Beware Of Bears! - The One Year Wisdom for Women Devotional

Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubsthan a fool in his folly.

Proverbs 17:12 (NIV)

Here’s a warning. Don’t mess with mamma bear’s cubs. She can be vicious. This kind of unleashed force is compared with the crazed and out-of-control behavior of a fool.

When does this happen, and what does it look like? Divorce court is a classic example. It can be a crazy, revenge-at-any-cost place. Jealousy is foolish, and those who are prone to it can destroy friendships and ministries. Family feuds over inheritance can be unleashed, acting out of old resentments from childhood. Have you ever heard the phrase scorched earth? When an enemy army came across the border into Russia, Peter the Great burned miles and miles of his own people’s farms and crops, just so the invading army would have no food. Scorched earth.

So child of God, if you are in the way of some foolish person’s warpath, here are some things to remember.

• Reason and right usually will not stop them.
• Don’t answer their crazy folly with your own crazy folly.
• Really, the only safe place is higher ground.

Psalm 46:1 says, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in time of trouble” (NKJV).

Hebrews 4:16 reminds us, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may . . . find grace to help in time of need” (NKJV).

Make It Personal . . . Live It Out!

When someone recklessly vents her anger, it often falls on the innocent. This is a good warning to us as mothers. We as women can let frustrations and bitterness seethe against our husbands (or ex-husbands). Then all of a sudden, some little thing that a child does triggers that anger, and they get the full truckload dumped on them. It’s confusing and painful and entirely unfair. If this has happened, it’s not too late to make amends. Will you go to your child and ask for forgiveness? Read Ephesians 4:26 together. Then ask your child to kneel and pray with you at the throne of grace.

One Year Bible Reading

1 Kings 18:1-46; Acts 11:1-30; Psalm 135:1-21; Proverbs 17:12-13