NCCG.ORG Lev's Daily Devotionals 22 July 2012 - My Davar Dip: Whose Word Will You Follow Today?

Month 5:4, Week 5:3 (Shanee/Matzah), Year:Day 5936:122 AM
Gregorian Calendar: Sunday 22 July 2012 My Davar Dip Whose Word Will You Follow Today?

"The lev (heart) is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I, Yahweh, search the lev (heart), I test the mind (reins), even to give to each man according to his ways (halacha, conduct), according to the result (fruit) of his deeds" (Jer.17:9-10, NASB).

The godless man trusts his own intellect and feelings but Yahweh warns, in this familiar passage, that such is fraught with risk. The injustice and suffering in our modern society, its anchor to the Bible severed and its vessel set adrift in relativism, is moot testimony to the emet (truth) of these words.

"Do not forget my Torah (Law), but let your lev (heart) keep my mitzvot (commands); for length of days and long life and shalom (peace) they will add to you. Let not mercy and emet (truth) forsake you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your lev (heart), and so find favour and high esteem in the sight of Elohim (God) and man. Trust in Yahweh with all your lev (heart), and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear Yahweh and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones" (Prov.3:1-8, NKJV).

There are dire consequences to relying on our thoughts and emotions for guidance in life. Making these your rule will bring only trouble. As the Indian philosopher, Jiddu Krishnamurti, once remarked:

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society".

Yet how ironic that man complains when the fruit of this abandonment of Yahweh leads him into trouble. Whether we acknowledge Him or not, He searches the lev (heart) and tests the mind of all men and women by pressing them against His emet (truth), whether it be something he reads or someone speaks to him, or whether his conscience simply will not settle. His reward is his own choices to ignore the Emet (Truth) or yield to it.

Even believers fall out with the Davar (Word) sometimes and turn to their own thoughts and feelings for guidance. Like a dog chasing his tail, he will simply go around in circles, until he once again returns to the security and safety of Yah's own Davar (Word). And it follows that the more you immerse your thoughts in His Davar (Word), the more likely you are to respond to life's choices and situations in the right way.

For my birthday this year, my wife spent several hours typing out hundreds of scriptures, cutting them up into small strips, folding them, and then adding them to a large jar. Each day I dip into it and read a davar (word) to start the day. So to end today, I thought I would pick one out and share it with you:

"For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My Davar (Word) be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it" (Isa.55:10-11, NKJV).

Not bad, eh?