – Take Feedback – written by Pastor Enoch A.
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Open Heaven 31 July 2022
