Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Friday, June 1, 2018

"The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice."¹

For a long time we had a crazy bird that kept smashing into our kitchen window, obviously trying to reach its reflection. I kept trying to outsmart it, but it kept coming back for more of the same kind of treatment. I had the same thing happening at my last home.

I have also read how, "If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be a prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

"A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself."²

Some, perhaps many, people are entrapped in hopeless situations because they are not looking for or seeing the way out of their predicament. I've been there myself in days past until I wised up. In my work I see people making the same mistakes over and over, failing to realize that what we don't resolve, we are destined to repeat . . . repeat . . . repeat. As the saying goes, "If we keep doing what we've always done, we'll keep getting what we always got, and we'll keep feeling what we've always felt."

The beginning point for finding the way out of any predicament is always to look up—to look to God and pray the right prayer. That is, ask God to show you the truth of what you are contributing to any negative situation you may be in, to show you what you need to do to resolve it, and to help you to find the help/counsel you need to overcome.
 

Suggested prayer: "Dear God, help me always to see what I am contributing to any adverse situation I happen to find myself in, and please give me the wisdom to seek wise counsel, and the good sense to do what I need to do to resolve my problem. Thank you for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully, in Jesus' name, amen."

1. Proverbs 12:15 (NIV).
2. From PLANETNEWS broadcast. Cited on Sermon_Fodder@yahoogroups.com.

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