Reading your Bible for today July 15

July 15: Proverbs 24:17-18

KJV Key Verse: Proverbs 24:17
17 Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth , and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth :

Devotion:
How many times have you personally laughed when you have seen someone who has done wrong to you get into trouble? It is so easy to carry a chip on our shoulders and to remember all the things people have done wrong against us and then to rejoice when they get into trouble. But We are warned against doing such things because of the effect it will have in our lives towards others...

How are we supposed to love our neighbour when they are the ones who we are targeting in our thoughts? How can we cast aside ill feeling when we are harbouring bad wishes against them? The more we do that the more the wedge will be pushed deeper between them and us! The deeper any wedge is pushed, the less likely we will ever be able to be a good example to them. If we want to be able to expose them to God's Word, then we have to be a good example to them as well as others. We have to extend our friendship to them through what we can show them. They may well not be willing to be our friends, but if we at least show them we do not want harm to come to them, we can show them our God is a God of love.

What would you think if two of your best friends started to fight it out to try and prove who was correct? Would you feel any better when one of them won over the other? How would you deal with the one who lost? How would you deal with the one who won? Would you not rather see them work together to find the correct solution so that they could still be friends?

God is the one looking out over each one of us and when we start to fight things out to try and prove who is right, He is the one that is being left out and cast aside...

Points to Ponder:
Do you try and trip your brother or sister up all the time?

How would God look upon your actions to others?