Wednesday, August 10, 2022

8-10-2022 Devotion: A Misunderstood Verse

 Proverbs 23: 7: "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." This is a verse that has been misinterpreted to create the idea that you can change who you are by your thoughts. While how you think is important, that is not the context of this verse. There is a danger in reading a verse in isolation away from the verses around it. In this case, verse 6 states, "Do not eat of a stingy man's food; Do not crave for his dainties.... Verse 8 reads, "The morsel you eat you will vomit; You will waste your courteous words." The meaning is that a dinner with a stingy person is an occasion of hypocrisy on all sides and is nauseating. The person may say to you, "Please eat all you want." However, on the inside he is upset because he is greedy and wants more for himself.  This is another social situation to avoid! Don’t be a guest of a man who has an evil eye, i.e. is greedy and stingy,  someone who begrudges you every bite of the food you eat. It’s what he thinks, not what he says, that counts. For while he is saying, “Help yourself…. Have some more,"  he is actually counting every spoonful you take. The Bible makes so much sense when interpreted correctly!

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